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HPC TODAY customers' publications - Industry perspective

Household and Personal Care Today - n 1/2012

Bathing can be fun – for babies and their parents, too. Most babies love to be in warm water as it reminds them of the warm and protective environment of the womb. They enjoy splashing and playing in the water, and parents love to see their baby happy. Bathing can also provide a moment of closeness between baby and parent, and should therefore be a relaxed and satisfying experience for all. Bathing can quickly transform into a nerve-racking and tearful process when water and shampoo gets into the baby’s eyes and causes stinging and crying. Since they have a different tear film composition and blink frequency, the eyes of babies can be more susceptible to irritation and stinging than adult eyes, meaning that if, e.g. the wrong shampoo is used, everyone will be relieved when this part of the bath is finally over.Bathing does not have to be such a stressful situation. To make sure that tears do not disturb an otherwise enjoyable experience, more and more parents are looking for baby cleansing products that are gentle to the skin and do not cause eyes to sting. To meet this market demand, manufacturers worldwide are increasingly launching baby shampoos that contain less irritating surfactants and other ingredients that are specifically formulated to be mild and/or tear-free. In 2011, for instance, 276 new products were launched that claimed to be tear-free (1). Product developers therefore look for surfactants with low irritation potentials and other ingredients with extra mild properties so that they can formulate products that satisfy this claim. BASF Personal Care offers a broad range of mild ingredients for skin and hair-care products. It also provides formulations that have already been tested for their potential to cause eyes to tear. This helps Personal Care manufacturers to rapidly bring tear-free products to the market and makes it easy for them to use this claim for babies’ and children’s cleansing products.

FINDING INTELLIGENT SURFACTANT COMBINATIONS

Today’s market offers an ample number of cleansing products for babies and children. In addition to the mildness parents look for to cleanse babies’ sensitive skin, they also often prefer products that make their baby’s skin feel clean, fresh and cuddly soft. To meet these high demands, the ingredients used in these products must be carefully selected since extra-mild tear-free

formulations should contain a surfactant base that is considerably less irritating than those used in some adult shampoos. Finding the right ingredients and the best combinations that enable formulations to reliably fulfil the claim of being tear-free requires a high degree of formulation know-how. To meet both the developers’ and consumers’ needs, BASF Personal Care draws on its extensive expertise and its broad product range to create high performance formulations with suitable properties to serve the markets needs.To develop mild tear-free baby-care formulations, a key step is to test the eye irritation potential of the selected surfactant to identify those with a suitable mildness. A number of non-animal test methods are available. BASF conducted the Red Blood Cell (RBC) test on a range of individual surfactants from its portfolio to determine their eye irritation potentials. They were tested at the same pH and wash active substance content (WAS) and the results are depicted in Figure 1.

Happy babiesSave your tears for another daySYBILLE CORNELSEN*, HERMANN HENSEN, IRIS HÜTTER, ANNETTE MEHLING*Corresponding authorBASF Personal Care and Nutrition GmbH, Rheinpromenade 1 Monheim, 40789, Germany

Sybille Cornelsen

FORMULATION

ABSTRACT: Tear-free formulations for baby shampoos can make bathing much easier and more enjoyable for babies – and their parents. The number of mild and gentle baby care products that claim to be tear-free is steadily increasing. With a comprehensive range of surfactants and extensive formulation knowledge, BASF Personal Care has developed mild and gentle baby cleansing formulations. Having been shown not to cause tears in relevant tests, the unmodified formulations can be used directly by manufacturers. They can also be promoted being “tear-free” without the need for any additional performance testing-related costs.

Figure 1.

27Household and Personal Care Today - n 1/2012

FORMULATION

EXTRA-MILD CARE FOR BABY’S HAIR

Among the surfactants tested, six showed an irritation potential low enough to be considered particularly suitable for use in formulating tear-free baby cleansing products (see Figure 2). Of these, BASF’s Alkyl polyglucoside (APG®) surfactants, such as Plantacare® 818 UP, combine a remarkably low eye and skin irritation potential with effective cleansing properties. They not only offer mildness for baby-care products but are also friendly to the environment. APG® surfactants are obtained from renewable, plant-derived raw materials such as vegetable oils and starch. APG® surfactants therefore offer solutions for the growing concerns of the consumer for safety and the environment. As such, they combine the qualities that today’s consumers - especially parents - are looking for.

The surfactant with the lowest eye irritation potential in the RBC test was the anionic surfactant Plantapon® LC 7 (INCI Laureth-7 Citrate). Its low eye and skin irritation potential gives it an excellent dermatological profile. Plantapon® LC 7 contains 100 percent of the surfactant, and is free of water and preservatives making it ideal for use in non-aqueous products, such as bath and shower oils.Another highly suitable ingredient is Plantapon® LGC Sorb (INCI Sodium Lauryl Glucose Carboxylate (and) Lauryl Glucoside). It has the excellent mildness of an APG® surfactant, while offering improved foaming and sensorial properties. The key to this improvement is the introduction of an anionic group into the APG® molecule. Plantapon® LGC Sorb is a liquid surfactant that is recommended for various personal care cleansing applications that require extra mildness and enhanced sensorial properties. It is also free from sulfates and ethylene oxide, making it an ideal choice for baby-care products.Another surfactant with a low eye irritation potential was Plantapon® PSC (INCI Coco-Glucoside (and) Disodium Lauryl Sulfosuccinate (and) Glycerin). This APG® based surfactant compound offers excellent foaming properties, skin compatibility as well as viscosity build-up when used in combination with Cocamidopropyl Betaine. Being free from preservatives and ethersulfates, this easy-to-use surfactant blend is ideal for formulating mild, sulfate-free baby cleansing products at reasonable cost.

TEAR-FREE FORMULATIONS

Based on its surfactant and formulation know-how, BASF Personal Care developed a selection of mild and gentle baby-care formulations. These formulations were tested in various compatibility tests by an independent test institute.“Happy Baby No Tears Shampoo” (see Figure 3) can help to make bathing and hair-washing more pleasurable for babies and their parents. Incorporating the mild anionic APG® surfactant Plantapon® LGC Sorb, the formulation has been shown not to cause eye stinging. It is formulated without the use of additional preservatives. “Happy Baby No Tears Shampoo” contains the moisturizing honey extract MelhydranTM LS 4420 and the lipid layer enhancer Lamesoft® PO 65, ingredients that help the skin to maintain its natural hydration level and help to keep it feeling smooth and soft. The “biolipid”, glyceryl oleate, contained in Lamesoft® PO 65 naturally occurs in human skin and in the vernix caseosa, the moisture-binding film that protects the skin of a new born baby.In soap chamber and tape strip patch tests, the shampoo was shown to be as mild and gentle to the skin barrier as a well-known market benchmark baby shampoo.There is an ever-growing market demand for sulfate-free cleansing products, especially in baby-care products. “Sulfate-Free Creamy Baby Wash Tear-Free” (see Figure 4) is based on the preservative-free surfactant blend Plantapon® PSC. In the no tears test, this formulation was shown to be very mild with a performance enabling the claims ‘No Tears’ or ‘No Burning in the Eyes’. This creamy baby wash has a pearly appearance thanks to the first natural based pearlizer from BASF Personal Care portfolio, Euperlan® Green.

Figure 2.

Figure 3.

Figure 4.

“Moisturizing Tear-Free Hair & Body Wash” is a perfect combination of APG®s and commonly used surfactants (see Figure 5). This specif ic formulat ion provides an excel lent, yet mi ld cleansing performance coupled with good foaming properties. It is not only suitable for babies, but also for adults looking for mild solutions that provide extra-sensitive care with no compromise on foam and cleansing performance.

BATHING IS CHILD’S PLAY

The no-tears test conducted by an independent test institute showed that all formulations were mild and did not irritate the eyes. The formulations were applied by pouring a 10 percent solution mixed in sterile water into the face of 10 volunteers who had their eyes open. After drying off, the volunteers were asked to report any unpleasant sensations such as stinging, burning or teary eyes. The eye and the general eye region were examined visually and the eye-ground was examined under a slit-lamp microscope by an ophthalmologist for any signs of irritation.

All of the formulations that were tested enable cosmetic producers to directly promote their product with the claims ‘No Tears’ or ‘No Burning in the Eyes’. The proven efficacy of the single formulations means that BASF Personal Care’s “Save your tears for another day” concept represents substantial progress in the manufacture of baby-care products. Companies can launch BASF’s ready-made formulations without the need for any additional performance testing-related costs provided no modifications are made. These mild baby shampoos and cleansing products allow babies and their parents to enjoy taking a bath without having to worry about accidental splashes resulting in a crying baby. Make bathing time a tear-free and fear-free experience – save those tears for another day!

DisclaimerWhile the descriptions, designs, data and information contained herein are presented in good faith and believed to be accurate, it is provided for your guidance only. Because many factors may affect processing or application/use, we recommend that you make tests to determine the suitability of a product for your particular purpose prior to use.No warranties of any kind, either express or implied, including warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose, are made regarding products described or designs, data or information set forth, or that the products, designs, data or information may be used without infringing the intellectual property rights of others. In no case shall the descriptions, information, data or designs provided be considered a part of our terms and conditions of sale.

REFERENCES AND NOTES

1. www.gndp.de

FORMULATION

Figure 5.

28 Household and Personal Care Today - n 1/2012