Speaker 1: Did you know that the exact same chemical principles that
Speaker 1: keep oil and water mixed in a jar of mayonnaise
Speaker 1: are literally the exact same ones keeping your face cream
Speaker 1: from separating into just a watery mess.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's kind of wild to think.
Speaker 1: About, right, Or that the perfect luxurious lather of your
Speaker 1: daily shampoo relies on this molecular carbon chain that has
Speaker 1: to be like exactly eight to eighteen Adams long.
Speaker 2: Not seven, not nineteen, exactly eight to eighteen. It is
Speaker 2: entirely by design. I mean, when you look at the
Speaker 2: back of a lotion bottle and see that massive, you know,
Speaker 2: unpronounceable list of chemical compounds, you aren't just looking at
Speaker 2: a simple morning routine.
Speaker 1: You're looking at science exactly.
Speaker 2: You're looking at a highly engineered, precisely calculated pharmacological event.
Speaker 1: Well, welcome everyone, Whether you are a pharmacy student, you know,
Speaker 1: gearing up for an exam, maybe a young professional navigating
Speaker 1: the industry, or to someone who is insanely curious about
Speaker 1: the actual science behind what you're rubbing onto your face
Speaker 1: every day, Welcome to today's deep dive.
Speaker 2: We are super glad to have you here.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we are jumping straight into the surprisingly complex world
Speaker 1: of pharmacology and cosmetic formulation today.
Speaker 2: And we're anchoring this entire discussion in a very specific
Speaker 2: foundational text. So we are exploring the textbook Cosmetic Science
Speaker 2: by doctor Satuprakash Singh and doctor V. J.
Speaker 1: Ningum, which is pretty much the standard, right yeah.
Speaker 2: It serves as the standard syllabus for bee farm students
Speaker 2: following the Pharmacy Council of India. It's a really fantastic resource.
Speaker 1: Which means our mission today is to go well far
Speaker 1: beyond the marketing buzzwords. We want to unpack the precise
Speaker 1: molecular science, the history and the actual chemistry behind personal
Speaker 1: care products. We're going to look at everything from how
Speaker 1: a cosmetic is legally defined, to the biological building blocks,
Speaker 1: the things we call excipients, all the way to the
Speaker 1: specific biotech instruments used in labs to prove a formula
Speaker 1: actually works.
Speaker 2: That's a lot of ground to cover, it is, so.
Speaker 1: Let's start right at the foundation. How is a cosmetic
Speaker 1: actually defined?
Speaker 2: Well, if we look at the etymology, the word cosmetic
Speaker 2: comes from the Greek word cuspaticos, which basically translates to
Speaker 2: having the skill in decorating or arranging, having.
Speaker 1: The skill and decorating, I mean, arranging is a pretty
Speaker 1: broad concept though it is if I'm, say, a manufacturer
Speaker 1: in India, what is the actual legal boundary determining if
Speaker 1: my product is a cosmetic or you know, something else
Speaker 1: entirely So.
Speaker 2: The legal boundary there is drawn by the Drugs and
Speaker 2: Cosmetics Act of nineteen forty and it defines a cosmetic
Speaker 2: as any article intended to be rubbed, pored, sprinkled or
Speaker 2: sprayed on the human body for cleansing, beautifying, or altering appearance.
Speaker 1: Okay, so the key there is the application method like rubbed, pored, sprinkled, sprayed,
Speaker 1: and the intent, which is cleansing or beautifying.
Speaker 2: Exactly and globally, the definitions align pretty closely with that,
Speaker 2: I mean, the European Union Directive has a very similar framework,
Speaker 2: but they make a point to explicitly include the teeth
Speaker 2: and the mucous membranes of the oral cavity. Yeah. So
Speaker 2: under the EU Directive, your daily toothpaste is firmly categorized
Speaker 2: as a cosmetic designed exclusively or mainly for cleaning or
Speaker 2: perfuming the mouth.
Speaker 1: Persuming the mouth. I love that phrasing, you know, when
Speaker 1: I was looking through the textbook, the way they classify
Speaker 1: all these different cosmetics really reminded me of like a
Speaker 1: biological taxonomy.
Speaker 2: Oh, that's a good way to look at it.
Speaker 1: Yeah. It gives you this mental framework where every single
Speaker 1: product on your bathroom shelf fits into a specific genus
Speaker 1: and species.
Speaker 2: Right, and that taxonomy is based on two main things
Speaker 2: physical nature and function. Functionally, a cosmetic can be decorative,
Speaker 2: you know, like a lipstick, yeah, or it could be
Speaker 2: corrective or protective like a face powder or a sunscreen,
Speaker 2: or curative exactly like an anti perspont. And then physically
Speaker 2: they take almost any form you can imagine, sprays, emulsions, jellies, mucilages, oils.
Speaker 1: Solid takes, pastes, powders, soaps.
Speaker 2: Solutions, Yeah, yeah, all of it. So if I have
Speaker 2: a cold cream, for example, it's genus might be its
Speaker 2: physical form, which is an emulsion, and its species its function,
Speaker 2: which is protective.
Speaker 1: That framework applies perfectly. But for any formulation to actually
Speaker 1: survive in that taxonomy to be considered a biologically safe
Speaker 1: good cosmetic cosmetic waste, it has to meet some rigorous
Speaker 1: quality standards.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, a chemist can't just mix things in a bucket
Speaker 2: in their garage. The standards require the highest quality, standardized
Speaker 2: raw materials, strictly distilled or purified water, heavily regulated permitted colors,
Speaker 2: and perfumes that are actually chemically compatible with the rest
Speaker 2: of the formula.
Speaker 1: Plus they have to survive extreme environments. I was reading
Speaker 1: that the physical stability of a product is completely non negotiable.
Speaker 1: It has to maintain its structure, whether it is sitting
Speaker 1: in a steamy, hot, humid bathroom or freezing in the
Speaker 1: cargo hold of an airplane during international shipping.
Speaker 2: Because if it isn't stable, the ingredients separate, the preservatives fail,
Speaker 2: and the product basically becomes a hazard rather than a cosmetic.
Speaker 1: It makes total sense. But here's where I get a
Speaker 1: little tripped up. If a cosmetic is leagally meant to
Speaker 1: just decorate or cleanse the surface, what happens when a
Speaker 1: product starts to actually cross the skin barrier and alter
Speaker 1: human physiology?
Speaker 2: Ah, Because the line between beautifying the skin and actually
Speaker 2: medicating the skin seems like it would get blurry very
Speaker 2: very quickly.
Speaker 1: It does get incredibly blurry, and regulatory bodies around the
Speaker 1: world have had to create entirely new classifications to handle it.
Speaker 1: South Korea is actually a great example of this.
Speaker 2: Oh really, what do they do?
Speaker 1: They've established a category known as quasi drugs.
Speaker 2: Quasi drugs, so it's sort of a stepping stone between
Speaker 2: a cosmetic and a full blown pharmaceutical.
Speaker 1: Drug precisely, and they break it down even further. Group one,
Speaker 1: quasi drugs include things like sanitary pads and masks. Group
Speaker 1: two includes antipersperants and external hair care products. Okay, so
Speaker 1: these products have a mild physiological effect, but they aren't
Speaker 1: treating a disease.
Speaker 2: So how does that contrast with an over the counter
Speaker 2: or OTC drug, Because I mean, I buy anti dandruff
Speaker 2: shampo who off the exact same shelf as my regular shampoo,
Speaker 2: but one is clearly doing more heavy lifting. Well, the
Speaker 2: defining factor for an OTC drug is the presence of
Speaker 2: an active pharmaceutical ingredient or API an API. Right, If
Speaker 2: a shampoo just cleanses the hair, it's cosmetic. But if
Speaker 2: it contains an API like zancpyratheone to actively treat the
Speaker 2: medical condition of dandruff, the entire product is suddenly regulated
Speaker 2: as an OTC drug. Yeah, the manufacturer has to balance
Speaker 2: the entire formulation around stabilizing that specific active ingredient, and
Speaker 2: the exact same goes for sunscreens which contain APIs to
Speaker 2: actively block UV radiation.
Speaker 1: So this merging of beauty in pharmacology brings us to
Speaker 1: a really fascinating term in the textbook The Cosmaceutical.
Speaker 2: I love that word. It's a brilliant portmanteau of cosmetic
Speaker 2: and pharmaceutical.
Speaker 1: Who actually came up with that?
Speaker 2: The term was coined back in nineteen sixty one by
Speaker 2: Raymond Reid. He was a founding member of the US
Speaker 2: Society of Cosmetic Chemists.
Speaker 1: But the real turning point for cosme suiticles didn't happen
Speaker 1: until what nineteen seventy.
Speaker 2: One, Right nineteen seventy one, That was the breakthrough by
Speaker 2: a dermatologist named doctor Elbert Kligman. He discovered that topical
Speaker 2: retinoic acid, which we know commonly today is tretnoon could
Speaker 2: be used to effectively treat acne. But more than that,
Speaker 2: he noticed it was also treating UV damaged wrinkled skin.
Speaker 2: It was actively changing the cellular turnover rate.
Speaker 1: So it wasn't just sitting on the surface decorating the
Speaker 1: skin anymore.
Speaker 2: Exactly. It was fundamentally influencing the biological function underneath.
Speaker 1: It is wild that tretnon has been the gold standard
Speaker 1: since the nineteen seventies, but you know, humanity's desire to
Speaker 1: alter our skin goes back much.
Speaker 2: Much further than that, oh, thousands of years.
Speaker 1: Yeah. The text mentions the Egyptians around four thousand BC
Speaker 1: using milk and honey for skin diseases, and the Ebers
Speaker 1: Papyrus from sixteen hundred BC contains this recipe to literally
Speaker 1: expel wrinkles by mixing equal parts frankincense, balentine oil, rush oil, and.
Speaker 2: Wax, which frankly sounds exactly like a premium organic face
Speaker 2: oil you'd buy it with boutique today.
Speaker 1: Right. It sounds incredibly soothing. But I do have to
Speaker 1: push back a little on the romanticization of ancient skincare. Oh,
Speaker 1: how so, because for every pleasant recipe with frankincense, you
Speaker 1: have like the Romans painting their nails with sheet fat
Speaker 1: mixed with blood, or people bathing in mud and crocodile experiments.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's that's less glamorous just a bit.
Speaker 1: Were these ancient extreme practices just pure superstition or were
Speaker 1: they early completely misguided attempts at finding active pharmaceutical ingredients.
Speaker 2: I'd say it was definitely an attempt at finding active ingredients,
Speaker 2: but just without any understanding of toxicology. M I mean,
Speaker 2: ancient China did use relatively safe materials for nail color,
Speaker 2: things like egg whites, gum, arabic beeswax, and gelatin. That
Speaker 2: sounds reasonable, right, But the Egyptians used coal around their eyes,
Speaker 2: which was manufactured from copper ore, lead and burned almonds.
Speaker 1: Oh no lead.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so they saw a cosmetic result, but they were
Speaker 2: slowly poisoning themselves with heavy metals.
Speaker 1: In the process, which perfectly transitions us into why modern
Speaker 1: cosmetic science is so incredibly rigid today. I mean, to
Speaker 1: avoid the dangers of oxidized copper and crocodile excrement, modern
Speaker 1: chemists rely on highly controlled molecules known as excipiens excipients.
Speaker 2: They really are the unsung structural heroes of pharmacology. By definition,
Speaker 2: an excipient is a substance that has absolutely no pharmacological
Speaker 2: activity of its own.
Speaker 1: Okay, so it doesn't treat the scin or change the
Speaker 1: body's biology at.
Speaker 2: All, not at all. Is added purely to achieve specific
Speaker 2: physical chemical properties like what well. Eccipients dictate how a
Speaker 2: product feels, how long it lasts on the shelf, and
Speaker 2: how well it delivers the active ingredient. And it does
Speaker 2: all of this without interfering with drug release, stability or acceptability.
Speaker 1: And the most critical excipient in almost any bathroom product
Speaker 1: is the surfactant, the surface active agent. Ye. So for
Speaker 1: the listener, how does this surfactant actually work?
Speaker 2: So chemically, a surfactant reduces the surface tension at a
Speaker 2: liquid gas liquid interface. The textbook describes it as an
Speaker 2: amphiphilic molecule, meaning it has two very distinct ends. Two
Speaker 2: ends right, it has a hydrophilic or polar water loving head,
Speaker 2: and it has a hydrophobic or non polar water fearing tail.
Speaker 1: Let's visualize this, because the chemistry is honestly so elegant.
Speaker 1: I like to picture a surfactic molecule as sort of
Speaker 1: a chemical mediator at an awkward party.
Speaker 2: Okay, I like where this is going.
Speaker 1: You have the oil loving guests on one side of
Speaker 1: the room and the water loving guests on the other side,
Speaker 1: and they naturally repel each other. They absolutely refuse to mingle, and.
Speaker 2: Then the surfactant walks in exactly. That hydrophobic tail grabs
Speaker 2: onto the oil and dirt and the hydrophilic head grabs
Speaker 2: onto the water. It physically holds hands with both sides,
Speaker 2: forces them to mix into an emulsion, and allows the
Speaker 2: oil and dirt to be washed down the drain with
Speaker 2: the rinse water.
Speaker 1: And the text points out something mind blowing about that
Speaker 1: water fearing tail. It can't just be any size. It
Speaker 1: is a branched or linear hydrocarbon chain that must be
Speaker 1: exactly eight to eighteen carbon atoms long.
Speaker 2: That precision is essential. That exact carbon chain length provides
Speaker 2: the perfect balance of lipofelicity.
Speaker 1: Which is the ability to bind to fats exactly.
Speaker 2: If the chain is shorter than eight carbons, it just
Speaker 2: won't grab the oil effectively. But if it's longer than
Speaker 2: eighteen carbons, the molecule becomes too insoluble in water to
Speaker 2: wash away.
Speaker 1: That is just incredible. Eight to eighteen it is.
Speaker 2: And to add one more layer to your party mediator analogy.
Speaker 2: Surfactans are classified into four main classes based on the
Speaker 2: electrical charge of that water loving head.
Speaker 1: Okay, what are they?
Speaker 2: Anionic, keithonic, amphoteric, and non ionic. Different charges are chosen
Speaker 2: depending on whether you want a product to say, foam
Speaker 2: heavily or condition the hair, or be super gentle on
Speaker 2: a baby's skin.
Speaker 1: Wow. So beyond surfactants, we also have reology modifiers, reology
Speaker 1: being the study of how materials flow.
Speaker 2: Right. Think of reology modifiers as the thickeners. They dictate
Speaker 2: the structural flow of a product.
Speaker 1: Ah. So it is the eggs the exact reason why
Speaker 1: a dense skin cream can sit solid in a jar,
Speaker 1: but the moment you apply a sheer force by rubbing it,
Speaker 1: it magically thins out and absorbs into the skin. Yes.
Speaker 2: Or why nail polish is thick enough to hold heavy
Speaker 2: pigments in suspension without just dripping right off the brush,
Speaker 2: but then thin enough to paint a perfectly smooth layer
Speaker 2: on your nail.
Speaker 1: That makes perfect sense. We also have emollients and humectants,
Speaker 1: which sound kind of similar but operate on entirely different mechanisms.
Speaker 2: They really do so. Emmolient derives from the Latin word moleri,
Speaker 2: meaning to soften. They essentially fill in the microcracks in
Speaker 2: the skin to soften the surface, and humectants Humectins, on
Speaker 2: the other hand, are molecular water magnets. They actively retard
Speaker 2: moisture loss and pull water into the skin.
Speaker 1: The textbook highlights glycerine as a classic humectant. It's an
Speaker 1: odorless molecule with three hydroxyl or AOH groups, and those
Speaker 1: AH groups are what physically grab and hold onto ambient
Speaker 1: water molecules.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and what is fascinating is that human skin actually
Speaker 2: manufactures its own internal humactine really. Yeah. In the outermost
Speaker 2: dead layer of the epidermis, the stratum cornium, we have
Speaker 2: what is called the natural moisturizing factor or NMF.
Speaker 1: NMF And where does that actually come from.
Speaker 2: It's formed by the breakdown of a very specific protein
Speaker 2: called filigrine. So when cosmetic chemists add synthetic humectants to
Speaker 2: a locean, they're essentially just supplementing the skin's native filigrin
Speaker 2: derived NMF.
Speaker 1: So if we take these individual molecular building blocks, the
Speaker 1: party mediators for factans, the flow controlling rheology modifiers, and
Speaker 1: the water grabbing humeectans, how do they actually come together
Speaker 1: to solve specific biological problems.
Speaker 2: Well, let's start with basic skin formulations, like moisturizers. A
Speaker 2: standard moisturizer is typically an emulsion, a forced mixture of
Speaker 2: oil and water. They come in two main types, oil
Speaker 2: and water, where tiny droplets of oil are suspended in water,
Speaker 2: or water in oil where water droplets are suspended in
Speaker 2: an oil base.
Speaker 1: Which explains the difference between a really heavy cold cream
Speaker 1: and a daily face lotion. A cold cream is heavily
Speaker 1: fat based, utilizing ingredients like beeswax right right.
Speaker 2: Contrast that with vanishing creams. Those are your typical day creams.
Speaker 2: They're formulated to rub in quickly and form a semi exclusive,
Speaker 2: non greasy residual film on the surface.
Speaker 1: So they seem to vanish, but they leave a microthin
Speaker 1: protective barrier behind exactly, And what about cleansing the skin?
Speaker 1: The most fundamental product is obviously soap. How does the
Speaker 1: chemistry of soap actually work to clean bert?
Speaker 2: Soaprolizes on a chemical reaction called the pontification. Strictly defined,
Speaker 2: soaps are the sodium or potassium salts of long chain
Speaker 2: fatty acids.
Speaker 1: But what is physically happening in that reaction? Like if
Speaker 1: we zoomed in.
Speaker 2: Okay, so you start with triglycerides, which are the natural
Speaker 2: structures found in fats and oils. You react those fats
Speaker 2: with a highly alkaline aqueous solution.
Speaker 1: Like sodium hydroxide, right.
Speaker 2: Either sodiumhydroxide or potassium hydroxide. That harsh chemical reaction literally
Speaker 2: rips the triglycerides apart and creates a brand new molecule.
Speaker 2: And that new molecule is a surfactant. Yes, Surfactant potification
Speaker 2: is literally the process of manufacturing those anthhiphilic two ended
Speaker 2: molecules from scratch. That is so one end will now
Speaker 2: grab the grease on your skin and the other will
Speaker 2: grab the water from your shower.
Speaker 1: Okay, now what happens when we move from washing the
Speaker 1: skin on our face to washing the hair on our
Speaker 1: head Because the scalp produces completely different oils and hair
Speaker 1: has a completely different structure than the epidermis.
Speaker 2: Oh, the parameters for hair care are incredibly strict. A
Speaker 2: proper shampoo has a very specific mandate. It must remove
Speaker 2: surface grease, dirt, and skin debris from the hair, shaft
Speaker 2: and scalp. But it must do so safely without stripping
Speaker 2: the hair structural integrity.
Speaker 1: And to achieve that safety, the text outlines precise numerical specifications,
Speaker 1: very precise. First, the ideal pH for a shampoo must
Speaker 1: sit exactly between five point eight and six point two second,
Speaker 1: the viscosity, meaning the thickness, must be between forty five
Speaker 1: thousand and sixty thousand centipoise.
Speaker 2: And just for context, if you want to understand, centipoise
Speaker 2: is a unit of measurement. I think of pure water,
Speaker 2: water is roughly one centipoise. Honey is about ten thousand centipois.
Speaker 1: Wait, so at forty five thousand to sixty thousand centopores,
Speaker 1: shampoo is massively thick. It is, but why does it
Speaker 1: need to be exactly that thick? Does that specific viscosity
Speaker 1: provide like a pharmacological benefit to the hair shaft or
Speaker 1: is it purely to satisfy our psychological expectation of what
Speaker 1: a luxurious lather should feel like.
Speaker 2: It's actually a brilliant intersection of physics and consumer psychology.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean, from a purely pharmacological standpoint, a water easer
Speaker 2: factant would clean your hair perfectly fine, But at one
Speaker 2: set of pois it would immediately run right through your
Speaker 2: fingers and down the drain before it ever reached your scalp.
Speaker 1: Ah.
Speaker 2: I see, Yeah, forty five thousand to sixty thousand set
Speaker 2: of pois, it stays cupped in your palm, it distributes
Speaker 2: evenly through the dense matrix of your hair, and yes,
Speaker 2: it triggers the psychological satisfaction of a rich, high quality product.
Speaker 1: Wow. We also see some extreme chemistry in hair lighteners
Speaker 1: and bleaches too, but they work in reverse right. Instead
Speaker 1: of depositing color or removing dirt, they use oxidative chemistry
Speaker 1: to actively destroy and remove the natural melanin pigment inside
Speaker 1: the hair shaft.
Speaker 2: And when we talk about formulations that ultra biology, sun
Speaker 2: protection honestly carries the highest stakes of all.
Speaker 1: Oh, without a doubt.
Speaker 2: Sunscreens and sun blocks are engineered to protect cellular DNA
Speaker 2: from UV rays. And because of the medical implications of
Speaker 2: skin cancer, any formulation making a claim that it protects
Speaker 2: against UVB rays cannot just rely on theory.
Speaker 1: No, it has to be proven exactly.
Speaker 2: It must undergo rigorous FDA approved SBF or sun protection
Speaker 2: factor testing on human subjects.
Speaker 1: The necessity of strict testing like SBF brings us to
Speaker 1: a really fascinating modern trend. I mean, we've mastered these
Speaker 1: highly engineered synthetic molecules, but modern cosmetic science is heavily
Speaker 1: circling back to ancient botanical text right, like the rigveda
Speaker 1: and ire veda, it really is only this time, instead
Speaker 1: of just crushing leaves, scientists are applying rigorous, modern analytical
Speaker 1: testing to these ancient ingredients.
Speaker 2: It's the integration of herbal cosmetics with modern quality control.
Speaker 2: The industry is utilizing crude herbs and extracts, but evaluating
Speaker 2: them with absolute biotech precision.
Speaker 1: Like what kind of herbs?
Speaker 2: Well, we see albavera heavily utilized for its clinically proven
Speaker 2: healing and moisturizing properties, Turmeric is formulated for skin enhancement
Speaker 2: and brightening, and.
Speaker 1: Hennah, which has traditionally been used to dye hair and
Speaker 1: paint nails yellow and orange.
Speaker 2: Right. In the oral and dental care space, ingredients like amla, neme,
Speaker 2: and clove are incredibly common now.
Speaker 1: The advantages of these herbal integrations are pretty clear. When
Speaker 1: formulated correctly, they are generally safer and carry way fewer
Speaker 1: side effects than harsh synthetic alternatives.
Speaker 2: They do, but there are distinct disadvantages from a pharmacological
Speaker 2: perspective too. Really, like what well, the therapeutic effects are
Speaker 2: often much slower, requiring long term therapy to see actual results. Furthermore,
Speaker 2: the manufacturing process to extract, standardize, and stabilize these complex
Speaker 2: organic compounds is vastly more complicated than just synthesizing a
Speaker 2: simple chemical and a lab.
Speaker 1: That makes sense, and to manage that complexity and protect
Speaker 1: the consumer. These products are regulated by institutions like the
Speaker 1: Bureau of Indian Standards or BIS, which operates product certification schemes, and.
Speaker 2: The BIS guidelines do not leave room for interpretation. For example,
Speaker 2: the BIS dictates that a skin cream must physically be
Speaker 2: a thick emulsion or an Uncswiss.
Speaker 1: Mass unctuous, meaning it has a specifically oily, soapy or
Speaker 1: greasy tactile feel.
Speaker 2: Exactly, it must feel a certain way and possess a
Speaker 2: pleasant odor. A shampoo can legally be a liquid and
Speaker 2: emulsion or a paste, and a dentiferics like your toothpaste,
Speaker 2: is strictly defined as a substance intended solely for cleaning
Speaker 2: accessible surfaces of the teeth.
Speaker 1: But how does a manufacturer prove to the regulators that
Speaker 1: a cream is actually moisturizing or that a shampoo actually
Speaker 1: removes oil. To substantiate the claims printed on the label,
Speaker 1: cosmetic scientists use an array of highly specialized biotech evaluation instruments.
Speaker 2: These instruments are so cool. They take subjective claims like
Speaker 2: hydrating and turn them into objective data. Let's look at
Speaker 2: the sevmimeter.
Speaker 1: Okay, the semimeter.
Speaker 2: It is used to measure sebum, which is the waxy,
Speaker 2: oily substance produced by your sebaceous glands.
Speaker 1: But how does a machine actually measure oil on the face.
Speaker 2: It uses photometry. You press a special opaque synthetic tape
Speaker 2: against the skin or the scalp. The tape absorbs the
Speaker 2: sebum and becomes transparent. Oh wow. Then the sabiumeter shines
Speaker 2: a light to the tape. The more sebum that was absorbed,
Speaker 2: the more transparent it is, and the more light passes through.
Speaker 2: This gives the scientist an exact, quantifiable measurement of the
Speaker 2: skin's oil levels.
Speaker 1: That is brilliant. Then there is the corneometer, which you
Speaker 1: mentioned is the gold standard for measuring hydration in the
Speaker 1: stratum corneum. If a brand claims their lotion is repairing
Speaker 1: or vitalizing, they are using a corneometer to prove it.
Speaker 1: How does that one work?
Speaker 2: It relies on electrical capacitance. Water is an excellent conductor
Speaker 2: of electricity and It has a complete different dialectric constant
Speaker 2: than dry dead skin cells. So the corneometer sends a tiny, harmless,
Speaker 2: high frequency electrical field into the very top layer of
Speaker 2: the skin. By measuring how the skin responds to that
Speaker 2: electrical field, it instantly calculates the exact water content of
Speaker 2: the epidermis.
Speaker 1: That is incredible. They also use the maxameter and the
Speaker 1: colorimeter right yep.
Speaker 2: Those are used to objectively assess skin color by measuring
Speaker 2: light reflection. They are vital for proving the efficacy of
Speaker 2: products designed to fade age spots or for measuring the
Speaker 2: exact extent of UV sun damage.
Speaker 1: My personal favor is TWL trans epidermal water.
Speaker 2: Loss, So TWL is the ultimate test of the skin's
Speaker 2: barrier function. It physically measures the amount of water vapor
Speaker 2: that is passively evapidating off the surface of the skin.
Speaker 1: So if the TWL measurement is high, it means the
Speaker 1: skin's barrier is compromised and moisture.
Speaker 2: Is escaping exactly. A successful moisturizer will drastically lower the
Speaker 2: TWL reading.
Speaker 1: Finally, for haircare, they utilize tensile strength testing. This is
Speaker 1: literally applying mechanical engineering to human biology.
Speaker 2: It really is.
Speaker 1: They clamp a single strand of hair into a machine
Speaker 1: and measure the exact amount of stress it can withstand
Speaker 1: before snapping. It proves whether a conditioning treatment is actually
Speaker 1: reinforcing the structural integrity of the hair shaft.
Speaker 2: Using all these tools takes the guesswork out of product formulation.
Speaker 2: You are no longer guessing if an ancient remedy works,
Speaker 2: You are mathematically proving it.
Speaker 1: Which brings us to a provocative thought to close out
Speaker 1: this deep dive. Hear it, as we use electrical capacitance
Speaker 1: from a corneometer or photometric light from a subumeter to
Speaker 1: scientifically validate the use of ingredients like alo turmeric a nime.
Speaker 1: Are we simply using modern pharmacology to mathematically prove what
Speaker 1: the Egyptians and Iravatic scholars already knew thousands of years ago.
Speaker 2: That is a fascinating question.
Speaker 1: I mean, it makes you wonder how much ancient botanical
Speaker 1: wisdom is just sitting there waiting for a corniometer to
Speaker 1: validate it.
Speaker 2: It really is a profound realization for anyone entering this field.
Speaker 2: Modern science doesn't always have to invent new mechanisms. Sometimes
Speaker 2: its greatest achievement is simply quantifying and stabilizing the mechanisms
Speaker 2: that nature has provided.
Speaker 1: All along, very well said, all right, if you are
Speaker 1: a pharmacy student or just someone who wants to remember
Speaker 1: what you learn today, it is time to fulfill our
Speaker 1: educational mission with a rapid fire end of semester.
Speaker 2: Quiz, Oh love a good quiz.
Speaker 1: I'm going to ask three questions based on what we
Speaker 1: just covered. I will pause after each one. Let's see
Speaker 1: if you can answer them before I give you the solution.
Speaker 2: Gratty ready.
Speaker 1: Question one, to ensure that a surfactant effectively binds to
Speaker 1: both oil and water in a cosmetic formulation, what is
Speaker 1: the precise carbon chain length required for its hydrophobic tail?
Speaker 2: We talked about this being super precise, so see if
Speaker 2: you remember the exact number.
Speaker 1: The answer is exactly eight to eighteen carbon atoms.
Speaker 2: Got to have that exact balance, right, okay.
Speaker 1: Question two, what specific protein breaks down to form the
Speaker 1: natural moist sturizing factor or NMF found in the stratum
Speaker 1: corneum of your skin?
Speaker 2: Is a tricky one, starts with an F.
Speaker 1: The answer is filigrine.
Speaker 2: Nice.
Speaker 1: Question three, to maintain safety and the structural integrity of
Speaker 1: the hair. What is the ideal pH range for a
Speaker 1: properly formulated shampoo?
Speaker 2: Thinks slightly acidic.
Speaker 1: The answer is five point eight to six point two perfect.
Speaker 1: If you got all three, you are officially ready for
Speaker 1: the lab. Thank you for joining us on this deep
Speaker 1: dive into the molecular reality of cosmetic science. We hope
Speaker 1: that tomorrow morning, when you pick up that bottle of
Speaker 1: face wash or squeeze then incredibly viscous shampoo into your palm,
Speaker 1: you look past the marketing.
Speaker 2: Appreciate the complex pharmacology, the eight to eighteen carbon chains
Speaker 2: holding the oils together, and the meticulous science inside every
Speaker 2: single drop.
Speaker 1: Keep questioning, keep learning, and we will catch you on
Speaker 1: the next deep dial.