Suppliers are generating new ways for using natural ingredients which increase functionality of ingredients in a multitude of applications.
As the natural trend gains momentum and it exerts a strong impact on consumers. Moreover, the cosmetic and personal care industry is rising to the challenge by developing effective, natural replacements at a reasonable cost.
In March of this year, Kemin entered the personal care market with functional ingredients to improve the quality, performance and delivery of personal care products. Their proprietary star product Rosamox, derived from rosemary, is a natural antioxidant that prevents oxidative degradation of fats and oils.
Kemin’s products are 100 percent plant based and are selected for a particular target molecule. After selection, conventional plant breeding technologies are used to achieve optimum levels of plant bioactives. They then choose sturdy phenotypical plants that will produce a strong yield. This makes their entire process highly sustainable.
Replacing controversial ingredients has been a problem for many contract manufacturers in the past, and thus, raw material suppliers have recently risen to the challenge with a plethora of naturally formulated ingredients to choose from.
Noveon has a multitude of vegetable derived surfactants and features Sulfochem, derived from coconut fatty alcohol without palm kernel derivatives. This ingredient is a cost-effective anionic surfactant that formulates easily with secondary surfactants to provide excellent foaming characteristics in cleansing products.
Abitec raises the bar in replacements by using Zemea derived from corn to replace traditional propylene glycol and propane diolesters. Abitec features ABI-Latum a vegetable vased substitute for petrolateum and ABI-Lin a natural base for lanolin. Then there is IGI Cares using IGI Sebapet, a Sunflower Oil and Jojoba Oil product which mimics the range of fatty acids found in natural sebum.
Silicone is next on the replacement list and Alban Muller has a milk thistle oil trade named Lipolami, which is obtained through transesterification of the fatty acids triglycerides of the milk thistle oil. The properties include a fluid, dry soft-touch oil with a silky, light, non-sticky touch.
In the hair world, AkzoNobel has developed a clear hair-fixing polymer which rivals synthetic polymers for performance and the Biostyle CGP polymer is more than 50 percent natural. This is an amazing breakthrough, as naturally derived polymers in the past have been cloudy, which prevented brands from optimizing clear packaging.
With all the natural ingredients being made available for formulation, the next wave of consumer driven natural products will have spectacular ingredients at a marketable price, a coup d'état for all consumers.