Ingredients focus: sun care products

Sunscreens have been produced since the mid 1940s, and the range of active ingredients used has developed over the years. There are currently about 30 UV filters in use, each with different areas of strength and levels of photostability. Following are some of the latest ingredients on the marketplace to help formulators create the next line of leading sun care products. Increasingly, protection against UV radiation is moving from a niche section of the industry into everyday skin care, which opens up a range of formulating options, including protection for hair.

Everyday use

 DSM has recently unveiled its Ultimate UV Protection concept that closes the protection gap and offers daily use solutions with the UV filter range Parsol in combination with selected actives as a biological second line of defence. With the growing awareness of the dangers of UV radiation, photo-protection is becoming part of the daily beauty routine for many consumers around the world. Many imagine – incorrectly - that an absence of sunburn indicates that the skin has not sustained harm. Recent research has shown, however, that even a very low UV dosage can cause substantial DNA damage, oxidative stress, immunosuppression and photo-ageing. As part of this range, Parsol SLX is a silicone based UVB absorber. This colourless-to-pale yellow viscous liquid integrates easily with the oil phase of sunscreen formulation. Parsol SLX is the first polymeric UVB filter consisting of chromophores attached to a silicone backbone, and is an effective photostabiliser for Parsol 1789. When combined with Parsol HS this product can achieve a very good high SPF (>30), enabling day care or sunscreen formulations that leave a dry, silky touch on the skin. Parsol SLX added to rinse-off and leave-on hair products delivers multiple benefits including prevention of colour fading, gloss enhancement and conditioning. BASF is one of the largest manufacturers of UV filters matching the challenging market demands for sunscreens that provide broad-spectrum protection and high photostability along with ease-of-use and skin-caring properties. BASF’s Tinosorb and Uvinul UV filter portfolio is one of the most comprehensive in the industry. They offer effective, longlasting protection against a wide spectrum of UV rays, are suitable for a wide range of formulations. In addition, they offer protection against free radicals that can for example cause premature skin ageing, skin pigmentation, dryness and more. A recent launch from BASF was the broad-spectrum UV filter Tinosorb A2B, which provides protection from UVB and UVAII wavelengths from 290 through to 340 nm. Thanks to its superior UV absorbance capabilities, it is now one of the most efficient UV filters available on the European market, and closes the protection gap in the UVAII range that was not covered by UV filters available to date. Again, intended for daily-use products, Flavex Naturextrakte, Germany, offers a rhatany root CO2-extract 159.004 containing lipophilic lignanes, neolignanes and norneolignanes but no condensed tanning agents which are especially well tolerated by the skin. Rhatany root originates from the American central Andes, mainly from Peru. The botanical species according to pharmacopoeias is Krameria lappacea. The Rhatany root has antioxiative, antimicrobial and antiinflammatory properties and is traditionally used in oral care products for treating mucosa inflammation. The rhatany extract has in the UVB range from 280 NM-320 nm a specific extinction of at least 20 cm2/mg, absorbs as well in the UVA2 range, but lets pass the pigmenting part of the light above 350 nm. The photoprotective effect is however not only due to a simple filtering but due to a potent antioxidative efficacy reducing harmful intercellular implication of reactive radicals already in small dose of 0.1%. The rhatany extract [INCI-declaration: Krameria Lappacea Root Extract (and) Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride] is an oil and alcohol soluble orange-brown viscous liquid with a weak pleasant smell which is easily incorporated into the oil phase of cosmetic preparations. It has the advantage of a high photo- and thermostability, guarantees based on its lipophilic character a reliable, long lasting protection, reduces the formation of toxic lipid peroxides and is therefore ideally suitable for daily skin care and sun care cosmetics. The product provides a natural protection against skin ageing and supports the endogenous repair system of the tissue. It meets the trend towards natural actives and consumers’ demand for anti-ageing components in high-grade cosmetics.