Whitening products have shown tremendous growth in recent years. This is especially true of tropical places like Indonesia where the local women strive for a lighter skin complexion.
There are many harsh whitening products in the market; however, consumers are now shifting towards the safer, naturallyderived whitening agents. Several aspects should be considered when utilising plant materials in cosmetics, such as the quality of the plant materials, process, its stability, biological activity, and safety considerations. The aim of this study is to look for a whitening agent from an Indonesian botanical resource. This paper will describe a stable natural complex ingredient (SWC*) extracted with ethanol from several plants i.e. Tamarindus indica Linn., Centella asiatica (L.) Urb., Phyllanthus niruri L., Saccharum officinarum L. and Kaempferia galanga L. The study was carried out using several methods, i.e. DPPH scavenging activity according to Shimada et al for the antioxidant agent and anti tyrosinase activity according to Vanni et al for the whitening agent. We also conducted a dermatological safety test using Repeated Opened Patch Test (ROPT) and Single Closed Patch Test (SCPT), where each test involved more than 50 selected healthy volunteers who signed informed consent. The HETCAM test was also performed to evaluate the irritation at ocular level; while the efficacy test on human melanin skin was performed using Mexameter. All clinical studies were conducted according to good clinical practices. It can be concluded that SWC* is indicated to be safe for human skin as well as for eyes and could be used as an antioxidant and whitening agent.
Whitening products have shown tremendous growth in recent years. This is especially true of tropical places like Indonesia where the local women strive to have a lighter skin complexion. There are many harsh whitening products in the market; however, consumers are now shifting towards the safer, naturally derived whitening agents. Several aspects should be considered when utilising plant materials in cosmetic, such as, the quality of the plant materials, process, its stability, biological activity, and safety consideration.
Objective
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