The Chemistry Behind the Makeup

[dropcap]A[/dropcap]s I look back at my college years studying medicine, I can still remember how much I loved staying up all hours of the night studying General Chemistry and Organic Chemistry. And yes, even lab hours were met with excitement.  While my time in college has come and gone, it still amazes me to see that Chemistry is everywhere, even in the cosmetic world. Maybe it is my academic background, but I have always been intrigued by the behind the scenes of cosmetic chemistry.

Here is a little history factoid to spike the curiosity.

Did you know that in prehistoric times, early modern humans decorated themselves with natural pigments found in plants and fruits?  Interesting given the rising movement towards more all-natural makeup.  But the history lesson doesn’t stop here.  In 3000 BC, the Chinese started painting their fingernails with colors extracted from natural sources. There is even evidence that shows cosmetics were very much in existence in ancient Egypt. Archaeological excavations have uncovered palettes dating around the 31st century BC that were used for grinding and applying ingredients as cosmetics. The evidence of cosmetic products over the centuries is vast.

The United States and Europe don’t fall back on their own cosmetic production history. Max  Factor, the father of modern cosmetics, founded Max Factor & Company in 1909. The company first specialized in cosmetics formulated and designed for film. Factor began working with various compounds to develop make-up suitable for the new film medium–creating his legendary Flexible Greasepaint. And it didn’t stop there. Factor invented the first lip gloss in 1930 and launches the first commercial lip gloss (“X-Rated”) lip gloss in 1932. It is safe to say the tremendous impact Max Factor had and continues to have in the modern cosmetic industry is without question. Another fabulous cosmetic innovation is the modern day mascara.  Now in 1920, the first commercial non toxic mascara was developed by a chemist and founder of Rimmel London, Eugene Rimmel.

I could go on and on the vast and rich history of the cosmetic industry over the centuries. But a recurring theme in all these key moments is that behind the cosmetics, there is chemistry at work.

While there is a wide selection of cosmetics for every occasion and skin type, there is generally a chemist (or several) experimenting with various ingredients and chemicals to create new cosmetic products. Now brushing up on cosmetic chemistry and understanding your product is not difficult. In fact, knowing the purpose of certain ingredients in the beauty products we want to try out can give us the knowledge necessary to make a smart purchase decision.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires all cosmetic manufacturers to place labels, clearly, listing ingredients in descending order of weight. Ingredients that are less than 1% in a product are listed after other ingredients, not in descending order of weight. Again, in learning the fundamentals about your choices in makeup, can reduce your chance of developing rashes, acne, even eye infections.

Firstly, most ingredients are intended to give the product its consistency and color. Basic classes of ingredients include coloring agents, bases, additives, and bulking agents. Secondly, each one of us has an individual skin chemistry. Now color is what usually comes to mind immediately when we think of cosmetics. Whether it is to create a blue based red lipstick, a muted lilac eyeshadow, or a dusky rose blush, chemists combine specific dyes and pigments to achieve a certain color. With the massive list of compounds and combinations available, the possibilities are endless. Chromium oxide, aluminum starch, manganese, iron oxide, mica, kaolin, silica, and titanium dioxide are just a short list of examples of mineral ingredients essential to our beloved favorites.

A challenge facing a chemist is finding ways to make the products adhere successfully to our faces. While I might appreciate the art of the touch up,  not everyone else feels the same way. Many people want and need their products to have great lasting power and stand through tears, humidity, eating, drinking, and of course, kissing!

Preservatives that kill microbes are an important additive in most makeup too. Many microorganisms reproduce rapidly in moist and warm solutions. One of the two cosmetic products to keep your eyes on is foundation and mascara as they are an ideal culture medium for harmful microbes without preservatives.

Fascinating right? I could spend days learning more about the science that goes into some of my favorite beauty products.