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Hydrocarbon Oils in Cosmetics



Mineral oil based, high-purity white oils and synthetic hydrocarbons have been used in cosmetic products for many years.

They are justified because they have a special influence on the sensory properties, texture and applicability of the cosmetic product. From a physical-chemical point of view, these products are resistant to oxidation and UV radiation, which excludes negative influences on the skin and at the same time provides a protective function. The hydrocarbons usually also have an emollient effect on the skin.

At the same time, silicone oils (cyclomethicone and dimethicone) have been used on a large scale in cosmetic products for several decades to provide special additional properties.

 

In recent years, however, environmental, and human studies have shown that some of these products are poorly or very poorly biodegradable or metabolizable and accumulate in biological tissues (Pirow et al. 2023). Some substances can also develop toxic properties during biodegradation. Based on these findings, new assessment criteria have been introduced in the EU for the hazardous substance properties of persistence and bioaccumulation.

For this reason, there is a great need for alternatives (Goussard et al. 2022). Based on the findings that certain chemical structures of hydrocarbons are particularly suitable for replacing highly branched isoparaffins or mineral oil-based white oils or silicone oils, new product groups have been developed that are a novelty today. They have the potential to replace various ingredients in cosmetics.

At the same time, they are very easy to eliminate from the environment as they demonstrate very good biodegradability and therefore also fulfil the requirements of the EU Green Deal "for a toxic free environment".

A high level of substitution pressure has currently developed in this area, which means the end of some traditionally used raw materials in cosmetics.

Bio-based hydrocarbons (Antoine Piccirilli) are on the rise but are still rare in this application, as the respective processes are either not yet fully developed, or their raw materials are taken from the food chain. This also raises the question of whether biodiversity will not also be impaired in some cases. These products are also not available today in the different qualities and volumes required.

Another toxicological focus is on the endocrine disrupting properties of chemicals. Here, hydrocarbons offer the advantage that they are free of functional polar groups that can react with relevant receptors.

 


Literature
Antoine Piccirilli: The science of bio-based alkanes in cosmetics. In: Personal Care Magazine 2022
Goussard, Valentin; Aubry, Jean-Marie; Nardello-Rataj, Véronique (2022): Bio-based alternatives to volatile silicones: Relationships between chemical structure, physicochemical properties and functional performances. In: Advances in colloid and interface science 304, S. 102679. DOI: 10.1016/j.cis.2022.102679.
Pirow, Ralph; Concin, Nicole; Grob, Koni (2023): Evidence for an accumulation of mineral oil saturated hydrocarbons (MOSH) in human tissues: a re-evaluation of biopsy and autopsy data. In: J Consum Prot Food Saf. DOI: 10.1007/s00003-023-01458-5.