Cosmetic Science/Purpose

Why Learn Cosmetic Science?

The cosmetics industry is swamped with marketing hype, often promoting ingredients or treatments with little to no evidence of efficacy. The internet is filled with claims about home remedies and industrial ingredients, but those claims tend to have just as little evidence. With known scientific principles and the available scientific literature online, we can predict what will work without relying on unbacked claims. Here's how learning cosmetic science can change your life as both a shopper and DIYer.

1. Get Better Results
Listening to testimonials, marketing labels like "Dermatologist Tested", and advertisements are ineffective ways to predict how well a product would work for you. A product's efficacy is actually based on a few variables: the active ingredients, concentration, and your personal skin attributes. Too often, people confuse active ingredients with "claims ingredients". Claims ingredients are ingredients that provide no functional benefit to the user, but are added to the product in order to impress consumers. Knowing how to distinguish the effective ingredients and how much of it is suitable for your body makes it much easier to find what works for you. Besides shopping, cosmetic science allows you to be a better home formulator. To make a quality product, you need to know about ingredient compatibility, the causes of skin irritation, how to create the desired texture, and so on. All of this is based on the underlying chemical properties of the ingredients and their biochemical interactions with the body.
2. Save Time and Money
By looking for the right ingredients and concentration, you do not have to spend as much time experimenting with various products. Knowing why a particular product works well means that you don't have to be loyal to a particular brand and you have more flexibility in where you shop. In addition, it is often more cost effective to make cosmetics at home, especially if you want to use products over your entire body. Hopefully, this wikibook can help you further save time and money by preventing formulating mistakes and needless experimentation.
3. Avoid Pseudoscientific Thinking
There are many myths about cosmetics perpetuated both because of ignorance and a profit motive. These myths often prey on fear of "chemicals", "toxins", the "unnatural", and anything else unknown. This wikibook will not focus on debunking these myths. However, it will provide a basic understanding of how various ingredients can affect the body, as well as explain the federal regulations in concerns to cosmetics. This knowledge plus the resources listed in Introduction: Research Methods should allow you to assess the true risks of cosmetic ingredients.

Scientific Outreach

Cosmetic science has great potential for engaging more people, especially young women, in STEM topics. It encompasses both biology and chemistry, and relates these subjects to very common concerns. In the US, the cosmetics industry has an annual revenue of about $57 billion with the following market share:

• Skincare 34.1 %
• Haircare 24.1 %
• Make-Up 16.6 %
• Perfumes 12.7 %
• Toiletries, deodorants 11.2 %
• Oral Cosmetics 1.3 %

Additionally, 58% of girls between 8 and 18 wear make-up. Among these consumers, 65% of them started between the ages of 8 and 13 . An even greater proportion of teenagers probably use skincare, considering the market share size in comparison and the prominence of marketing for acne-related products. This makes cosmetics a highly common interest amongst a group whom educators are trying to imbue with appreciation and understanding of the sciences.

Through cosmetic science, people can learn to experiment whether by formulating or testing products. They can become more scientifically literate by learning how to read scientific studies to address their skin concerns. They can become better critical thinkers by looking beyond marketing claims and using the back label to judge the potential efficacy of the product. Cosmetic science could be one step towards more people realizing that science is not restricted to professionals in lab coats. It is a discipline that can be applied to many aspects of daily life.

Scope of this book

After reading this book readers should have a full understanding of how cosmetics work and how to formulate products at home. This book aims to explain all related concepts at the level of high school chemistry and biology. However, there will be a brief explanation of organic chemistry concepts.

Not included in this book:

• Thorough evaluations of ingredient safety and efficacy (See links at Introduction: Research Methods for more information)
• Specific formulas to follow, other than occasional examples
• Product recommendations