The Mental, Chemical and Physical Challenges of...

Published on by

The Mental, Chemical and Physical Challenges of Creating a Palm-Free Emulsion

The Mental : Part One :

One of the biggest environmental issues centers of the state of the world's forests and that is as it should be. Trees play an important role in managing air quality, play host to thousands upon thousands of species of flora and fauna, give us shelter, building materials, medicine and even spirituality - things we all know but that are somewhat forgotten in the endless pursuit of more.


There is the black market logging in Siberia, shredding hundreds of years' worth of history and biodiversity every hour and then the change of land use occurring all over South East Asia which is ripping into Orang Utan land, dis-placing whole forest dwelling human tribes and leaving mono-culture palm in its place.It is easier not to get upset about it all really. But before we sit in our Ivory towers and judge maybe we should look out of our own windows. Closer to home we see our Australian native forests thud relentlessly down to quench our thirst for whiter than white photocopy and cushiony soft toilet paper. It makes it hard to know what to do. Especially given our less than perfect personal preferences. I mean would YOU listen to YOU when it comes to saving the trees? I know that I for one, need to do more.

Regardless to which part of this de-forestation activity will make the most impact globally the popular vote, at least in Australia remains with Palm Oil and as such an increasing minority are moving towards a palm free future and that includes their cosmetics.

To find out if that is possible we need to delve into some chemistry.

The Chemical :

First things first it is important for those new to the cosmetics industry to know that palm oil as a straight oil ingredient is rarely added to a cosmetic formulation. There is no real reason why it shouldn't be but for whatever reason coconut or other oils have always taken precedent leaving palm to go off to the processing plants to be turned into other things.

Being a highly productive crop producing oil that is versatile and easy to break up (fractionate) most cosmetic palm gets chopped up and reacted into a whole range of ingredients that may or may not have a name that even resembles palm. In fact some of the ingredients that DO sound like they come from palm can come from coconut or other oil-based feed stocks leaving asking the manufacturer or supplier (who will get confirmation from the manufacturer) the only real way to know what's what! Confused yet?

To clarify that further lets take the word 'palmitate' as in isopropyl palmitate or cetyl palmitate and use that as an example. Palmitate is the ester form of palmitic acid, a naturally occurring fatty acid with a carbon chain that is 16 carbons long. That is all it means. It was given the name because when palm oil was first fractionated (split up) it was discovered that the C16 fraction was the most abundant so C16 acids were named after palm. They could have been named after a person, a place or something else but palm it was.Isopropyl Palmitate is most likely to come from palm but it is also possible that this chemical originated in a coconut tree which, for one reason or another has none of the negative connotations of its close cousin Palm. Cetyl Palmitate is another interesting ingredient as this time it COULD be from sperm whales. The practice of extracting cetyl palmitate from sperm whales has all but vanished from our cosmetic melting pot and while I would always advocate checking rather than assuming the odds on this being vegetable derived would be high. Today most cetyl palmitate comes from either Palm OR coconut but it could come from rapeseed or another long-chain feedstock oil.

Technicalities aside there are several common families of ingredient that need to be seriously researched before you can claim palm free with any certainty.

  1. Glycerin – most comes from the saponification of palm purely as palm is the oil most often saponified. However, glycerin can come from ANY oil including animal sources so it is best to check.
     
  2. Emulsifiers –these may not even sound like palm and could include the phrase 'olive derived' 'wheat based', something 'glucoside' and many more besides. There are very few palm-free emulsifiers which is why making an emulsion with this philosophy is so tricky.
     
  3. Emollients – Outside of straight vegetable oils this is hard and would require substantial research. There are many natural palm free emollients esters out there but not usually in the cheap and easily available side of town. My favorites at the moment are: Olive Squalane, Capryloyl Glycerin/Sebacic Acid Copolymer, Natural Wax Jelly and Lanolin.
     
  4. Actives – It is always possible that actives are created with some palm content and as such these also need checking.
     

So now we have a bit of an idea about how tricky this might be its time to get into the physical challenges of making one.

New Directions have just added a new, palm-free emulsifier to their range of offerings - Glyceryl Stearate Citrate. My question is, can this be used as a stand-alone emulsifier?

Glyceryl Stearate Citrate is an ANIONIC emulsifier meaning that it doesn't have a true HLB (HLB only works reliably with non-ionics). Instead of the Hydrophilic, Lipophilic balancing act this emulsifier works on electrostatic attraction - like a magnet. The anionic nature means that in water becomes charged and as opposite charges attract and like repelling it builds up a sort of electric fence inside your mixture forming an emulsion of oils in water in its wake. This type of emulsifier is good but does have its limits as too much electrolyte can de-stabilise it (whereas a little will actually make it stronger). That means going easy (potentially) on Aloe Vera, Sodium PCA, Himalayan Rock Salt and some herbal extracts. These days' anionics are usually used to help boost the power of an emulsion that is emulsified using a largely non-ionic wax.

Therefore it seems to me to be very important that other supporting structures are put into place to help this emulsion to stay put. Cue the water thickeners!

Adding a gum to your water phase is of critical importance when you have a fragile emulsion as it helps to slow down the passage of oil by forming a physical barrier around it. There are many palm -free gums and some that even sound 'good' - try carrageenan (Seaweed), Guar or Xanthan.

Secondly we need to make sure we match density of our oil and water phase. This again puts less stress on the emulsion (imagine carrying a load that is way too heavy for you). How is this done? Well it is a careful balancing act really that comes with practice but my top tip is this: Gums make the water phase lighter (as they trap air), humectants and salts make the water phase heavier.

Thirdly as we are struggling to find a structure agent that is palm free (cetearyl alcohol is out) we have to choose some heavy butters and waxes for our oil phase. This ensures a good build up of viscosity and body, which again helps to stabilize the product.

Finally we need a palm-free preservative which isn't such a challenge but then again we haven't ran our PET (preservative efficacy testing) yet...

Procedure:

  1. Create your single strength Aloe Solution by hydrating 1g of Aloe 200x Strength Organic Powder into 199g of purified water.
  2. Use this water for Phase A and add remaining ingredients with mixing.
  3. Heat phase A to 75°C
  4. Measure phase B ingredients into a heatproof container and heat until the beeswax melts.Cool to 75°C
  5. When phase A and B are around the same temperature combine B into A with mixing.
  6. When cooled to around 50°C add phase C ingredients with mixing.
Palm Free Emulsion

A medium viscosity moisturizer ideal for dispensing from a pump pack. This is palm free and could also be organically certified. It is possible to customize this with additional extracts and actives but keep in mind that the emulsion is quite delicate and may be de-stabilized by too many actives. As it stands this has passed three freeze/thaw cycles but no micro challenge testing has been carried out.


'Fruit Fix' Palm Oil Free Daily Moisturising Lotion. This is a medium viscosity moisturiser ideal for dispensing via a pump pack. It has been developed to be palm free and could meet Organic Certification standards with a potential organic content over 80%. Physical and Microbial stability have not yet been tested.

  Ingredient INCI Name % Function
Phase A Aloe Vera Juice(single strength) Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice 74.75 Solvent and moisturising active. Also increases the ionic strength of the water phase which makes it easier for the anionic emulsifier to work.
  Xanthan and Acacia Gum Xanthan Gum, Acacia Gum 1.5 Thickener, emulsion stabiliser, rheological modifier and skin tightening active for that light 'botox' feel.
  Sodium Phytate Sodium Phytate 0.1 Chelating agent to assist in preservation by binding up minerals and trace elements that microbes can feed on.
  Ingredient INCI Name % Function
Phase B Grapeseed Oil   5 Main oil for emoliency. Grapeseed is a light and non-greasy carrier oil with good stability. It is also not that shiny which is great for skin care.
  Glyceryl Stearate Citrate Glyceryl Stearate Citrate 4 Primary emulsifier. This is anionic which means it doesn't have a 'true' HLB but works electrostatically. This is recommended for use at between 1-4%, the lower end would be perfect if you were using another emulsifier as the primary but in this case I've gone for it at the maximum level. At 4% it can be a little soapy so you have to formulate around that.
  Shea Butter Butyrospermum Parkii Butter 10 Extra moisturisation and for added depth to the oil phase. Shea is very good at forming a barrier on the skin and will give this cream some longevity in feel and performance.
  Beeswax Cera Alba 0.5 Beeswax has been added to the cream to help further stabilise the oil phase. Beeswax is not a bad option and it is all natural and can be sourced organically. Organic beeswax also adds a delightful sweet aroma to the base note of the cream.
  Ingredient INCI Name % Function
Phase C Preservative Naticide® Parfum 1 Naticide® is a commonly used natural preservative. Putting it in at 1% with the other hurdles we have in the formula gives us a half decent chance of passing a PET (Preservative efficacy test).
  Blueberry Liquid Extract Aqua, Vaccinium Uliginosum Berry Extract, Phenoxyethanol, Caprylyl Glycol 3 Bilberry is a great source of vitamin A and C which are essential nutrients for skin conditioning. It also gives a beautiful pink tinge to the cream building on the beautiful strawberry and vanilla aroma that we have built in.
  Aroma Risdon International Strawbery and vanilla RCD 805 0.15 This perfume was developed by Risdon International and has a light and fruity aroma. Perfect for day use and a great change from straight essential oils.
    Total 100  

 

The Mental : Part Two :

While looking for replacements for palm we found that the alternatives are often manufactured from Rapeseed oil - related to canola but usually only grown for industrial purposes rather than food.This was interesting but begged the question - is it an environmentally friendly crop?

Rapeseed oil is grown in temperate climates and as such is popular across Europe and into America (although it can be grown in other locations). It is quite productive and is the next most productive crop to palm and coconut (which are about the same) in terms of yield per hectare.The only difference being that palm produces (conservatively) around 4mt per hectare and Rapeseed around 0.6 MT per hectare. That raises a red flag right there but anyway...

The next thing is to look at what help is required when raising this crop- I'm talking pesticides.Palm is being grown with the help of pesticides and some pretty gruesome ones at that. However, once the crop is established the canopy cover tends to block out light from the forest floor. Without light no weeds or foreign plants can grow and without the plants the fauna tends to drop off in number too - starved out so to speak.So when it comes to palm it looks to be reasonable in terms of pesticide load required to maintain a mature crop (not so reasonable for new plantations containing seedlings).

Rapeseed oil is grown with pesticides too and some of those are being blamed for the drastic drop in Bee populations across Europe. Of course it isn't just Rapeseed that is to blame but as a crop it does its fair share. Treatment is required at intervals throughout the crops growth depending on location due to the fact that this crop doesn't shield out the sun (it is not tall enough).

Another factor to consider is the growth pattern of the crops. Palm is productive for around 20 years so one period of planting and pesticide treatment will potentially cover the crop for the next 20 years (in an ideal world). Rapeseed is an annual crop that required spraying at least once per growing season.In 20 years it could be sprayed 20 times. That also raises a red flag to me!

Currently some of Europe's Rapeseed farmers have been working towards reducing their pesticide use and have pledged to do more by 2015 at the cost of crop yield and quality. A mature market such as Europe can bare these 'costs' as they are more than outweighed by the benefits of a healthy population of pollinizers.The palm oil market isn't quite at the same stage in its development and as such is much more price sensitive. Plus, as we see above the actual environmental cost of growing palm from a pesticide perspective seems to be lower albeit present.

So does a palm-free emulsion serve any purpose in the grand scheme of things?

I will leave you to ponder that one but will also say this. Understanding the limits as well as the potential of our creations is crucial to our development. The palm-free stance is political, complex and deserves much thought and time. As such if a palm free emulsion helps to open a few like-minded doors for you then so be it.

Amanda Foxon-Hill

23 August 2013

More about: Emulsion, Palm Free, Palm Oil

This post has been closed; further comments cannot be added.