Natural Polymer Solutions for Skin Care: Replace Synthetic Rheology Polymers Seamlessly

Consumers are recognizing that personal health and well-being are more than just an essential requirement of their everyday lives. Consumer needs are increasingly becoming more holistic as they begin to incorporate environmental and ethical aspirations. This means that consumers are looking for beauty products that are safer, make a difference, and take care not just of themselves, but also of the environment and society. Syensqo is continually pushing the boundaries of science to inspire a new era of beauty care that unites science, sustainability, and purpose for the benefit of people and the planet.

The market is looking for change, but why substitute synthetic rheology polymers?

Synthetic rheology polymers are widely used in skin care products. However, as consumer demand for Clean, Green and Certified Beauty increases, the use of natural rheology polymers is on the rise. In fact, in Europe and North America, the usage of natural rheology polymers is starting to exceed the use of synthetic polymers.

The use of rheology polymers by region 

The trustworthiness of these natural ingredients is further reinforced if they are also responsibly sourced and produced. Therefore ingredients must be safe for the user and for the environment: non-toxic, non-irritating, biodegradable, eco-friendly, without concerning chemicals, and more. So, for formulators it means getting back to the basics, optimizing the efficacy and leveraging multifunctional solutions.

But this is not all. Today’s regulatory context is complicated, with upcoming proposals to restrict the content of intentionally added microplastics plus the need to meet demanding biodegradability criteria on the horizon. These REACH polymer regulations put pressure on manufacturers of products containing synthetic rheology polymers to rapidly substitute with natural solutions.
 

The reformulation challenges of replacing synthetic rheology polymers

Rheology polymers must deliver three key attributes: viscosity, stability and particularly in skin care formulations, a good and pleasant skin feel. However, while synthetic rheology polymers can respond, to a greater or lesser extent, to all three criteria, natural rheology polymers continue to struggle in terms of all-round performance.  So, formulators looking to replace a synthetic polymer with a natural one are unable to maintain the same performance with a one-to-one switch. It is often possible to achieve ideal viscosity levels but there are some aesthetic issues, or a great skin feel comes at the expense of an inadequate level of viscosity.

Therefore, as natural polymers do not have the same versatility of use as synthetic ones, formulators resort to adopting a combination of natural polymers to fully achieve all performance criteria. However, finding the ideal combination is not always quick and easy.

Syensqo, thanks to a wide range of natural polymers and a wealth of experience in their application, can offer formulators the perfect ratio between two of our natural solutions. Naternal™ Guar Gum P SGI and Rheozan® SH can perfectly mimic a synthetic polymer in terms of properties and skin feel. This enables a rapid replacement of synthetic polymers by ensuring the end result in terms of viscosity, stability and skin feel.

With this already tested and approved association of Naternal™ Guar Gum P SGI and Rheozan® SH formulators are sure to create natural formulations with high viscosity, strong stability, excellent spreading and soft skin feel.