ABSTRACT
Besides maintenance of the skin tone and fairness, cosmetics have some other important ingredients such as UV filtering agents which confer protection against harmful UV radiations present in sunlight. Based on the wavelength bands, UV rays are categorized as UVA, UVB, and UVC, among which UVC is often filtered by ozone in our atmosphere. UVA and UVB are known to induce different effects on skin, generally aging and burns respectively. UV filters have therefore been a preferred choice in cosmetics meant for topical applications. Recently herbal medicines have also been integrated to cosmetics and several benefits of phytochemicals have been harnessed. Also, some novel classes of antioxidants emerging from nanosize derivatization of inorganic materials have been studied. This chapter describes major UV protecting agents from various plant sources and recent advancement in nano-medicine for improvement in the context of UV protection.
