ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the use of lipids in cosmetics and personal care products. It provides the types of lipids used, the reason for their use, and how they are formulated. The emollient most commonly used by the personal care industry is hydrocarbon or mineral oil. Many personal care products contain ingredients with no real function other than to attract the customer to buy the product. Most plant lipids used in personal care products are triacylglycerols, that is, esters of glycerol and carboxylic acids. Several triacylglycerol lipids confer secondary benefits to the product such as ultraviolet absorbance. There are several sources in nature for both animal and vegetable wax esters. The best known of the wax esters are lanolin, jojoba oil, and orange roughy oil. Modern formulations can contain as many as 20 components, and optimizing these systems is not trivial.
