ABSTRACT
In recent years, the significance of polymers and surfactants has increased manyfold, as myriad applications are being found in the cosmetic industry. Personal care products such as shampoos, shower gels, and bath additives are mostly concentrated aqueous solutions of anionic surfactants in combination with salts. Additional additives used are nonionic and betaine-type surfactants, along with small amounts of dyes, perfumes, and preservatives. In cosmetics, surfactants are primarily used as wetting agents, cleansers, foaming agents, solubilizers, conditioners, thickeners, and to produce emollients. Apart from these functions, they are also used for creating a wide variety of dispersed systems, such as suspensions and emulsions, and for the synthesis of nanoparticles. Surfactants used for cosmetic formulations are expected to be safe and pure. Odoriferous and deeply
colored surfactants are also avoided for formulation, as they can affect the esthetics of a finished product. Since surfactants form an integral part of cosmetic formulations, their properties pertaining to cosmetic formulations have been widely studied; e.g., our group has described the mechanisms by which surfactants perform as cleaning agents,
whereas Balzer et al. have evaluated the effects of surfactants on the viscoelastic properties of personal care products.
