Research Summary
Novel personal care products are necessary to meet the growing market demand for sustainable green products. In this context, this work focuses on the formulation and fundamental physicochemical and rheological characterization of various natural personal care products using bioactive fractions from Chondrus crispus, a red macroalgae, extracted under optimized green conditions. Body milks, body oils, and shampoos were supplemented with soluble extracts possessing antioxidant properties. These extracts were recovered following hydrothermal (200°C), microwave (170°C), and ultrasound (80°C)-assisted extraction of the red macroalgae used as raw material.
The formulated products were compared with those prepared using (±)-α-tocopherol and butylhydroxytoluene as standards. Additionally, body scrubs were formulated with the remaining solids (<2.25%) after microwave hydrodiffusion and gravity treatment of the macroalgae. Results indicated that the selected extracts provided personal care products with physicochemical, color, and viscous features similar to or better than those supplemented with (±)-α-tocopherol or butylhydroxytoluene commercial antioxidants.
Rheological profiles demonstrated that it is possible to develop personal care products with adequate viscous behavior (102–105 mPa·s at 1 s⁻¹), comparable to their synthetic counterparts. Furthermore, the addition of antioxidant extracts led to lower apparent viscosity values, suggesting an advantage in terms of skin applicability. Notably, the absence of both the hysteresis phenomenon and water syneresis in the proposed formulations further highlights their potential.
Keywords: body milk, body oil, shampoo, body scrub, autohydrolysis, microwave-assisted extraction, ultrasound-assisted extraction, microwave hydrodiffusion and gravity technology.
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