Sunday, December 12, 2010

Intro.

I'm in my 2nd semester of my masters program and i'm doing a research specifically on cosmetics. I am currently doing my research at UTM (Universiti Teknologi Malaysia) under CEPP (Chemical Engineering Pilot Plant) which is an institute under the Faculty of Chemical Engineering. I'm under the supervision of Assoc Prof Dr Azila bt Abd Aziz in the department of Bioprocess Engineering.

i dont know why but i've always been interested in cosmetics science. how they interact with skin and the body, delivery etc. more on the health side not on the beauty side. but nowadays both of them are always combined. health and beauty. after all, beauty comes from a healthy person. that's why came about the term 'cosmeceuticals' which based on wikipedia, it represents a marriage between cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.

Cosmeceuticals are cosmetics products with biologically active ingredients purporting to have medical or drug-like benefits. The biologically active ingredients influence the biological function of the skin by delivering nutrients necessary for healthy skin. In general, vitamins, herbs, various oils and botanical extracts may be used in cosmeceuticals. The majority of such products are moisturizers, anti-aging creams, sunscreens and other skin treatment products that claim to do more than just cleanse and beautify our skin.

Another concern is about the issue of possible long term effect due to the combination of chemicals used in cosmetics. A lot of chemicals which are used in common are known irritants and carcinogens. Switching to natural cosmetic products help us avoid feeding our skin with harmful chemicals. A natural product is described as one that contains mostly or completely natural derived ingredients (Antczak, 2001).

That is why my research is on formulating an effective facial cleanser product and designing a delivery system (i'll explain later) which incorporates an active ingredient which in my case, i'm using a popular Malaysian herb, Kacip Fatimah or Labisia Pumila which are associated with women's illness and now has the potential to become an anti aging ingredient. The end product is having an anti-aging facial cleanser product with Kacip Fatimah as the active ingredient. Hope it'll be a success!




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