There are plenty of clouds over the US sun care category these days, what with FDA refusal to approve new actives and concerns about soaring melanoma rates, but speakers at the recent Sunscreen Symposium sponsored by the Florida Chapter of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists, still showed their love for the business during the three-day event.
        
As noted in the October issue of Happi (p. 50), the event attracted more than 400 attendees.
        
“This year’s Sunscreen Symposium has been a tremendous success. We had an overwhelming number of attendees for the educational course, the two-day symposium, the golf outing, the booth exhibition, and of course the dinner gala,” said Regina Lim, chairperson, Florida Chapter, Society of Cosmetic Chemists. “On behalf of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists Florida Chapter, we would like to thank all our sponsors, moderators, speakers, exhibitors, volunteers, and the attendees.”
        
It was smiles all around for the most part. Opening session moderator Steve Baldwin of Bayer Consumer Care gave three reasons why he loves the sun care industry:
         • It is clean chemistry.
         • People love the sun!
         • The people in the industry.
        
“Sunscreen lets us play under a giant nuclear reactor,” he reminded attendees. “I’ve been in this industry for eight years. We have great people—we’re a little quirky and we have people who are absolutely brilliant and they don’t know it!”
        
Some of that brilliance shone from the podium during the Symposium. Dr. Estelle Long of Lucas Meyer Cosmetics explained how a plant extract can protect skin from sun-induced aging. She noted that infrared radiation deeply penetrates skin layers. Combined with heat, IR disrupts the dermal extracellular matrix by stimulating matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) production. Further, in an inflammatory response, cathepsin G synthesis is stimulated by solar radiation (UV+IR) and degrades dermis fibers.
        
Lucas Meyer researchers found that Polygonum aviculare extract inhibits cathespin G enzymatic activity and reduces UV- and IR-induced skin damage to preserve the extracellular matrix and fiber integrity. In a four-week test, subjects’ skin firmness improved 11.9% and elasticity improved 4.8%. As for wrinkles, there was an 11.5% decrease in four parameters, according to Long.
 

What’s Old Is New Again


Potassium cetyl phosphate (PCP) has been used as an emulsifier for years in the cosmetics industry. But Christine Mendrok-Edinger of DSM explained how PCP can enhance stability and efficacy of sunscreen formulations. Regarding stability, PCP forms negatively charged microdomains and these microdomains formed even when PCP was used a secondary emulsifier. This repulsion is an important part of emulsion stability, according to Mendrok-Edinger. The material can stabilize systems of high organic salt concentration as well. In fact, PCP can emulsify face creams, anti-aging products, BB and CC creams, lotions and sprays.

Moreover, PCP has SPF boosting properties. Mendrok-Edinger detailed how incorporating PCP into a formula raised SPF 48 to 53 and from 54 to 64.

“PCP upgrades the SPF to enable your formulation to reach the next level of protection,” she told the audience.

Bart Maxon of Dow Corning explained how incorporating silicones into sun care formulations can reduce whitening effects on ethnic skin, thereby increasing consumer compliance. He noted that while skin cancer rates among people of color are relatively low, mortality rates among these groups remains disproportionately high.

Maxon explained how silicones can be incorporated into o/w formulations to create high SPF with good skin feel and no whitening even on wet skin. In fact, an o/w formula that contained 2% alkylmethyl siloxane waxes and silicone resins plus caprylyl methicone greatly improved protection (SPF 50) and wash off resistance, yet had the best feel of all the sunscreens tested.

Yun Shao of Kobo Products detailed some of the practical tools that he uses for boosting sunscreen efficacy such as the incorporation of argan oil and tocopherol acetate. He noted that antioxidants and bioactives have great ability to boost the UV protection of sunscreen formulas agains both UVA and UVB and that the boost effect can be cumulative. However, their chemical compatibility with inorganic UV filters needs to be tested.
 
What’s Wrong with US Formulas?

Uli Osterwalder of BASF noted that US sunscreens are 2-4 times inferior compared to their European counterparts when it comes to providing UVA1 protection. Furthermore, he pointed out that US formulas are very UVB biased, which lowers vitamin D3 synthesis.

“The US is trailing the world on UVA protection, but makes the biggest claims about reducing skin cancer,” he observed. “We want to close the gaps in UVA protection.”

Osterwalder, like other speakers, said the best way to close the gap is to approve the eight UV filters that are languishing in the US FDA’s TEA application process.

National government regulations aren’t the only boundaries when it comes to sun care formulas. Vincent Hubiche of Gattefossé explained the influence that climate has on sensory properties of sunscreens. Researchers used a climate-controlled chamber to evaluate the influence of climate on the skin feel of emulsions that contain organic and mineral UV filters.

“Sunscreen is efficient only when it does not stay in the bottle!” he noted wryly.
        
And while half of the world’s population lives in tropical climates, most formulas were developed for northern climates.

“New York City isn’t the Caribbean,” Hubiche noted.
        
Humid conditions call for a low-film residue. The solution, he suggested, is to incorporate natural waxes into formulas. In fact, Hubiche insisted that adding polyglycerol wax to sun care formulas improves compliance among users.
        
In today’s hectic scheduling it pays to plan ahead—even two years ahead. The Florida Chapter of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists will hold its next Sunscreen Symposium from Sept. 13 to 16, 2017 at Disney’s Yacht & Beach Club Resorts, Lake Buena Vista, FL.