Silicones have been used in skincare products for more than 50 years and are recognized for their superior texture. In addition to applications of silicone adhesives, advances in silicone material technology have been combined with a wide range of organic ingredients, including natural ingredients and actives, to make them more and more prominent in personal care products. Why choose silicone skincare products?
Silicone products are refreshing, easy to apply, lubricating, water-resistant, and have multiple roles in skincare: silicone enhances the appearance of skin and hair; silicone forms a protective film that makes skincare products last longer and is resistant to washing; silicone improves the feel of the skin both during and after application; and silicone provides a unique texture that delivers actives to enhance the efficacy of skin care routine products.
Here are 5 aspects of how silicones work in skin care products:
- What are the advantages of silicone?
- What is the function of silicone in skin care products?
- What are the applications of silicone in skin care?
- How to apply silicone to skin care products?
- How to make skincare products performance better?
1. What are the advantages of silicone?
(1) High safety
Silicone is a milder skin care additive, it has no skin irritation, and will not affect the normal metabolism of the skin. The skincare product that added silicone is easy to clean easy to use, and does not clog pores.
(2) Good solubility
Silicone can be well dissolved with water and oil, it is easy to mix with other skincare ingredients.
(3) Low odor
Silicones are virtually odorless, will not affect the fragrance of skin care products, and will not have a negative impact on the human respiratory system.
(4) Good chemical stability
Silicone has a high degree of chemical stability, will not be stored for an extended period of time and deterioration, and will not cause sunlight, oxygen, and moisture damage, to protect the quality of skin care products and active ingredients.
2. What are the functions of silicone skin care products?
(1) Green:
Silicone skin care products have non-toxic, tasteless, non-polluting advantages, and no stimulation of the skin, in line with the trend of green consumption.
(2) Efficient absorption:
Silicone skin care products have excellent transdermal absorption properties, and can quickly penetrate into the deep layers of the skin to achieve effective nutritional supply and skin care effects.
(3) A variety of functions:
Silicone skin care products can be customized according to market demand, to achieve a variety of functions, such as moisturizing, anti-aging, spot removal, whitening, etc., to meet the needs of different consumer groups.
3. What are the applications of silicone in skin care?
3.1 Isolation
Silicone can effectively isolate the skin from makeup products to avoid direct contact with skin care products and damage to the skin. Silicone isolators can invisibly isolate skin and makeup products, making makeup products more durable and more comfortable for the skin, and enhancing the skin barrier for sensitive skin and clogged pores.
3.2 Moisturizing
Silicones can be used as moisturizers in skin care products. Silicones can cover the surface of the skin to form a protective film that can keep the skin moisturized while blocking drying substances in the air, keeping the skin from losing moisture.
3.3 Enhance smoothness and ductility
Silicone can remove dead skin cells, and improve the feeling of skin care products, such as their smoothness, and ductility. Adding silicone to skin care products can make it easier to spread and cover the skin's surface more evenly to achieve better makeup effects.
3.4 Antioxidant
Silicone as an antioxidant in skin care products can neutralize the production of free radicals, reduce oxidation reactions, and inhibit the appearance of wrinkles aging, and other phenomena.
4. How to apply silicone to skin care products?
With the help of high-performance silicone raw materials and technologies, new whitening products can be developed in a variety of ways: using silicone resins that provide versatility and flexibility in formulations; using silicone elastomer mixtures with better compatibility; and constructing new sunscreen systems. Skincare formulators often choose silicone products as the key components to enable consumers to feel the best texture and skin feel of the product during long-term use.
4.1 Silicone elastomers
For products used directly on the skin, in addition to efficacy, skin feel is also what we seek, a good skin feel can enhance the texture and grade of the product.
About skin feel, silicone elastomers are formulators' favorite skin feel modifiers, which not only give formulations a silky touch but also thickening, emulsifying, stabilizing, and other effects.
Silicone gel is a mixture of high molecular weight silicone elastomer powder and cyclic siloxane, with a fixed spherical form and volume, the product can not be completely dissolved in the oil, but only in the form of stable dispersion. The form's high volatility and high elasticity content make it a refreshing skin feel, and at the same time, it has strong oil control and instantaneous coverage of wrinkles, which can give the skin a smooth, soft, velvety touch. Silicone gels can be used in skin care products (such as lotions, creams, gels, moisturizing sprays, wet wipes, etc.).
Various silicone raw materials (such as silicone elastomers and silicone elastomer emulsions) enhance the skin's feel and texture, the product will get better spreadability, more slippery, less residual feeling, and a sticky feeling.
XJY-804M Silicone Gel/Silicone Rubber Elastomer is a silicone elastomer gel that absorbs excess oil from the skin and has a matte effect that improves the spreadability of skincare and beauty products and scar reduction.
4.2 Silicone Oil
Silicone oil is very important for skin care products to adjust the skin feel, it is very silky, and many other oils can not be replaced. Because of such characteristics, silicone oil in a class of products is used very much - that is, sunscreen.
For example, when adjusting the skin feel of Polydimethylsiloxane and Cyclopentadimethylsiloxane, the former can achieve a very smooth application feeling, while the latter has a certain degree of volatility. There is no residue after use, which can reduce the various types of sunscreens of the viscous feeling and will not clog pores. Clogging pores is bad for the skin's surface.
In addition, due to the unique bond angle and bond length of the silicone oil molecule, oxygen and water vapor can pass through it (even with the relatively thick 350 viscous silicone oil), so the sweat on the skin can evaporate freely, and their is no smothering sensation at all, which is exactly the characteristic needed for sunscreens, and it has better performance than mineral oil.
XJY-056 Phenyl Modified Liquid/Phenyl Trimethicone is a cosmetic-grade silicone oil that has a very high refractive index and can be used in the personal care industry. It has the properties of soft lubrication, anti-oxidation, and good compatibility with cosmetic ingredients.
XJY-058 Cyclic-free Silicone Fluids/Methyl Trimethicone is an MT structure of Methyltrimethylsiloxane oligomer, it is acyclic, colorless, non-irritating, with excellent volatility and spreadability, which is compatible with a wide range of cosmetic products. The texture is light, refreshing, and non-greasy so that the skin has a soft, silky feeling, improves the formulation and feel, and has no lasting residue. It is the ideal raw material commonly used in the skincare routine.
4.3 Silicone resin
Silicone resin does not irritate the skin, can form a lubricating and breathable film, and does not easily lose color. It is long-lasting, improves the hydrophobicity of the formulation system, and spreads the BB cream, isolation cream, and other skincare products, an important functional component.
XJY-8203/8205 Trimethylsiloxytsilicate(TMS) is a solid silicone powder with good film-forming properties. The soft touch provides excellent water resistance and can be used in various skin care formulations. It has long-lasting, UV protection, color shift resistance, good ductility, and compatibility, and can be used in sun and skin care (skincare creams, body lotions); concealer sticks, styling products, and hair conditioners. By dissolving trimethylsiloxysilicon in different solutions, different solution-type film formers can be obtained.
XJY-8205C/M/I MQ MQ Resin Blends have good film-forming properties. The soft-touch forms provide excellent water resistance and can be used in a variety of skin care formulations.
XJY-801 Spherical Silicone Resin Powder/Polymethylsilsesquioxane(PMSQ) is a solid powder with a true spherical shape and a narrow particle size distribution. Its chemical structure is a tightly cross-linked, insoluble, and non-melting cured resin with trifunctional components. It has a variety of particle size series 2-10um Polymethylsiloxane type. It is characterized by excellent touch, spreadability and smoothness, and high oil absorption. It is widely used in skin care products and cosmetic powder formulations (for covering fine lines and wrinkles, and other skin problems); sun protection (sunscreen, after-sun repair); skin care (facial skin surface care, facial cleansing, body care, baby lotion) and so on.
5. How to make skincare products performance better?
Silicone is a polymer made up of silicon and oxygen atoms, and multifunctional silicone is safe and non-toxic, non-stimulate for human skin, but also has a variety of excellent performance, which can make skin care products formulated with diversity and flexibility, so that the formulation of skin care products have better performance than other materials, to obtain the favor of the market. How to improve the competitiveness of your products?
XJY Silicones is one of the leading silicone MQ resin and VMQ silicone manufacturers in China, with more than 30 years of R&D and manufacturing experience in the silicone industry and more than 15 related patents and technical support. Our silicone raw material products can meet the needs of the skin care field and support the provision of diversified customized solutions.
