BOTANICAL COSMESIS

Details

Published on Wednesday, 10 July 2013 04:10

The term Phytocosmetics derives from Kosmèsis (adorning) and Phyto (plant) is used to indicate the predominant and preferential use of vegetable derivatives in cosmetic products, phytocomplexes (extracts, mother tinctures, aromatic waters, juices, infusions, Decoctions, mucilage and gums, fixed oils, butters, waxes, essential oils, dyes).

FITOCEUTICA consists in the use of chemically defined and isolated molecules of vegetal origin; defined and homogeneous isolated fractions; Use of phytosomes or special complexes that yield plant substances; they allow to achieve unattainable results using traditional plant extracts.

Their basic element is soy lecithin, which, by binding to the plant substance, gives rise to a biologically functional structure.

 Here are some examples of phytosomes:

Escin, derived from horse chestnut for anti-cellulite products

Escin Centella, for anti-cellulite and firming products

Escin ginseng, for toning and anti-wrinkle products What does natural mean?

The cosmetics perform the following functions:

Hygienic (SOAP) Eutrofica (product that maintains the state of tissues such as a moisturizing cream)

Cosmetic (Make up) The term "natural" is a term that appeals more and more to those close to the world of nature, of simple, of the uncontaminated. Not always all that is declared natural is really such.

Today we approach the concept of "integral vegetable Cosmetics" using plant-derived emulsifiers, essential oils for fragrance, vegetable dyes, up to the use of growth inhibitors of plant origin in place of Synthetic preservatives.

There is, however, difficulty in designing a cosmetic product that is entirely vegetable except for skin oils (almond oil), aromatic distilled waters (rose water, orange blossom), butter-based ointments (ointment for the body-based Cacao e carrot, Karité butter for facial massages) and vegetable waxes (carnauba wax, jojoba wax).

There is in fact a certain ranking of the naturalness of the cosmetic raw materials, since, even if sold in herbal medicine, one can not speak of completely natural or vegetable products. There are then 3 distinctions on the naturalness of raw materials in cosmetics

1) substances extracted from plants, animals or minerals without any chemical modification having been made and extracted only by physical means (coconut oil)

2) natural derivatives in which the modifications are slight without reducing the naturalness of the product (hydrogenated coconut oil).

3) When chemical processes occur on substances, the compounds obtained are considered "obtained from natural substances" (fatty acid + proteins = lipoderivative) The products that come from chemical processes and that originate from substances in turn obtained by synthesis, cone defined synthetic compounds.

The modern cosmetology certainly pursues the naturalness, but we must not forget that "synthetic" does not mean "toxic" and that "natural" does not mean "harmless", on the contrary, some plants may contain poisons and the same functional substance can be harmful for the organism if used erroneously. Phytocosmetics uses the following terms, useful for the purpose of knowledge of the subject:

• Vegetal drug: part of a whole plant or plant that, when treated appropriately, can be used for health purposes.

• Fitocomplex: set of chemical classes that contribute to its function (therapeutic and / or cosmetic) for a drug.

• Active ingredient: compound responsible for the activity (therapeutic and / or dermo-functional of the plant source)

• Essential drugs: also called aromatic, they are the ones that smell because they contain essential oil. Both essences and extracts are obtainable from essential drugs.

• Non-essential drugs: they are the ones that do not smell because they do not contain essential oil. Only extracts can be obtained from these drugs.

• Extracts: substances obtained from the partial or total evaporation of solutions containing the parts of the plant, fresh or dried, with solvents suitable for removing the active ingredients. Depending on the consistency it is possible to obtain fluid, dry or soft extracts,

• Essential oils or essences: obtained by distilling in a steam stream or by squeezing the parts of the plant containing them.

• Distilled water: obtained by dry distillation of the wood of various plant species.