E45 Bath compared with proprietary bath oil additives in a single-blind, multiple-crossover study

Abstract

A single-blind, multiple-crossover design was used to evaluate the moisturizing capability of E45 Bath compared with two proprietary bath oil additives and involved ten healthy volunteers. One arm was soaked in a 0.04% bath oil dispersion in warm water, the other was soaked in warm water (control) for 10 min. All postimmersion measurements with Corneometry showed that subjects receiving E45 Bath had significantly less dehydration in the treated arm compared with the control at all times postimmersion (P<0.05). In a second study, the reason for the superior moisturizing effect of E45 Bath was investigated in six subjects. The amount of oil left on the skin after immersion in a suspension of the oil was measured using a Sebumeter. E45 Bath left more oily deposits than two other bath oil additives; these differences were significant for one comparator only (P=0.05). The first study showed that E45 Bath was significantly better at minimizing dehydration than the two bath oil additives with which it was compared. The results of the second suggest that this may be because E45 Bath leaves more moisturizing residues on the skin than other bath additives.

Key Words:

• E45 Bath
• Bath oil
• Moisturizing