Biosurfactants in cosmetic formulations: trends and challenges

Abstract

Cosmetic products play an essential role in everyone’s life. People everyday use a large variety of cosmetic products such as soap, shampoo, toothpaste, deodorant, skin care, perfume, make-up, among others. The cosmetic industry encompasses several environmental, social and economic impacts that are being addressed through the search for more efficient manufacturing techniques, the reduction of waste and emissions and the promotion of personal hygiene, contributing to an improvement of public health and at the same time providing employment opportunities. The current trend among consumers is the pursuit for natural ingredients in cosmetic products, as many of these products exhibit equal, better or additional benefits in comparison with the chemical-based products. In this sense, biosurfactants are natural compounds with great potential in the formulation of cosmetic products given by their biodegradability and impact in health. Indeed, many of these biosurfactants could exhibit a “prebiotic” character. This review covers the current state-of-the-art of biosurfactant research for cosmetic purposes and further discusses the future challenges for cosmetic applications.

Keywords:

• Cosmetic
• skin care
• biosurfactants
• natural products
• biomolecules
• prebiotic
• regulation

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit, COMPETE 2020 (POCI-01–0145-FEDER-006684) and the project RECI/BBB-EBI/0179/2012 (FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-027462), as well as X. Vecino post-doctoral grant (SFRH/BPD/101476/2014). Also, the authors acknowledge the financial support from Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (FEDER funds under the project CTM2015-68904).

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit, COMPETE 2020 (POCI-01–0145-FEDER-006684) and the project RECI/BBB-EBI/0179/2012 (FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-027462), as well as X. Vecino post-doctoral grant (SFRH/BPD/101476/2014). Also, the authors acknowledge the financial support from Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (FEDER funds under the project CTM2015-68904).