Skin Cleansing without or with Compromise: Soaps and Syndets

Abstract

Products designed to cleanse the skin commonly do so through surfactant action, which leads to the lowering of the surface tension of the skin to facilitate the removal of dirt from its surface. Skin cleansers generally come in one of two types: soap-based and synthetic detergents, or syndets. While the latter can effectively maintain the native skin structure, function and integrity, the former tends to negatively affect the skin by causing barrier disruption, lipid dissolution and pH alteration. Despite this, soap is still often preferred, possibly due to the negative connotations around anything that is not perceived as ‘natural’. It is, therefore, important that the science behind cleansers, especially those designed for the maintenance of healthy skin and the management of common skin conditions such as eczema, be understood by both formulators and end-users. Here, we carefully weigh the advantages and disadvantages of the different types of surfactant—the key ingredient(s) in skin cleansers—and provide insight into surfactants’ physicochemical properties, biological activity and potential effects. Fine-tuning of the complex characteristics of surfactants can successfully lead to an ‘optimal’ skin cleanser that can simultaneously be milder in nature, highly effective and beneficial, and offer minimal skin interference and environmental impact.

Characterisation of cytotoxicity and immunomodulatory effects of glycolipid biosurfactants on human keratinocytes

“…These synthetically derived surfactants have drawbacks with regards to their sustainability and are less biodegradable than biologically derived alternatives (Marchant and Banat 2012;Suhail et al 2019;Goyal and Jerold 2021). Synthetically derived surfactants such as SLES are also reported to have the potential to cause allergic reactions, skin irritations, and dysbiosis in the skin microbiome when they come into direct contact with the human skin (Bouslimani et al 2019;Mijaljica et al 2022). In such instances, SLES binds to lipids and proteins on the epidermal layer of the human skin resulting in their solubilisation, the production of cytokines, chemokines, and other pro-inflammatory mediators.…”

Pemberdayaan Masyarakat Melalui Pelatihan Pembuatan Sabun Berbahan Minyak Kelapa Produk Lokal Di Desa Utaurano Kec. Tabukan Utara, Kab. Kepulauan Sangihe

“…Sabun merupakan salah satu kebutuhan utama yang digunakan dalam kehidupan sehari-hari (Shahinuzzaman et al, 2016). Pada awalnya sabun hanya digunakan sebagai personal hygiene, tetapi telah berkembang menjadi suatu produk kesehatan dan kosmetik untuk kecantikan (Mijaljica et al, 2022;Salanti et al, 2022). Ekstrak dari bahan alam sering ditambahkan pada produk sabun, untuk meningkatkan manfaat sabun seperti antioksidan, antiseptik dan antimikroba (Astuti et al, 2021;Ghanwat et al, 2020;Salanti et al, 2022).…”

Five dimensions of cleansing: A holistic view on the facets and importance of skin cleansing

“…For the action of skin cleanser, surface-active substances (briefly termed 'surfactants') as cleansing agents [9], play a major role either by foaming, emulsifying, reducing surface tension (detergents) and thickening-usually in a concentration between 10% and 15% [10]. Surfactants, with their amphiphilic character, contain both a non-polar (hydrophobic) and polar (hydrophilic) region, and, therefore, they are soluble in water and organic solvents [11]. Oily, dirty components are captured by the non-polar parts, then rinsed off with water in an emulsified form [9,12,13], more easily than with water alone [14].…”