About the Webinar

In a planetary crisis context, it is the responsibility of cosmetic companies to develop natural and sustainable products that are as sensorial and effective as conventional products while reducing their environmental footprint and preserving natural resources and biodiversity.
 
Sometimes it is possible to obtain the iso-structural equivalent of an ingredient using green chemistry or biotechnology processes, thus replacing an undesirable one. We remain within conventional formulation schemes while aiming for continuous improvement, particularly in terms of overall eco-design. A completely new approach would consist of rethinking the design of formulations as a whole rather than replacing each of the synthetic in the formula with a natural equivalent.
 
As an example, we propose to use hectorite, a specific natural clay of smectite-type, as a central brick. Its formulation in aqueous media leads to the formation of gels. Following application onto the skin, hectorite gels have the ability to form dry films with long lasting mattifying effect at the skin surface. The hectorite gels allow to texturize the aqueous phase, to disperse a certain amount of fatty phase and to create a film able of distributing the latter in a homogeneous manner. Combining hectorite with the other bricks accurately chosen both to fit the formulation constrains and to fulfill their roles (stability, sensory, preservation) lead to a new way of cosmetic products design.
 
However, formulating hectorite, especially in presence of some specific ingredients, remains a highly challenging task. To overcome the formulation challenge and provide stable, safe and efficient cosmetic products we need to deeply understand both the complex behavior of hectorite and the interaction between hectorite and other bricks and/or ingredients commonly used in cosmetics.

About the Speaker:
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Olga Biganska holds a PhD in materials science and engineering from Mines ParisTech/Université de Nice - Sophia Antipolis. During her thesis she had the chance to study natural polymers and more specifically cellulose and its many applications. This knowledge proved invaluable when she started working at l'Oréal as a research and development engineer in the hair care laboratory. Now, she has been working for over 15 years in a team that studies natural raw materials or ingredients of natural origin. Their challenge is to design and develop natural cosmetics that are as efficient, safe, sensorial and desirable as conventional ones.