Cosmetic and Personal Care Products rheology

Rheology testing is now becoming recognized as a prerequisite for success in the demanding arena of cosmetic and personal care products. Knowledge of the rheology of cosmetics, personal care and consumer health products is seen as essential for the formulation, process design and even quality control testing of products that are expected to stand up in a competitive marketplace. We have many years of experience in test method development, profiling and benchmarking many of the world’s leading branded products.

Sensory Fingerprinting for cosmetic

From the first touch to application to rub out and after-feel, rheology and bio-tribology profiling can deliver a range of numerical metrics that the formulator can use as a guiding light and a timesaving screening measure for predicting the sensory characteristics of a new formulation. By obtaining the triborheological fingerprint of a variety of desirable and undesirable marketed products the formulator can set a quantified, objective benchmark around which they can focus their formulation efforts.

Rapid selection of thickeners and rheology modifiers

Why incorporate expensive rheology modifiers without actually measuring the rheology that they purport to modify? The enormous range of thickeners and restaurants on the market opens up an enormous range of exciting possibilities for stabilising suspensions and emulsions, optimising delivery and handling behaviour and achieving sensory experiences. Our rapid rheology screening services can deliver quantified and objective comparisons of how the available ingredients manifest in the client’s formulations.

Screening of actives and other additions for their destabilising effects for cosmetic

Electrolyte changes resulting from the addition of actives, botanicals and other claims ingredients can prove significantly challenging for the formulator trying to preserve the skin feel, handling and stability characteristics of their product. With our rapid screening services, we can quickly identify which additions, and at which levels, can be tolerated comfortably by your formulation.

Viscosity build profiling

The viscosity build of manufactured batches can be a real problem. In-spec batches can continue to build viscosity and end up out of spec within a couple of days and a product that is known to develop a “body” can prove problematic for bulk storage prior if it’s not to be filled immediately. With our viscosity build profiling service, we can gain a good understanding of how your batches will build, not only viscosity but soft solid structural attributes like yield stress and rigidity under a range of temperature conditions.

Process design of cosmetic

Whether it is assessing the impact of a variation in cooling rates on product texture, scaling up a lab-to-pilot or pilot-to-production process or auditing a new production line in another country and another climate, a rapid rheology snapshot of batches can be very helpful for the process engineer. Furthermore, we can impart a range of shear and temperature regimes on a material to replicate the conditions of manufacture and assess the impact of changes in process variables on final product rheology, texture and handling qualities, which we have always found to help in the cosmetics industry.

Packaging selection

An understanding of yield stress, high shear viscosity, elasticity under shear conditions and thixotropic breakdown and recovery rates can help establish packaging, pumps and atomisers that are best suited for your formulations.

If you’d like to learn more about this area, please take a look at our personal care and cosmetics industry case studies:

You could be benefiting from rheology insights into your cosmetic products in just a few days. Contact us to discuss your needs.