12 Jul 2024 --- Advancion’s new multifunctional amino alcohols for personal care products aim to meet increasing consumer demand for natural and eco-friendly cosmetics without compromising performance.
Personal Care Insights speaks with Debby Neubauer, the specialty ingredient supplier’s global business manager for Home and Personal Care, to learn more about how the ingredient was created and its potential impact on the industry.
What drove Advancion to create a bio-based multifunctional additive?
Neubauer: Consumers increasingly seek personal care products that offer exceptional performance, new functionalities and tangible benefits, which include formulations made of nature-based and renewable ingredients. We viewed this high-growth trend as an opportunity to introduce a new ingredient that has both the multifunctional performance of traditional Advancion amino alcohols with an enhanced environmental profile. This innovative ingredient is the result of several years of research and development focused on providing formulators and manufacturers with a powerful multifunctional tool to create high-performance personal care formulations that meet the growing demand for natural and eco-friendly cosmetics and personal care products. It also represents a significant advancement for the portfolio of multifunctional amino alcohols manufactured by Advancion, as it is produced with 50% bio-based content and a Natural Origin Index (NOI, ISO 16.128) of 0.65.
Can you explain the key benefits of this new bio-based amino alcohol?
Neubauer: Unlike many natural alternatives that compromise on performance, our new amino alcohol offers several key performance benefits that set it apart from other ingredients available in the market. It provides efficient neutralization, crucial for effectively adjusting in-formulation pH levels, stabilizing emulsions and dispersing pigments, supporting various applications in clean beauty formulations. Our new ingredient also stands out for its low odor and resistance to yellowing, which helps ensure formulations remain visually appealing. It promotes superior high-humidity curl retention in hair sprays and styling products and provides excellent corrosion inhibition properties in aerosol formulations. Our new ingredient also helps reduce emulsion particle size for improved stability and maintains compatibility with carbomer and other synthetic acrylic rheology modifiers commonly used in personal care products. Our new amino alcohol offers several key performance benefits that set it apart from other ingredients available in the market and balances natural origin with high performance — a rare combination in the market.
How does the additive align with the demand for natural and eco-friendly beauty products?
Neubauer: This new additive is perfectly aligned with the growing demand for natural and eco-friendly beauty products. There is a notable cultural shift toward transparency and trust in consumer preferences, driving the demand for products that adhere to sustainability criteria across manufacturing and supply chains. This shift necessitates a comprehensive approach to ingredient development that considers environmental impact and resource efficiency. Our innovation efforts underscore Advancion’s commitment to sustainability and align with industry trends towards natural ingredients and eco-friendly formulations. By offering a high-performing additive with a substantial bio content and a favorable NOI, Advancion addresses market demands for products that combine efficacy with environmental responsibility.
What were the challenges during the development of the bio-based additive?
Neubauer: At Advancion, there is a strong recognition of the responsibility to advance global sustainability by minimizing the societal impact of its ingredients and supporting customers in achieving their sustainability objectives. During the development process, we faced several key challenges that required careful consideration and innovation. Of these, one of the most important was the sourcing of suitable feedstocks that align with sustainability goals without contributing to issues such as food insecurity, deforestation, and other environmental concerns. Advancion was committed to ensuring that the feedstocks used for the new ingredient do not compete with food sources or contribute to negative impacts associated with deforestation.
How do you see this new ingredient impacting the future of personal care formulations?
Neubauer: This new ingredient offers the market a fresh perspective on traditional chemistries, such as amino alcohols, that provide well-recognized benefits when used in personal care formulations. For manufacturers seeking to leverage the high-performance advantages of amino alcohols while prioritizing natural origin and sustainability, our bio-based amino alcohol represents a significant breakthrough.
It serves as a versatile solution, addressing the demand for ingredients with a favorable NOI that not only meets stringent sustainability criteria but also enhances formulation flexibility and efficacy. Through the development and introduction of our bio-based amino alcohol, Advancion is poised to inspire broader industry adoption of more eco-friendly and high-performing ingredients. This shift not only supports current market trends toward sustainability but also paves the way for future advancements in clean beauty formulations.
By Venya Patel