Cleansing formulations that respect skin barrier integrity

Surfactants in skin cleansers interact with the skin in several manners. In addition to the desired benefit of providing skin hygiene, surfactants also extract skin components during cleansing and remain in the stratum corneum (SC) after rinsing. These side effects disrupt SC structure and degrade its barrier properties. Recent applications of vibrational spectroscopy and two-photon microscopy in skin research have provided molecular-level information to facilitate our understanding of the interaction between skin and surfactant. In the arena of commercial skin cleansers, technologies have been developed to produce cleansers that both cleanse and respect skin barrier. The main approach is to minimize surfactant interaction with skin through altering its solution properties. Recently, hydrophobically modified polymers (HMPs) have been introduced to create skin compatible cleansing systems. At the presence of HMP, surfactants assemble into larger, more stable structures. These structures are less likely to penetrate the skin, thereby resulting in less aggressive cleansers and the integrity of the skin barrier is maintained. In this paper, we reviewed our recent findings on surfactant and SC interactions at molecular level and provided an overview of the HM technology for developing cleansers that respect skin barrier.