In vivo cleansing efficacy of biodegradable exfoliating beads assessed by skin bioengineering techniques

The plastic microbeads, used in many cleansers, will be banned in cosmetic and personal care products within 2017 since they are non-degradable and can disturb the living organisms in water reservoirs. Various choices of biodegradable beads are commercially available, but their efficacy has not been proven yet. This study aimed to compare the cleansing efficacy in dirt and sebum removal aspects of three types of exfoliating beads.

The gel scrubs with polyethylene (PE) beads, mannan beads or wax beads, were formulated and evaluated for their stability. The in vivo evaluation was done in 38 healthy volunteers and the skin irritation, efficacy for dirt and sebum removal were measured by Mexameter^® , Colorimeter^® , and Sebumeter^® , respectively.

The selected gel scrubs did not cause an irritation in any volunteers. The differences in dirt residues between before and after scrubbing were not statistically significant among three gel scrubs and the similar result was also reported in the sebum removal study.

All gel scrubs demonstrated the comparable cleansing efficacy in term of dirt and sebum removal. Thus, mannan beads and wax beads may be replaced non-biodegradable PE beads to achieve the similar cleansing effect.