With growing awareness of the damage sun exposure can cause to skin, sun care formulators are being called upon to provide increasingly complex and comprehensive formulations that can provide a variety of Sun Protection Factors as well as incorporating both UVA and UVB filters.
National Starch's tool allows formulators of sun care products to instantly find and view formulations with criteria that may be similar to those of new products currently in development. By comparing the company's formulations with product concepts in development, formulators have a valuable reference point to make decisions about the final ingredient profiles of finished formulations.
Likewise, the tool also allows formulators to formulate sun care products within parameters such as product type, end user, SPF range, water/rub resistance, alcohol/non-alcohol base and other factors. The tool can be accessed by registered members by logging on to the National Starch Personal Care website.
According to Maria Tolchinsky, Global Marketing Manager of Sun Care at National Starch, the selector tool is available to any formulator with an interest in quickly pinpointing formulations.
"Today's bench formulator has a vast number of sun care product concepts to screen and consider in a relatively short period of time," she said. "Using the Sun Care Selector tool on personalcarepolymers.com, formulators can easily find starting formulations that may provide insights on ingredients choices that may otherwise not be obvious.
"With the help of the selector tool, formulators can look at only those National Starch Personal Care formulations that reasonably match their own concepts and then consider the ingredient profiles and procedures that best support efficient product manufacture, improved product performance and improved product economics."
Last year, National Starch introduced a liquid-based film forming polymer called Dermacryl AQF polymer, which is aimed a sun care formulators. The technology will not alter the viscosity of formulations. Distinctive sensory profiles can be achieved with this type of film former, unlike film formers that tend to have a waxy, residual after-feel. A series of starter formulations with Dermacryl AQF polymer are accessible via the sun care selector tool.