Modern Mild Skin Cleansing

Abstract

Surfactant, an abbreviation for the surface-active agent, is utilized in almost every industry. It brings two immiscible phases such as oil and water into one single homogeneous phase, leading to various industrial applications such as food, painting, coating, drug delivery as well as cosmetics. The use of surfactants in skin cleansing is very common to keep skin healthy. Their function herein is to lower the interfacial tension at the dirt/water and skin/water interfaces, thereby detaching dirt, extra sebum or oils from the skin surface. But this application could bring side effects attributed to the penetration of surfactants into the skin, including skin proteins denaturation, stratum corneum lipids removal or even lipids organization disruption in the stratum corneum. This review summarizes modern mild skin cleansing technologies, which address the side effects brought by the surfactants.