Chitosan: A Promising Multifunctional Cosmetic Ingredient for Skin and Hair Care

Abstract

The cosmetic industry has an undeniable need to design and develop new ecosustainable products to respond to the demands of consumers and international regulations. This requires substituting some traditional ingredients derived from petrochemical sources with new ones with more ecofriendly profiles. However, this transition towards the use of green ingredients in the cosmetic industry cannot compromise the effectiveness of the obtained products. Emerging ingredients in this new direction of the cosmetic industry are chitosan and its derivatives, which combine many interesting physicochemical and biological properties for the fabrication of cosmetic products. Thus, the use of chitosan opens a promising future path to the design of cosmetic formulations. In particular, chitosan’s ability for interacting electrostatically with negatively charged substrates (e.g., skin or damaged hair), resulting in the formation of polymeric films which contribute to the conditioning and moisturizing of cosmetic substrates, makes this polymer an excellent candidate for the design of skin and hair care formulations. This review tries to provide an updated perspective on the potential interest of chitosan and its derivatives as ingredients of cosmetics for skin and hair care.

Chitosan Based Materials in Cosmetic Applications: A Review

“…Most commercially available chitosan products are of marine origin and are obtained by a chemical process. This is not always a suitable source for cosmetic applications due to the risk of zoonotic diseases and also ethical and environmental issues related to biodiversity and the protection of endangered species [ 158 ]. Furthermore, in the industrial production of chitosan, it is extremely difficult to obtain a product with sufficient purity and uniform parameters.…”

Chitosan-Based Nano-Smart Drug Delivery System in Breast Cancer Therapy

“…Chitosan is a deacetylated process derived from chitin, and consists of D-glucosamine and N-acetyl-D-glucosamine units linked to β-(1→4) [ 57 , 58 ]. Its cationic property, which enhances adhesion through electrostatic interactions to negatively charged mucosal surfaces, is one of the most significant characteristics of chitosan; it results in increased drug internalization in target cells [ 59 , 60 , 61 ]. A significant barrier to its implementation is that it is soluble only in acidic media.…”

Chitosan-Based Nanoparticles as Effective Drug Delivery Systems—A review

“…Chitosan is used in various industries, including pharmaceutical (as supplements acting as fat-blockers and lower cholesterol by eliminating fat and cholesterol from the body instead of allowing the body to absorb them [ 12 ]), cosmetic (where it is used in skin care products, face creams, etc. [ 8 , 13 ]), medical—in preparations for tissue regeneration and wound healing [ 8 , 9 , 14 ].…”