Dow Corning launches silicone carbinol fluid for personal care products

Dow Corning​ claims its DC 5562 Carbinol Fluid product, launched at In-Cosmetics 2004 recently, offers a solution to the aesthetic limitations associated with ingredients such as organic oils. Castor oil, for example, is most commonly used in colour cosmetics but this does not have very good aesthetics and is not compatible with the resins that are used to provide durability in such products. DC 5562 Carbinol Fluid, however, has the aesthetics that a silicone provides and moderate polarity, it is also compatible with those resins and provides nice, stable, glossy films with those materials.

So how does it do this? Well, the physical structure of DC 5562 Carbinol Fluid helps it overcome those limitations. Dow Corning's Group Leader, Personal Care, Dr Heidi Van Dort explained to cosmeticsdesign.com: "The siloxane backbone helps provide the silicone benefits, like aesthetics, and the small polar functional group helps provide the compatibility and performance with raw materials used in colour cosmetics and skin care formulations."​

Dr Von Dort explained how this process differs from other processes: "To make a colour cosmetic product, one creates a pigment grind with a carrier fluid plus pigment. High energy mixing is required to reduce the particle size of the pigments, so that the final mixture is homogeneous. DC 5562 Carbinol Fluid is very efficient in wetting and spreading pigments and other raw materials. Hence, significantly less energetic mixing is required to produce a pigment or active grind with DC 5562 Carbinol Fluid versus the traditional fluids that have been used for this purpose."​

Dow Corning claims that because of this there are potential cost benefits for producers, obtainable by using less equipment power. "The power savings can be realized by the formulator, not Dow Corning. Cosmetic companies may use less expensive equipment and processes to create their cosmetic products,"​ said Dr Von Dort, "The cost saving is obtained in that less energetic mixing would be required to create homogeneous mixtures of active/fluid than can be created with fluids traditionally used today for those applications."​

The company developed CD 5562 over a two and a half year period and launched at the recent trade exhibition in Milan. As such, there are not yet any finished products on the market but the company said it has created stable formulations that are available to its customers that showcase the use and benefits of the product.

Dow Corning declined to comment about projected sales or market share but said that it expects this product to become a success within the cosmetics industry due to its broad application possibilities. The product can be used either as a replacement for or in addition to castor oil in cosmetic formulations and also for general skin care, anti-perspirant/deodorant, hair care, and household care formulations.