I recently had someone comment to me about vegetable glycerin and that is was an undesirable ingredient for them in their skin care products. I am always open to opinion and questions and listen to consumer concerns and market demands. In my business, chemicals are my friends and I wanted to stand up for one the underestimated crude compounds used in just about everything from foods, to cosmetics and medical treatments. Vegetable glycerine is a favourite compound to cosmetic chemists and as it adds smooth texture, lubrication, and attracts moisture as a humectant. I love vegetable glycerin because of it's wide range of helpful uses. It does not possess genotoxic potential and is highly favoured by all boards, FDA, USP, EP. It is locally harvested, supports local agro and economy and offers broad spectrum applications in foods, medical treatments and the cosmetic industry.Vegetable Glycerin is the result of a sophisticated extraction method called hydrolysis where plant oils like soy, coconut and palm are used as the source and the final product is a standard 99% -pure glycerine product.
Glycerin is used by people with sensitive and easily irritated skin because it is hypo-allergenic, non carcinogenic, non toxic, and it prevents skin dryness with it's moisturizing humectant (drawing and attracting moisture into the skin and hair) properties. Beta-oxidation is the naturally occurring catabolic process by which glycerin is normally and safely metabolized by our bodies whether by ingestion (eating) or transdermal (skin) application.
So, even if Vegetable Glycerin is not an exotic ingredient that you see on sexy billboards, it is a very effective and valuable compound in the cosmetic chemical world. It is a perfect vehicle to attain the benefits of many exotic and complex ingredients in products that you may read about on the cover of magazines and see in big celebrity endorsed commercials. Forms of distilled vegetable fats can be found in all cosmetics and should not be under estimated for their valuable addition to the effects of great products that are safe for the entire family.
