CHEMISTRY IN COSMETICS  

It is often the search for excellence which leads us on to bigger and better things. Just ask John and Lotte Davis, who founded Advance Group Hair Products Ltd. (AG) in Burnaby, British Columbia in 1989.
John had previously been with a hair product company from Britain. One day, while perusing the company plant, he noticed a young man dumping a large quantity of a white, granular substance into a tank full of hair product. The substance was salt, used to preserve and thicken products, but which can also be damaging to hair. John realized that he did not even know what was going into his own products. 

At AG, salt is not used and products are highly concentrated so as to offer more value than the competition. They have a research and development chemist, Zdravka Stoyeff, who is always working on new products. But the most important component of their R & D system is feedback from the salons and customers themselves.

A new product goes through rigorous stability testing, including freezing and thawing, and is used on mannequin heads before it is tested in a small network of salons. It takes about a year to develop a new product.

AG is now a multi-million dollar enterprise with 30 products and over 100 employees. Products are available as far east as Ontario and shipments have recently begun to the USA. A vision of high-quality products with no unnecessary ingredients is now a Canadian success story.

Chemist, Dr. Nam Fong Han went into the cosmetics business for similar reasons. He noticed a rising demand from consumers for natural, plant-based products with no synthetic chemicals. His Ottawa-based company Natunola manufactures canola-based ingredients for cosmetics rather than traditional petroleum-based ingredients. The result is a product family that is less greasy and also has a very high temperature resistance, which means finished products will have a longer shelf life. 

Vegelatum ^TM is a gel-strucured botanical emollient that is used as a base in creams and moisturizers, eye shadows, hair products and other cosmetic applications. When applied to the skin it has a protective and smoothing effect. Although you will not see the trade name Vegelatum ^TM on the back of your makeup bottle, Natunola ingredients are used in product lines from Estee Lauder (and MAC), the Body Shop, Clairol (Herbal Essences), and other familiar brands. 

There are six chemists working at Natunola. They are responsible for quality control and research and development. A new cosmetic ingredient will take at least 6 months to develop, as it is put through rigorous testing that includes tests for bacteria growth and temperature resistance. 

Dr. Han has prototypes of some cosmetic products, used to try out Natunola ingredients. Here is a formula you can try at home. You can also experiment with different types of oil essences. Vegelatum ^TM is not generally available for consumer use, but you can get a free sample from the company, at: www.natunola.com 

Natunola Vegelatum TM Massage Gel (1)

Ingredient	%Wt
Vegelatum TM Clear	q.s.
Natunola TM Canola Oil	10.70
Isopropyl Myristrate	15.00
Grapeseed Oil	0.50
Jojoba Oil, Golden	0.20
Eucalyptus Oil	0.05
Spearmint Oil	0.05
Grapefruit Oil, Pink	0.10
Australian Myrtle Oil	0.10
Tocopherol q.s.	q.s.

Procedure: Mix all ingredients at room temperature. Add colour if desired.

Vegelatum is a registered trademark of Natunola Health Inc. Copyright of Natunola Health Inc.

Specifications are based on information available at the time of printing. This information is provided in good faith and is subject to the following conditions: 

1. Natunola makes no warranty of any kind concerning any product, formulation or procedure or other matter contained in the information including, without limitation, any warranty that the sale or use of any product, formulation or procedure will not infringe any patent or other third party right. 

2. The user of the information will not provide it to third parties and will indemnify Natunola harmless from any liability arising of the recipient's use of the information. (August 2001)