The “moisturizing feeling” of hand cream is changing
In the traditional hand cream formula, oils and emollient components play the core nursing role.They give the cream a soft touch, can quickly improve dry hands, and bring an intuitive nursing experience.Especially in daytime use scenarios, excessive oil film can seriously interfere with daily actions.Just after applying the hand cream, you have to touch the screen, type, flip through documents, and hold the steering wheel. If the cream floats on the surface of the skin for a long time, the sticky feeling will become a burden to use.Previously, the procurement of raw materials focused more on moisturizing power, emollient effect and basic stability. Now, questions about the degree of stickiness, spreading performance, ointment physique, and skin feeling after film formation are becoming more and more specific.
Let the hand cream face more actual scenes
There is an essential difference between hand cream and most body care products.After applying the cream, the face is less subject to repeated rubbing by external objects; hand cream is the opposite. After applying, the hands will immediately be involved in various daily activities. This is also the real reason why the skin feeling is constantly increasing in the hand cream formula the weight.
If a hand cream takes a long time to subside the stickiness, the user will take the initiative to reduce the frequency of use during the day; but if the texture is too light and thin, it is easy to lack enough care.This dilemma has long plagued the development of hand cream.
Some products on the market mainly focus on thickening at night, emphasizing the sense of wrapping and closed repair; the other part is positioned for portable daily use, suitable for quick replenishment after washing hands.Product positioning is different, and the direction of formula design is naturally differentiated.However, no matter what kind of positioning, the comprehensive tactile touch of the paste after it is taken, applied, and formed into a film is included in the formula evaluation system.The competition on the hand cream track has extended from a simple competition for moisture to a complete full-process experience.
From thick to silky, the choice of raw materials begins to become finer
The ultimate skin feeling of hand cream cannot be determined by a single raw material.The oil phase, the moisturizing system, the emulsifying system, and the thickening rheological system will all work together to affect the texture of the finished product.Among them, the oil phase directly determines the most intuitive softening and lubrication performance, but modern formulas no longer rely on simply increasing the amount of grease added to achieve the effect.The skin feeling of different oily raw materials is significantly different. Some tend to be soft and moisturizing, some are mainly light and light, and some are good at spreading.For example, Isopropyl myristate can be used as an option in oil phase design.
The same oil phase ratio, with different emulsifying and thickening systems, the final experience of getting started will be very different.For hand creams, the ideal state is not to achieve the ultimate in a certain parameter, but to be compatible and balanced between the components: the cream has elasticity but is not difficult to push; it has moisturizing power but is not overly greasy; it is smooth to apply, and there is no obvious sticky feeling after the film is formed.
Composite raw materials are leaving more space for the formula
THICION®MY905 ACRYLAMIDE & AMMONIUM ACRYLATE COPOLYMER & MINERAL OIL & LAURETH-7 Moisturizer and lubricant, with a refreshing, silky, delicate skin feeling, while reducing the stickiness of the system, suitable for creams, lotions, essences and other dosage forms.The product characteristics are just in line with the current development requirements of hand cream for skin feeling optimization.
Hand cream requires not only a molded cream structure, but also to ensure smooth application.The value of this composite raw material is not limited to the traditional thickening effect.THICION®MY905 multi-component is pre-compounded into a stable system, which is also the core difference between it and the single-component raw material.For hand cream formulas that take into account texture and skin feeling at the same time, composite raw materials provide R&D personnel with new debugging ideas.
There is also a distance between the emulsifying system and the skin feeling
Hand cream is inseparable from a stable emulsifying system. In the eyes of consumers, it is just a white cream; in the perspective of formula, it is a complex system of aqueous phase, oil phase, Emulsifier, and structural components.The first task of the emulsifying system is to ensure the stability of the shelf life, but the stability does not mean that the use experience is excellent.Once the emulsification brings a heavy texture, or the matching with the oil phase and thickening system is unbalanced, the finished product will still have problems such as poor spreading and excessive viscosity.
Therefore, the development of hand cream, emulsification stability and skin feeling optimization need to be considered simultaneously.For example, the system corresponding to Oil in water emulsion needs to be judged according to the composition of the oil phase, the emulsification requirements and the final texture in the specific formula.This also reflects the trend of the cosmetic raw material industry: customers purchase raw materials and pursue practical solutions to problems after they are integrated into the formula, rather than isolated raw material performance parameters.
Lightweight hand cream is expanding the use scenario
As the frequency of use increases, the shortness of skin feeling will be magnified exponentially.With occasional use, a slight heavy feeling is acceptable; if you apply it multiple times a day, especially after washing your hands every time, it becomes essential to be refreshing, easy to push away, and low stickiness.Lightweight hand cream has emerged. It is not a complete replacement for traditional thick moisturizing models, but covers differentiated consumption scenarios: office, commuting, summer, and air-conditioned environments are adapted to lightweight versions; winter and night repairs can still retain the highly moisturizing formula.
Moisturizing raw materials are also beginning to face the requirements of "refreshing”
Hand cream is inseparable from moisturizing, but the moisturizing system also needs to take into account the skin feeling. The public's understanding of moisturizing has been iterated, and they are no longer satisfied with the short-term moisturizing feeling after applying, and they have to judge whether the moisturizing is comfortable.Even if the moisturizing effect is up to standard, the slimy experience will still drive down the product evaluation.For hand creams with different positioning, the matching logic of the moisturizing system must also be adjusted accordingly.
For example, GLYCERETH 26 can be used as a raw material choice for the direction of moisture retention in the formula.As for how much should be used in the end, and which oil phases and structural systems to match, it needs to be judged in combination with the specific formula.Nowadays, the basic efficacy of raw materials is important, but the formula side attaches more importance to the comprehensive performance of raw materials after they are combined into the finished product.
From "moisturizing” to “friction resistant”
Moisturizing is still the unshakable foundation of hand cream.It's just that contemporary consumers are no longer satisfied with blindly thickening and sealing, and look forward to the product's true integration into daily life: it can be used after washing hands, between work, before and after going out, and before going to bed. It is not dragged down by the oily feeling, and it will not be too light and thin lose care.
This subtle change in demand reshapes the development ideas of hand cream.From valuing the instant effect of application, to focusing on the complete full-cycle use experience.For raw material companies, the competition is no longer just about individual physical and chemical properties, but whether they can help formulators balance texture, stickiness, and multi-system adaptability.The moisturizing, lubricating, silky and delicate skin feeling of THICION®MY905 just matches some of the development requirements of the current hand cream.
Hubei Mingya New Material Technology Co., Ltd.
