Development and Evaluation of Herbal Actives for Skin Care

Abstract

There are several synthetic skincare products containing active ingredients including monoethanolamine, diethanolamine, sodium laureth sulfate, triethanolamine, etc. have adverse reactions such as allergic contact dermatitis, irritant contact dermatitis, newlinephototoxic and photo-allergic reactions (Mukherjee et al. 2011). Herbal cosmetics are the preparations which represent cosmetics associated with active and bioactive ingredients from plant origin. The botanical ingredients present, influence the biological function of skin and provide nutrients necessary for the healthy skin. In general, plants provide different vitamins, antioxidants, essential oils, dyes, tannins, alkaloids, carbohydrates, proteins, terpenoids and other bioactive molecules. Herbal cosmetics are topically applied and preferred more to synthetic or chemical cosmetics for their adverse reactions. newlineThe vast array of knowledge of medicinal plants mentioned in ayurvedic texts is very helpful in the development of the new cosmetics products for present and future cosmeceuticals industry (Kumar et al. 2013). In India, we have a vast biodiversity and different climatic conditions which provide a variety of plants that can be used in the formulations. Our traditional knowledge about the use of plant wealth is described in Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and Tibetian system of medicine.