UNIT – 3

HERBAL COSMETICS

Ms. Hiba Zubair

Assistant Professor
Dept. of Pharmacognosy

Yenepoya Pharmacy College & Research Centre

Yenepoya (Deemed to be University), Deralakatte, Mangaluru
 Table of Content

• Herbal Cosmetics

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 Specific learning objectives

• To know about Herbal cosmetics

• To know commonly used Fixed oils in cosmetics

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 HERBAL COSMETICS
• According to the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, Cosmetics are
defined as articles intended to be rubbed, poured,
sprinkled or sprayed on, introduced into or otherwise
applied to the human body or any part thereof for
cleansing, beautifying, promoting attractiveness or altering
the appearance.
• Herbal Cosmetics are the cosmetics which are prepared by
using plant products having cosmetic actions. Herbal
cosmetics are also known as natural cosmetics.

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• Herbal cosmetics are formulated by using different cosmetic
constituents to form the base in which one or more ingredients
of natural origin are used. Plants are mainly used for
development of new drug products for cosmetic formulation.
• In herbal cosmetics the herbs are used in crude or extract form.
Herbs include crude plant material like leaves, flowers, fruit,
seeds, stems, wood, bark, roots, rhizomes or other plant parts,
which may be entire, fragmented or powdered. Herbal
materials also include fresh juices, gums, fixed oils, essential
oils, resins and dry powders of herbs.
•

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• The demand of herbal medicines is increasing quickly due to
their skin easiness and lack of side effects. The best property
of the herbal cosmetics is that it is merely made by the herbs
and shrubs and hence without any side-effects. The natural
ingredients in the herbs also provide nutrients and minerals to
body.
• The term cosmaceuticals was first developed by Raymond
Reed member of US Society of Cosmetics Chemist in 1961.
The word cosmetic was derived from the Greek word "ism
tikos" which means having the power, to arrange and having
skill in decoration.

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• The requirements for the basic skin care

• ➢ Cleansing agent: which remove the dust, dead cells and dirt
that chokes the pores on the skin. Some of the common cleansers
include vegetable oils like coconut, sesame and palm oil.
• ➢ Toners: The toners help to tighten the skin and keep it from
being exposed to many of the toxins that are floating in the air or
other environmental pollutants. Some of the herbs used as toners
are witch hazel, geranium, sage, lemon, essential oils.
• ➢ Moisturizing: The moisturizing helps the skin to become soft
and supple. Moisturizing shows a healthy glow and are less
prone to aging. Some of the herbal moisturizers include
vegetable glycerin, sorbitol, rose water, jojoba oil, Aloe vera
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FIXED OILS

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• Fixed oils are non-volatile oils composed primarily
of triglycerides, which are esters of glycerol and fatty
acids. They do not evaporate at room temperature and
are obtained from plant or animal sources through
processes like cold pressing or solvent extraction.
Fixed oils are commonly used in food,
pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics due to their emollient
and nutritional properties.
• E.g. Almond oil ,Arachis oil, castor oil ,olive oil, coconut oil

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 Almond oil

COMMON NAME:
• Almond milk , almond oil , amygdale amara , amygdalin ,
biter mandel , bitter almond
Biological source
Almond oil is a fixed oil obtained by expression from the seeds
of Prunus amygdalus belongs to the family Rosaceae
• Almonds are a familiar type of nut. They can be sweet or
bitter, depending on the type of tree. Sweet almond does not
contain poisonous chemicals.

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• The sweet almond is 2-3 cm in length.
• Rounded at one end and pointed at the other.
• Bitter almond contain toxic chemicals.
• The bitter almond is 1.5-2 cm in length but of similar breadth
to the sweet almond. Oleic acid (77%) Linoleic acid (17%)
Palmitic acid (5%) Myristic (1%)

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 Constituents
• Colorless, crystalline, cyanogenetic glycoside amygdalin
Benzaldehyde 21% hydrocyanic acid.
• Both bitter and sweet almonds are expressed for their fixed oil
(45-50%) by expression from the kernels of varieties of
P.amygdalus.
• Bitter almonds after maceration to permit hydrolysis of
amygdalin, also yield Essential or volatile oil that is used as
flavoring agent .
• Oil is pale yellow liquid with a slight odor & bland, nutty
taste.

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• Almond oil is obtained by grinding the seeds and expressing
them in canvas bags between slightly heated iron plates.
• They are sometimes blanched before grinding. It contains a
considerable amount of olein ,with smaller quantities of the
glycosides of linoleic and other acids. The Benzaldehyde and
hydrocyanic acid are separated by steam distillation.

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 USES
• Used In The Preparation Of Many Toilet Articles Used As
Ingredient In Cosmetic When Taken Internally, It Has Mild
Laxative Action
• As A Vehicle For Oily Injections Used As Flavoring Agent
Used As Emollient

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 ARACHIS OIL
• Synonyms
• Groundnut oil; monkeynut oil; peanut oil; katchung oil; earth-nut
oil.
• Biological Source
• Arachis oil is obtained by expression of shelled and skinned seeds
of Arachia hypogaea Linn., belonging to family Papilionaceae.
• Geographical Source
• South America (Brazil) is the original home of ground nut and
now found in South and Central America, Peru, Argentina,
Nigeria, Australia, India, Gambia, and other reasonably warm
regions of all countries.
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 Chemical Constituents

• The important constituents of the glycerides of groundnut oil

are the fatty acids palmitic (8.3%), stearic (3.1%), oleic (56%),
linoleic (26%), arachidic (24%), eicosenoic, behenic (3.1%),
and lignoceric (1.1%) acids. Myristic, hexacosanoic, erucic,
caprylic, lauric, and trace amounts of odd carbon fatty acids
are also present. The principal glycerides of the oil are triolein
(11%), dioleolinolein (21%), saturated oleolinoleins (22%),
dilinoleoolein (12%), saturated diolein (15%), and saturated
dilinoleoolein (6%).

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• The yellow colour of the oil is due to the presence of carotenoid
pigments, chiefly β-carotene and lutein.
• The unsaponifiable matter consists of sterols, (campesterol, stigmasterol,
β-sitosterol and cholesterol), sterol glycosides β-sitosterol-D-glycoside
and others), and triterpenoid alcohols (β-amyrin, cycloartenol and 24-
methylene cycloartenol). Tocopherols occur free in groundnut oil.
Squalene, an unsaturated hydrocarbon, occurs in extremely small
amounts in the unsaponifiable fraction. Two other unsaturated
hydrocarbons, hypogene, and arachidene, have also been reported.
• The kernels contain fixed oil (40–50%), proteins (26.2%), water (1.8%),
carbohydrates (20.6%), ash, and high concentration of thiamine. The
chief proteins are arachin and conarchin, both are globulins of different
solubility. The vitamin content of groundnut is moderate, the largest
being in the episperm.
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 USES
• Groundnut oil is used as an edible oil, in control of pasture
bloat, as a substitute for Olive oil, as a solvent in
pharmaceutical aid, in hydrogenated state as shortening, in
mayonnaise, in confections; for the manufacture of margarine,
soap, points, liniments, plasters, and ointments, as vehicle for
intramuscular medication and in the laboratory as heat transfer
medium in melting point apparatus.

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CASTOR OIL

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• Synonyms
• Castor bean oil, castor oil seed, oleum ricini, ricinus oil, oil of
palma christi, cold-drawn castor oil.
• Biological Source
• Castor oil is the fixed oil obtained by cold expression of the
seeds of Ricinus communis Linn., belonging to family
Euphorbiaceae.
• Geographical Source
• It is mainly found in India, Brazil, America, China, Thai-land; in
India it is cultivated in Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka.

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• Chemical Constituents
• Castor oil consists of glyceride of ricinoleic acid, isoricinoleic,
stearic, and dihydroxy stearic acids. Ricinoleic acid is
responsible for laxative property.
• Castor oil also contains vitamin F. 90% of the fatty acid
content is ricinoleic acid.
• The ricinoleic acid is an 18-carbon acid having a double bond
in the 9–10 position and a hydroxyl group on the 12th carbon.
This combination of hydroxyl group and unsaturation occurs
only in castor oil.

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• Identification Tests
• About 5 ml of light petroleum (50° to 60°) when mixed with
10 ml of castor oil at 15.5° shows a clear solution, but if the
amount of light petroleum is increased to 15 ml, the mixture
becomes turbid. This test is not shown by other oils.

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 Uses
• Castor oil is mild purgative, fungistatic, used as an ointment
base, as plasticizer, wetting agents, as a lubricating agent.
• Ricinoleic acid is used in contraceptive creams and jellies; it is
also used as an emollient in the preparation of lipsticks, in
tooth formulation, as an ingredient in hair oil.
• The dehydrated oil is used in the manufacture of linoleum and
alkyl resin.
• The main use of castor oil is the industrial production of
coatings, also employed to make pharmaceuticals and
cosmetics in the textile and leather industries and for
manufacturing plastics and fibres.

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OLIVE OIL

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• Synonyms

• Salad oil; sweet oil; oleum olival.

• Biological Source

• Olive oil is a fixed oil obtained by expression of the ripe fruits

of Olea europoea Linn. or Indian olive (O. ferruginea),
belonging to family Oleaceae.
• Geographical Source

• Olive is a native of Palestine and produced extensively in the

countries adjoining the Mediterranean Sea. Spain being the
largest producer. It is also grown in the south western United
States and many other subtropical localities.
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 Characteristics
• Olive oil is a pale yellow or light greenish-yellow due to
presence of chlorophyll or carotenes, nondrying oily liquid
with a pleasanting delicate flavour.
• Taste is bland becoming cloudy and at 0°C it usually forms a
whitish granular mass. It becomes faintly acrid. It is miscible
with ether, chloroform, and carbon disulphide and is slightly
soluble in alcohol.
• Upon cooling at +5 to 10°, it becomes cloudy and at 0°C
usually forms a whitish granular mass. It becomes rancid on
exposure to air.
• It has specific gravity of 0.914–0.919, acid value 0.2–2.8,
saponification value 187–196, and iodine value 79–90.

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 Chemical Constituents

• Olive oil contains mixed glycerides of oleic acid (56–85%),

palmitic (7–20%), linoleic (3–20%), stearic (1–5%), arachidic
(0.9%), palmitoleic (3%), linolenic, eicosenoic, gadoleic, and
lignoceric acids.
• The minor constituents are squalene up to 0.7%, phytosterol
and tocopherols about 0.2%. Italy-Spain type olive oil is
higher in oleic acid and Greece-Tunisia type oil has higher
levels of linoleic acid.

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• Identification Tests
• Under UV radiation it gives deep golden-yellow colour, while
refined oil gives pale blue fluorescence. Decolourization with
charcoal removes fluorescence.
• Uses
• Olive oil is used in the manufacture of pharmaceutical
preparations, soaps, textile lubricants, sulphonated oils,
liniments, cosmetics, plasters; as food in salads, and for
cooking and baking. It has demulcent, emollient, choleretic or
cholagogue, and laxative properties. It is a good solvent for
parenteral preparations.
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COCONUT OIL

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• Synonyms Coconut oil, coconut butter, copra oil.

• Biological Source

• Coconut oil is the oil expressed from the dried solid part of
endosperm of coconut, Cocos nucifera L., belonging to family
Palmae.
• Geographical Source

• Coconut is widely distributed throughout the world. It is largely

cultivated in African and southeast Asian countries. Coconut
also known as copra is a dietary as well as industrial product
throughout the world. Large quantity of oil is produced in India,
Sri Lanka Malaysia, South Africa, China, Indonesia, and other
countries 30
• Chemical Composition
• Coconut obtained from the hard, dried endocarp consists of a
mixture of triglycerides of saturated fatty acids. The oil
contains about 95% of saturated fatty acids with 8 and 10
carbon atoms. It shows the presence of caprylic acid, 2%;
capric acid, 50–80%; lauric acid, 3%; and myristic acid about
1%.

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• Uses
• Coconut oil is used as dietary products in many areas of the world.
In European pharmacopoeia, fractionated coconut oil is known as
‘Thin vegetable oil’. It is useful as a nonaqueous medium for the
oral administration of some medicaments.
• Fractionated coconut oil is used as a basis for the preparation of
oral suspension of drugs unstable in aqueous media. Diets based
on medium chain triglycerides including preparations made from
coconut oil are used in conditions associated with mal - absorption
of fat such as cystic fibrosis, enteritis, and steatorrhoea. Abdominal
pain and diarrhoea have been reported in patients taking diet based
on medium chain triglycerides.

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 Summary

At the end of the lecture students shall be able to learn

• Herbal cosmetics

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 References

• Pharmacognosy by Trease G.E and Evans, W.C

• Pharmacognosy by Kokate C.K, Purohit A.P and
Gokhale S
• Textbook of Pharmacognosy by Tyler V.E, Brady R

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