The olfactory sensations caused by the use of perfumes can vary from individual to individual. Women are well aware of this. No one buys a perfume solely based on the fragrance released from the bottle or exhaled by another person without first testing it on their own skin. The explanations for these behavioral diversities are of great interest to the fragrance industry and its perfumers, who are concerned with formulations that can best meet consumer needs.
The acceptance of a cosmetic by the consumer is strongly influenced by its fragrance. In light of this, there is a significant concern on the part of the industry to offer stable products, with organoleptic characteristics unchanged over time of storage and use.
Although the ingredients used in these products must have known toxicological properties, many of them can degrade upon contact with air, light, and heat, or even through skin metabolism, leading to substances that can alter their odor and even cause some type of allergic reaction. In cosmetics, fragrances are the main causes of allergies.
Despite this finding, there are few reports published on the chemical degradation of fragrance ingredients upon contact with the skin, and none of them take into account the skin's microbial composition, generically referred to as skin microbiota. It is estimated that there are approximately 100 million cells of microorganisms in the human body.
In this context, research that considers possible degradation reactions of these ingredients caused by human skin microbiota can provide valuable information for the evaluation of toxicity, stability, and acceptability of cosmetic products in general and perfumes in particular.
It is also known that environmental factors such as temperature, humidity, and light exposure, as well as host-related factors like gender, genotype, immune status, and use of cosmetics, can affect the microbial composition and distribution of the skin. Numerous researchers also consider that the microbiota plays an important role in the skin's immune system.
However, little is known about the species sets present in skin samples and their enzymatic activities, which are important because enzymes are biological catalysts that play an essential role in human metabolism and, particularly in the skin, are crucial in the processes of absorption and elimination of components.
In light of this scenario, chemist Carla Porto da Silva, who has been working for about seven years as a researcher at a large perfume and cosmetics company, developed a study aimed at determining the enzymatic potential of human skin microbiota.
She linked this potential to the main degradation reactions of cosmetic formulations, more specifically, to a selection of fragrance ingredients, which are part of a set of four to five thousand natural substances, such as essential oils and synthetic compounds, present and mimicked from nature.
Realizing that one of the major problems for perfumers was developing fragrances for all audiences and encountering the lack of studies on the biochemical processes that can alter the components of fragrances upon contact with the skin, she set out to answer two major questions: why can fragrances manifest diverse effects on people with different skin types, and what are the mechanisms that lead to such behaviors?
To learn more, access the full news article at the link: http://www.unicamp.br/unicamp/ju/530/questao-de-pele?language=en
