Foreword

Everyone is aware of the unstoppable growth in the use of cosmetics worldwide. In

recent years, men have come to use them almost as much as women. Cosmetic uses
among babies and children have also expanded at an increasing pace and now provide
easy solutions for needs which could not even be envisaged only a few years ago.
Everybody, of course, is aware of the exorbitant amounts of money handled in the world
of cosmetics.
Few people other than dedicated scientists are aware of the extremely wide range of
general and specific cosmetics currently available for purposes such as (a) facial treatment
(lips, eyes and hair included) and body care (hands, nails and feet included), which is pro-
vided by creams, emulsions, lotions, gels, oils, lipsticks, face masks and antiwrinkle prod-
ucts, among others; (b) personal hygiene products for which include toilet and deodorant
soaps, bath and shower preparations, deodorants and antiperspirants, depilatories, shaving
creams and gels, after-bath powders, hygienic powders, make-up cleansers, teeth and
mouth care products, external intimate hygiene products or hair cleansers; and (c) sun-
screens and related products (e.g. sunbathing lotions, products for tanning without sun,
skin whiteners).
In addition, these products vary in composition according to skin type (normal, oily, dry,
mixed or sensitive), age (baby, child, young, adult, elderly) and ethnic group (white, east-
ern, black). Also, each cosmetic manufacturer uses their own traditional ingredients, and
there is a growing trend of adding vitamins and a wide range of other compounds within
nutraceuticals.
The wide range of products and the complexity of their composition present a formida-
ble challenge to the analytical chemist, as well as to the toxicologist and the formulation
scientist. A glance at the very complicated mixture of ingredients listed on the label of a
popular sunscreen liquid gives a good indication of how challenging is the analysis of such
a product and how important it is to employ officially validated methods. This book pres-
ents a thorough description of the analytical methodology applicable to cosmetic products.
The scarcity or even absence of officially endorsed analytical methods for the control of
cosmetics and their ingredients, however, together with the dispersion and poor documen-
tation of available methods, is an important reason for producing a book such as this.
Edited by analytical chemists well known for their expertise in cosmetics analysis, the
book is extremely timely for cosmetics specialists, and also for non-specialists with some
scientific curiosity about this topic.
The book includes updated legislation on cosmetics and an assortment of tables that
illustrate the state-of-the-art analysis for individual cosmetics, ingredients, surfactants, etc.
Particularly important is the inclusion of articles by industrial professionals involved in
such analyses. Most of the authors are from France, Italy and Spain, with other from
Switzerland, the USA and Argentina.
xii Foreword

The Editors' engagement with the world of cosmetics is clearly reflected in the large
number of references to their own p u b l i c a t i o n s - which is now expanded and diversified
with the release of this book. This has facilitated careful selection of its contents, which
will no doubt bridge existing gaps in this area.

Maria Dolores Luque de Castro Alan Townshend

University of C6rdoba, Spain University of Hull, UK