Formulation and Evaluation of a Poly Herbal Skin Care Cream containing Neem and Tulsi

Abstract

Neem and Tulsi called as holy tree and herb has been used since ancient times for the treatment of various skin diseases. In this study Neem leaves Azadirachta indica and Tulsi leaves Ocimum sanctum was incorporated with various ingredients and a poly herbal cream was prepared. Neem leaves and Tulsi leaves were collected from Tirupati Local Area. Both these plants were shade dried for 4 days and size reduced using mixer grinder converted into coarse powder and passed through sieve number 22. The coarse powder was stored for further studies. Both Neem and Tulsi leaf were defatted using pet ether 60–40 and then extracted using ethanol in a soxhlet apparatus. The extraction was carried out for 3 hrs taking 100 gms of plant material with 500 ml of ethanol. The extract was evaporated in a rotary evaporator the obtained ethanol extracts were preserved for further studies in a dessicator. The extracts were incorporated with various ingredients and excipients and a poly herbal cream was formulated. The cream was evaluated for various evaluation parameters which include pH, viscosity, spreadability, centrifugation test, spectrophotometric test, accelerated stability studies and microbial stability. The accelerated stability studies were carried out for 20 days in room and elevated temperature in a stability chamber. The cream was found to be stable after centrifugation there was no phase separation after centrifugation and stability study. The microbial stability was evaluated for bacterial growth (E. coli) and yeast. The results revealed that the microbial stability of the cream incorporated no microbial growth.