Abstract
Due to pollution and climate-change fear, further increased by the COVID19 pandemic, consumers are looking for body and mind health by the request of more effective and safe products, including the anti-aging skincare cosmeceuticals.. The term “cosmeceuticals” was coined in 1962 as a fusion of cosmetic and pharmaceutical to cover a new class of products able to achieve aesthetic and drug-like benefits. They not only improve the skin’s appearance, but also treat different dermatological conditions, through a physiological activity, shown by in vitro and in vivo studies. This new category of cosmetics should contain no recognized drugs, but nonetheless have medicinal value. Consumers, in fact, are looking for products able to regenerate the skin and maintain not only a youthful appearance together with well-ness and well-being, but preserving the environment also. Consequently, they are searching for cosmetics and food made with high-quality natural ingredients, packaged with biodegradable materials and realized by sustainable technologies, possibly at zero waste. Consumers, in fact, are afraid of the pollution and plastics invading lands and oceans, causing many frequent disasters on our planet. New and smart tissues and films, made by polysaccharides and natural active ingredients, are proposed as innovative cosmeceuticals. These non-woven tissues, embedded by micro/nano complexes of chitin and lignin encapsulating different active ingredients, could represent a new category of vehicles that are characterized for their high effectiveness and safeness. Moreover, they do not induce allergic nor sensitizing phenomena, being biodegradable; skin- and environmentally friendly; and free of preservatives, emulsifiers, colors, fragrances and any kind of chemicals. Last but not least, polysaccharides, chitin and lignin may be obtained from industrial and agro-forestry waste, safeguarding the natural raw materials for the future generations.
Highlights
The lockdown period and ongoing distancing measures have seen a decline of some cosmetics categories, such as color cosmetics, fragrances and hair removal, with a growth in skincare promoting well-being and self-care able to slow down the skin-aging phenomenon
By a controlled trans-epidermal penetration it will be possible to increase both cosmetic effectiveness and safeness which naturally depend on the physicochemical properties of the active ingredients selected, the nature of the vehicle and the skin conditions
Consumers are searching out products which might be natural-based and respective of the environment, and capable of giving them a more youthful appearance and improving their health
Summary
The lockdown period and ongoing distancing measures have seen a decline of some cosmetics categories, such as color cosmetics, fragrances and hair removal, with a growth in skincare promoting well-being and self-care able to slow down the skin-aging phenomenon. “cosmetics can be viewed as therapeutic interventions to help a person feel” and look better, being used “as a vehicle to promote health care and general psychological and social, wellbeing” [1,3] In this specific field, due to the lack of the actual international rules, the so-called “cosmeceuticals” might represent a new category of topical products placed between cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. In our opinion, cosmeceuticals based on tissue-carriers can be considered today as innovative personal-care formulations These cosmeceutical-tissues, made by natural ingredients obtained from renewable sources and sustainable technologies and packed by biodegradable containers, have been supported by in vitro and in vivo studies which have shown their effectiveness and safeness as skin- and environmentally friendly products. It is interesting to underline that polymers and ingredients used may be obtainable from agro-forestry and industrial waste at a low cost, preserving the environmental raw materials for the future generations
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
