The exceptional need for naturals in the personal care space has set an exciting and high growth desire in the market, for natural-based waxes that can offer the benefits that synthetic waxes can or even exceed. This is due to consumer desire to purchase natural-based products as the market remains highly involved in brands’ sustainability and eco-friendly outputs to the earth.
The demand for naturals has caused many brands to re-look at their ingredient lists to appeal to the consumer market as this trend falls into the trending lines of waterless beauty and circular economy (non-wastage) ingredients.
Natural-based waxes are derived from natural sources such as living plants and animals.
The sources vary as well as the appearance and functionality of each wax.
A few natural waxes you may be familiar with are:
Plant-based (Vegan)
Cirenat Rice Bran Wax
Origin: A wax extracted by the pressing of the rice husks after they have been separated from the grains. The oil is then dewaxed, producing wax as a by-product which results in rice bran wax.
Attributes: It is a natural, light yellow, hard, crystalline vegetable wax.
Uses: Reduces syneresis in lipstick and balm. Used as a thickener with emollient properties.
Cirenat Sugarcane Wax
Origin: A wax extracted from the waste of sugar production.
Attributes: It is a yellow, medium soft vegetable wax.
Uses: Balances flexibility in stick applications. Provides high gloss finish in lip applications.
Candelilla
Origin: A wax that is extracted from the shrub Euphorbia by boiling the shrub and skimming off the resultant wax.
Attributes: It is hard, pale yellow wax.
Uses: Stick and colour cosmetic applications
Carnauba
Origin: A wax that is extracted from the leaves of the Brazilian palm tree.
Attributes: One of the hardest waxes available, and colour ranges from dark brown to pale yellow (dependant on age and purity)
Uses: Viscosity builder in creams and lotions.
Animal-based
Beeswax
Origin: This wax is secreted by the glands of the honeybee and is used as a building material for honeycombs.
Attributes: It is an amber to yellow colour with a soft pliable structure.
Uses: Increases the thickness in formulations and is used in lipsticks as it provides structure.
The natural wax range is very valuable to personal care formulations because they provide structure, moisture, and hydration to the skin or hair. In applications, they are perfect for skin care, lip care, colour cosmetics, lotions and hair care.
At Cirebelle we do not only offer synthetic solutions but a natural wax alternative in the form of our CireNat Wax range. Our CireNat Wax range is high-performing, vegan-friendly, biodegradable raw materials, produced from circular economy, that can offer effective alternatives to petroleum raw materials and impressive results in formulations.
Conclusion
Natural waxes are effective and safe, whilst offering high performance and various unique properties in formulations. They perform just as well as synthetics, but they offer the consumer a natural alternative in their formulations.
