Designing Lamellar Gel Network Emulsions for Personal Care & Cosmetics

Lamellar gel network (LGN) emulsions have a unique bilayer microstructure and viscoelastic properties that find broad application in skin care products, cosmetics, hair conditioners, hair dyes and relaxers. The American Oil Chemists Society (AOCS)  is offering an online course on these unique systems.

This three-day AOCS continuing education program course will provide a detailed overview of the science and technology of these commercially important materials. The course will highlight the LGN model developed by course instructor Ricardo Diez PhD and demonstrate its use to design key aspects of cosmetic and personal care emulsions, from sensorial properties to stability and scale-up, as well as delivery of actives.

• Day 1 will provide an in-depth description of the physical chemistry of the raw materials used to make emulsions. The materials are divided in the categories of emollients, emulsifiers, and structuring agents.

• Day 2, will introduce the LGN model and highlights its key components, and describe the techniques used to build the lamellar structures responsible for the sensorial and stability properties of LGN emulsions. A detailed description of instrumental techniques for characterization of emulsion structure will be provided.

• Day 3, will build on learning from the first two days, presenting formulations with different sensorial properties, as well as the scale-up process. The long-term stability of emulsions, and specifically the rules offered by the model to obtain long term stable products, will be studied in detail.

Diez is currently an adjunct professor at Rutgers University where he teaches two cosmetic science courses in the Master of Business and Science program. He has more than four decades of experience in consumer product companies and raw material manufacturers in the cosmetic industry, including Procter & Gamble, Chanel, Miranol, Stepan and Witco. He has direct, hands-on experience in the synthesis, identification, and manufacturing of many of the materials used to make emulsions.

He has spent many years developing and investigating emulsion using the Lamellar Gel Network Model with a variety of identification techniques. He also has practical experience in the development and use of nano and microemulsions.

To register for the course, click here. Looking for a contract manufacturer for your personal care formula? Click here.