Abstract:
The usage of pressed powder is popular from the past to the present. Pressed powders are convenient to use, which appropriate for women in modern society who have a hurried lifestyle. Nowadays talcum is still widely used as a main ingredient in most marketed pressed powder product. The disadvantage of talcum is that it can be inhaled and unable to be removed from the respiratory system. Contamination of talcum with asbestos may induce cancer. Therefore, natural starch is considered as a new choice in the market instead. The natural starches used in this study included tapioca starch, potato starch and mung bean starch. Physical properties of these powders, including flowability, compressibity, moisture and oil absorption and sensory evaluation were studied. The results suggested that mung bean starch was the most appropriate starch among these samples. Therefore, mung bean starch was chosen for pressed powder formulation. Formulated powders were evaluated for color homogeneity, pick up and transfer ability, durability and stability. For stability study, various conditions including room temperature, exposure to sun light, hot air oven (45˚C) refrigerators (4˚C), and heating-cooling cycles were studied. When observed with the eyes on day 0 , 7 and 14 , the color of powder was changed only in the heating-cooling conditions. Evaluation of the color by using colorimeter in CIELAB scale 0 and 14 suggested that the color was stable and the changes cannot be observed with eyes. Formulated powder was further evaluated for preferences in 20 female volunteers who aged between 2050 years, comparing with talcum powder. Preferences of mung bean pressed
powder were not significantly different when compared with talcum powder.
Results from this study suggested that mung bean starch might be used as an effective talcum replacement powder for further development in cosmetic industries.