Iota Carrageenan in Skin Care Products

1. Brief Description

イオタカラギーナン is a natural thickener that is commonly used in skin care products. Gels made with iota carrageenan are usually stable to acids and tolerate some sodium and magnesium salts. These gels are incompatible with calcium salts, so they are not suitable for mixing with milk or calcium-rich extracts and minerals.

2. Raw Materials

This product is naturally derived from Red Seaweeds of the family Solieriaceae.

3. Appearance

Yellowish to white powder

4. Odour

Almost odourless

5. Why Iota Carrageenan?

Iota carrageenan in skin care products could provide soft, elastic gels.

Lambda

Another common cosmetic type is Lambda carrageenan, which does not gel but thickens and can be used in cold processing.

6. How to Form a Gel

Carrageenan will absorb water and swell in water (whether it is cold or hot water).

The heating will reduce the time for the carrageenan to swell completely, but in cold water, the gel could also eventually swell.

Therefore, to ensure that the carrageenan can be hydrated quickly and efficiently, we recommend either heating to 60-80°C or using a high shear mixer (i.e. a mechanical mixer, not hand mixing) for cold mixing.

7. Synergy Effect

We all know that carrageenan has good synergy with other thickeners, and Iota carrageenan works well with gum Arabic (acacia gum).

If you want to make natural gels with strong oil stability, this combination is highly recommended.

8. Benefits

As a natural thickener, Iota Carrageenan gives a soft, silky feel to our skin and hair care products.

However, if too much is added, it can become a bit sticky.

We recommend that when adding amounts starting at 0.4%, we have to feel the viscosity of the product to determine the best amount to add.

As a thickening agent for the serum, it is highly moisturizing in itself. This is also capable of forming a crystal clear solution.

9. Recommendations of Carrageenan in Skin Care

Up to 2%

10. Applications

Creams and gels: Used as a thickening agent for creams and gels.
Cleansers: We know from the properties of carrageenan that it can also be used as a suspending agent, so carrageenan can also be used as an exfoliating gel cleanser.

11. Cautions

It’s about the acid stability, acid could destroy the structure of carrageenan, hydrolysis in solution and accelerated by heat; But once carrageenan is gelled, its gels are more acid stable.

Iota Carrageenan in Skin Care Products