Background

Natural and sustainable trends around the world are an inevitable choice for the cosmetic industry, thus various ingredients including surfactants derived from renewable and sustainable sources are technically innovative cornerstones, compared with synthetic ones. Natural products and natural product-based agents have been known to play crucial roles in many industries including the cosmetic industry.

Aim

The primary aim of the present research  is to extract botanical-derived saponins from Pu’er tea (black tea) seeds and investigate their characteristics, including surface tension reduction, foam power, hard water resistance, skin/eye safety, and radical-scavenging ability.

Materials and Methods

The safety and irritation potential of BTS Saponins were assessed using the Reconstructed Human Cornea-like Epithelium Model and the 3D Reconstructed Human Epidermis Model. This enabled the verification of BTS Saponins’ safety, a necessary condition for their application as a constituent in cosmetics. Furthermore, the investigation also assessed the capacity of BTS saponins to counteract the DPPH· radical, thus substantially enhancing their prospective application in the field of cosmetics.

Results

The results clearly demonstrate that BTS saponins possess an exceptional capacity to reduce surface tension and sustain foam of superior quality. It successfully completed the safety and irritation potential test, which is a prerequisite for its incorporation as a cosmetic ingredient. The antioxidant test results also demonstrated that BTS saponins can effectively counteract the DPPH· radical, thereby significantly increasing their suitability for cosmetic application.

Conclusion

Based on these observations, it appears that BTS saponins have the potential to be an extremely efficient cleaning element. These findings point out the fact that botanical-based saponins can be potential alternatives to synthetic surfactants in the cosmetic industry.