Herbal Cosmetics for Skin and Hair care

The cosmetics are the utility products used extensively throughout the world for maintaining and improving general appearance of face and other parts of body e.g. mouth, hand finger, eye, hair, etc. It includes creams, powders, face pack, lotions, moisturizers, shampoo, hair oil, conditioners, nail polish, etc. Smooth, shinning, healthy skin and hair certainly count for a beautiful woman or handsome man. Numerous chemical toxins, microorganisms, chemicals, infections present in atmosphere cause damage to skin. Cosmetics alone are not sufficient to take care of skin and body parts, it require association of active ingredients to check the damage and ageing of the skin. Herbal cosmetics are now emerged as the appropriate solution to the current problem. Personal care industry is currently more concentrated on herbal cosmetics as now-a-days it is a fast growing segment with a vast scope of manifold expansion in coming years. Herbal cosmetics are the preparations, which represent cosmetics associated with active bio-ingredients, neutraceuticals or pharmaceuticals. The use of bioactive phytochemicals from a variety of botanicals have dual function, (i) they serve as cosmetics for the care of body and its parts and (ii) the botanical ingredients present therein influence biological functions of skin and provide nutrients necessary for the healthy skin or hair. In general, botanicals provide different vitamins, antioxidants, various oils, essential oils, hydrocolloids, proteins, terpenoids and other bioactive molecules. A vast biodiversity and different climatic conditions of our country provide a variety of botanicals, which can be used in the formulations. Our traditional knowledge about the use of plant wealth as described in Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and Tibetan system of medicine, is of great help to identify the phytochemicals for skin and body care preparations. Necessary efforts are required to associate the modern cosmetology with bioactive ingredients based on our traditional system of medicine leading to emergence of novel cosmoceuticals for skin and body care.