Herbal cosmetics face several challenges in their formulation. Key among these are a lack of documentation for herbal ingredients, no standardized processes for extraction and production, and unstable active compounds that can degrade over time. Specific issues include inconsistent quality and potency of raw herbal materials, difficulties assessing safety due to complex mixtures of compounds, and constraints in the cultivation and processing of medicinal plants. Proper drying, storage conditions, and quality controls are needed to ensure herbal cosmetics maintain therapeutic properties throughout production and shelf life.

1. CHALLENGES IN FORMULATING HERBAL
COSMATICS
SUBMITTED BY
HARVINDAR SINGH
M. PHARM 2nd SEM
SUBMITTED TO
MISS. ALKA LOHANI
PROF. IFTM UNIVERSIY
MORADABAD

2. Cosmetics
“Any article intended to be rubbed, poured,
sprinkled, sprayed, introduced to or applied to
any part of human body for cleansing,
beautifying, promoting attractiveness or altering
the appearances of human body are cosmetics.”
(Drug and Cosmetics Act, 1940)

3. Herbal cosmetics
Herbal cosmetics are the preparations consisting
of one or more herbs or processed herb(s) in
specified quantities to provide specific cosmetic
benefits.
These formulation include comminuted or
powered herbal substances, tinctures, extracts
essential natural oils, expressed juices and
processed exudates which are obtained by
subjecting herbal substances to treatments such as
extraction, distillation, expression, fractionation,
purification or fermentation processes.

4. “Herbal cosmetics are formulated, using
different cosmetic ingredients to form the base in
which one or more herbal ingredients are used to
cure various skin ailments.” (Joshi et.al, 2015)

5. Herbal extracts of cosmetics
Herbal extracts as the name suggests, is the
extract of herbs. Herbal extracts are an ancient
methodology as its references have been
discovered in holy Vedas and in unani scriptures.
Herbals extracts are processed for curing several
remedies and serve other health prospective.

6.  There exist a gigantic variety of herbal extracts, to
name a few Ocimum sanctum (Tulsi), Asparagus
Racemosus (Shatawari), Azadirachta Indica (Neem),
Asphalt (Shilajit), Camellia Sinensis (Green tea) etc.
 Herbal extracts in liquid and other forms have proved
to be panacea in the diseases like cardiac problems,
digestive disorders and in mental fatigues. In some
cases, herbal extracts accuracy was detected more than
allopathic medicines which are usually comprised of
complex chemicals.

7. Herbal extracts have very less chances of side
effects than any other medicines.
Herbal extracts are cultivated all over the world
and is prime name in horticulture sector at
present.
In the present, masses are drifting towards nature
and several cosmetics, fashionable items and
others are prepared from it. Cosmetics made up of
herbal extracts for antimarks, fairness, cleansing
and hair-care are very popular for their reliability

8. Challenges
 A key challenge is to objectively assess conflicting
toxicological, epidemiological and other data and the
verification of herbal materials used.
 Unlike conventional cosmetics, there is extremely
insufficient documentation of herbal cosmetics. Most
herbal cosmetics depend on traditional methods or
Ayurvedic formulations in their manufacturing. Some
of these are passed down through generations, while
some are documented. Even when documented, few of
these can compare to the extensive clinical,
pharmacological, and toxicological documentation
available for conventional beauty products.

9. Herbal ingredients needs special care and precautions during the
complete phase of extraction process. Proper drying conditions
should be adhered.
Improper drying may lead to unintentional adulteration. E.g. if
digitalis leaves are dried above 65 °C decomposition of
glycosides by enzymatic hydrolysis.
No specific standardization: there is no single standard that will
apply to herbal cosmetic formulations, so no any good way to
decide whether ingredient can be used or not, to which extent and
what standards.
Since the processing of one batch often differed from another, a
single company’s own product line may not have a standard
output.
This makes compliance with certain rules difficult, especially in
some developed markets.

10. Few ingredients: Only few ingredients of natural
origin can be used as preparation is nature based
cosmetics. No synthetic surfactant, few
preservatives can only be used. So there is
uncertainty in best product preparation.
The problem of formulating with less ingredients
may lead to the formation of product that may not
work as well with synthetic chemical based
competition. Consumers shall do some
compromises for the fact that they are using
natural based products but do not want to give up
functionality for the sake of naturalness or
sustainability as this is the beauty business.

11. Stability problem: One of the main problem faced in
formulating herbal cosmetics preparation is the stability of herbal
component both prior and after formulation as they are to be
degrade easily by many physiochemical process.
Deterioration happens especially during storage, leading to the
loss of the active ingredients, production of metabolites with no
activity and, in extreme cases, the production of toxic
metabolites.
Physical factors such as air (oxygen), humidity, light, and
temperature can bring about deterioration directly or indirectly.
Safety and efficacy assessment has to be developed on each batch
of manufacturing cycle thus the task become more tedious and
time consuming.

12.  From the manufacturer points of view, raw materials in
bulk quantity and quality is hard to obtain which leads
breakage in continuous production cycle of herbal
cosmetics.
 Raw materials obtained from different place with
varying climate cannot be treated as same as there
arises difference in herbal potency.
 No specific criteria is given which may lead to
irregularity in production cycle. Poor quality of raw
materials: Herbal cosmetics require the careful
cultivation of plants and herbs in their natural
environment.
 The raw material for herbal cosmetics company cannot
be mass produced in a factory. Neither can one
reproduce these in a matter of minutes in a laboratory.

13. Constrains of Herbal formulation
A. Constrains associated with handling of
medicinal plants:
Indiscriminate harvesting and poor post-harvest
treatment practices.
Lack of research on development of high-yielding
varieties, domestication etc
Poor agriculture and propagation methods.
Inefficient processing techniques leading to low
yield and poor quality products
Poor quality and control procedures

14. Lack of cGMP for preparation
Lack of R&D on product and process
development.
Difficulties in marketing.
Lack of trained personnel and equipment.
Lack of facilities to fabricate equipment
locally.
Lack of access to latest technological and
market information

15. B. Constraints associated with the
dealing of Herbal Medicines:
Both the raw herb and the extract contain
complicated mixtures of organic chemicals which
may include fatty acids, sterols, alkaloids,
flavonoids, glycosides, saponins, tannins and
terpenes as well as other small molecules such as
peptides and oligosaccharides.
It is often difficult to determine which
component, if any, of the herb has biological
activity in humans.

16. • Adulteration of herbal products can be made in
various ways; commonly, adulteration is made
by substituting other easily available or cheap
plant species or sometimes by spiking of a
product with synthetic constituents.

17. • In addition, the processing of herbs, such as heating or boiling, may
alter the dissolution rate, or even the functional activity of the
organic constituents.
• Similarly, a host of environmental factors, including soil, altitude,
seasonal variation in temperature, atmospheric humidity, length of
daylight, rainfall pattern, shade, dew, and frost conditions, may
affect the levels of components in any given batch of an herb.
• Other factors, including insects, planting density, competition with
other plant species, seeding time, and genetic factors, play an
important role.
• Plant collection for the use in botanicals is one of the factors of
concern for quality. Plants collected in the wild may include non-
targeted species, especially either by accidental substitution or
intentional adulteration.

18. THANK YOU