Glycerine

At the recent Wagin Woolorama a customer told me she liked to avoid anything nasty in her skin care products. I asked her for an example and she replied, "Glycerine".
I was taken aback as glycerine is simply a by-product of soap making and is a superb moisturiser.

"Glycerine or, as the American's spell it, glycerin, is one of the most versatile and valuable chemical substances known to man. It possesses a unique combination of physical and chemical properties that are utilized in myriad products. Glycerine has over 1,500 known end uses, including many applications as an ingredient or processing aid in cosmetics, toiletries, personal care, drugs, and food products. In addition, glycerin is highly stable under typical storage conditions, compatible with many other chemical materials, virtually non-toxic and non-irritating in its varied uses, and has no known negative environmental effects." www.cleaning101.com

Since it has a sweet taste, glycerine is used in commercial foods as well as things like toothpaste. It doesn't contain the calories of regular sugar, nor will it raise blood sugar. It's E number as listed in ingredient lists is E422.

Glycerine is a fantastic humectant. A humectant draws water to itself. If you left a container of glycerine in your bathroom for a week or so, it would attract water to the point where it would become 80% glycerine and 20% water.
It is for this reason that it is used in skincare products. Water is what keeps our skin supple and soft. As we age, our skin loses the ability to retain water and we can suffer from TEWL, trans epidermis water loss. This leads to dry skin, wrinkles and can be further aggravated by harsh detergents and poorly performing moisturisers.

Home made soap contains a high glycerine content. Commercial soaps have the glycerine removed in a complicated process where salt is added to the lye and oil mixture. The soap is then much harder, but also very drying to the skin.
Handmade soaps are slightly softer and may dissolve if left in water since the glycerine performs it's humectancy trick and absorbs water.

Perhaps it received a bad rap since it was mostly produced from commercial soaps which were generally made from beef tallow. Therefore, it was technically an animal by-product.
Commercial soaps are still made from tallow. If you check the ingredients label, it's listed as sodium tallowate. This means that the tallow has reacted with lye (sodium hydroxide) to become a new chemical.

These days, only vegetable glycerine is commercially available. Skinflint products that contain glycerine are:

Natural Balance and Pure Moisture Shampoos
Baby Bath
Replenish
Hand & Nail Cream
Mum2B Belly Butter
Shower Gel
Enriching and Clarifying Cleansers
Enriching and Claryifying Face Polishes

Glycerine is also a good solvent, better than water at dissolving many ingredients. This may be why it's a good cleaning agent.

You can also make a super cleaning product with bi-carb soda and glycerine. Add enough glycerine to moisten the bi-carb to make a paste. Use as a gentle scouring cleanser or apply to stains and leave for a while before rinsing off. Add some lemon juice if cleaning bathroom tiles. Put in a little Tea Tree essential oil if using as a disinfecting scrub for the shower.

Did you know you can make your own Magnaplasm? If you don't know what Magnaplasm is, it's a commercial preparation that is applied to boils to draw them to a head. Simply mix 2 parts magnesium sulphate (Epsom Salts) with one part glycerine. You can purchase glycerine at the supermarket.

Next time you notice glycerine as an ingredient in anything, you'll know it's a safe, non-toxic ingredient that is great for skin!