Benefits of Natural Betaine For Skin and Hair Care

The beauty and personal care industry is bigger than ever – and it’s only expected to keep growing. Mordor Intelligence projects that the market will see a 6.9% CAGR between 2023 and 2028. Out of all segments of the industry, the two areas with the biggest driving forces behind them are skincare and haircare. According to Euromonitor data, skin care and hair care represent over 40% of the growth in personal care in the period to 2027.

Skincare and hair care products have an advantage of potentially being able to appeal to a wider audience than many other types of beauty products. For instance, a person who isn’t inclined to buy a lipstick that’s trending on TikTok may still be interested in buying a face moisturizer or hair treatment product. However, this growth has made the industry increasingly competitive. Consumers not only consistently have new products and new brands to try, they’ve become more selective about the products they purchase. To stay competitive in this crowded field, it’s critical for manufacturers to understand what consumers are looking for and how to effectively appeal to them.

Amid all this growth, one key industry trend is consumer demand for products with natural, organic, and vegan ingredients. As consumers started becoming more mindful about the personal care products they use, many of them turned away from products with synthetic ingredients and started opting for natural alternatives. Finding the right ingredients is important to creating products that deliver as companies work to keep up with this trend without sacrificing product performance. Natural betaine can be an option well worth considering.

What is Natural Betaine?

Natural betaine is an amino-acid derivative that also occurs in our body and skin as a small hydrophilic molecule which attracts and retain water. In nature, betaine can be found in the cells of sugar beets. Natural betaine is upcycled from the waste stream of sugar production process.

Benefits of Natural Betaine for Skin Care

In the world of skincare, words like “anti-aging,” “moisturizing,” and “soothing,” are hardly new. These have long been some of the key functions consumers look for in their skincare products, and that hasn’t changed. But betaine can be a way to offer those effects through plant-based means.

Natural betaine is used in personal care as a moisturizing ingredient because of its humectant properties (hydration-optimizing). Natural betaine is also known as an osmolyte that can help manage water balance in skin and protect it from dehydration by osmosis. Osmosis is the driving force by which water is transported in and out of the cells. In the skin, keratinocytes are actively using osmolytes to survive hyperosmotic stress due to skin dryness. They synthetize specific betaine transporters on their membrane to increase betaine intake to retain water and limit water loss. Additionally, natural betaine can help strengthen tight junctions integrity to improve cell cohesion and limit the loss of water through the skin barrier and protect the skin from dehydration.

For those with sensitive skin, natural betaine poses no cause for concern. Natural betaine is mild on the skin and can help mitigate the irritation caused by surfactants. Natural betaine is also commonly used to formulate baby care products because of its mildness.

Not only does natural betaine support product performance, it can help improve product texture to create skincare products that provide a better all-around experience for consumers. When it comes to products like moisturizing creams, consumers want products that feel smooth and not sticky on skin. Natural betaine helps to increase product sensory profile, like improved silky feeling, reduced stickiness and oily feeling, as well as improved product spreadability for that desired texture.

Natural betaine is compatible with many skincare ingredient and most popular actives, like vitamin B5, glycolic acid, hyaluronic acid, vitamin C, and niacinamide.

Benefits of Natural Betaine for Hair Care

Moisturization isn’t an issue that’s limited to skincare. For many consumers, improving moisture and protecting both the scalp and the hair itself are top concerns. Natural betaine can be highly effective at meeting these haircare needs.

Just as natural betaine can help strengthen the skin barrier on the face, it can help strengthen skin barrier integrity on the scalp and protect it from surfactant irritation. On the hair itself, due to its high affinity with keratin, natural betaine can both deeply penetrate the hair cortex and deposit on the hair surface. Additionally, natural betaine can be effective at binding to damaged sites on hair to improve hair strength, reduce broken fibers and split ends, contributing to a smoother, healthier appearance overall with less frizz.

In toiletries, natural betaine is also known to improve foam quality in surfactant-based formulation like shampoo, shower gel or face cleansers. Indeed, by reducing the bubble size, it helps to increase the foam density and stability over time, for an improved sensorial experience.

Natural Betaine vs. Cocamidopropyl Betaine

In skin and hair care ingredients, people often misunderstand the difference between natural betaine and cocamidopropyl betaine. While the names are similar, these ingredients have some very distinct differences.

Natural betaine is a natural ingredient derived from sugar beets while cocamidopropyl betaine, or coco betaine, are synthetic type of surfactants with long fatty acid chains derived from coconuts, but the differences don’t stop there. Cocamidopropyl betaine and coco betaine function very differently from natural betaine. While natural betaine is an active ingredient valued for its moisturizing, protection and sensory benefits, cocamidopropyl betaine and coco betaine are surfactants that act as foaming agents and cleansers.

Interested in working with natural betaine? Find out more about our natural betaine GENENCARE® OSMS BA or contact us today.