OPPORTUNITIES FOR CHEMISTS IN THE COSMETIC INDUSTRY* By D^• D^si•:, Ps.D. Director of Rexearth, Brixtoi-jl)/erx Co., iiiiixide, N.J. THAT COSMETIC firms today are showing an increasing interest in the hiring of chemists is not only a fact but also one of the healthiest signs of a true scientific advance- ment within'the industry. And the establishmeni: of the Society of Cos- metic Chemists may truly be looked upon as an index of how far we have progressed in the right direc- tion. In the past it has been proved time and time again that it is only when the scientists in an indus- try begin to talk things over, that the industry in question starts going places. Our society now provides a forum, where our scientists may meet and exchange ideas. It looks like our industry has reached that level where scientific advancement will begin to show that there is a place for,cosmetics, not only as a luxury, but as a real adjunct to better and more pleasant living. When I was told that I would be expected to give some kind of a talk on this occasion, I began cast- ing about for some suitable topic. It occurred to me, that it might be * Presented at the First Honorary Mem- bership Ceremony, December 6, 1946, New York City. 67 of interest to you to have a brief outline of some types of work that await the chemist in this industry and some mention of the type of person needed for the job. The man who is well educated in organic chemistry ranks high on the list of necessary employees. In particular, is this true if he or she has analytical ability. In order to improve a product or create a new one, it is always of interest to see what our competitors have, and the one among us who has a good or- ganic analyst to take a competing product apart and furnish th• corn- pounder with a reasonably accu- rate formula starts out with two strikes on the problem of improve- ment. Incidentally, there is still much work to be done on the de- velopment of good analytical meth- ods, applicable to cosmetics. If you don't believe that, just cite me a real good quantitative method for the' determination of such a com- mon cosmetic component as lanolin when present in a cream. Qualita- tive methods I'll be glad to give you myself. Next, I should like to mention the

68 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS physical chemist. He, too, ranks high. Often, as we all know, the same quantitative formula in the hands of two chemists can result in products of widely varying ap- pearance. The physical chemist with his awareness of the importance of such things as temperature, pres- sure, reaction rates, surface and interfacial tensions, colloidal be- havior, and so forth, is a natural in the field of compounding and also in product and process engineeringJ If in addition, as is often the case, he has a talent for rigging up ap- paratus his aid in pilot plant pro- duction is indeed valuable. Strictly speaking of course, the planning of the pilot plant is the job of the chemical engineer. And nobody need be told what a help the chemical engineer can be if he has learned his lessons of unit processes and can judge equipment by some- thing more than the salesman's tempting description of what the gadget can do. Before we leave the question of compounding, I should like to men- tion the organoleptic man and the pharmacist. The organoleptic man is the fellow with the "educated nose." Every manufacturer knows the value of the right perfume when it comes to selling a cosmetic prod- uct. A consumer test can always be used to decide which perfume is to be picked, but a good organo- leptic man will see to it that the chosen perfume will not vary too much from batch to batch, once the product is on the market. Or if the management decides to change the fragrance of the product the organoleptic man can often engi- nee,' a change-over so gradual that it will not shock the consuming public enough to make the sales curve turn downwards. As for the pharmacist, anyone who has tried to work up a smooth ointment or cream with a few ordi- narily incompatible ingredients in it, knows what a good pharmaceu- tical man can create both in regard to appearance of the product and- even more important--its stability on the shelf. That in turn brings up the ques- tion of prod•ct control.. Here there is plenty of,.room for' the general analytical chemist. Reliable spec- ifications for cosmeti• raw mate- rigIs are rapidly becoming accepted. But specifi.cations are one thing, seeing that the raw materials meet them is another. For example, even a small variation from batch to batch of the triethanolamine you use in your lotion may upset your carefully laid plans for a cert'ain desirable viscosity. A good control chemist can spot those variations in time before the damage. is done. And raw material control, important as it is, deals only with the pre- liminaries. After all, the real func- tion of the control chemist is to keep check on production in all its de- tails, so that the unavoidable vari- ations from batch to batch are held to a minimum. That requires not only know, ledge of chemistry and a little engineering but great care, thoroughness, and a wide-awake mind.