454 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS GORREGTION VoLvvr•. XIII, No. 7, September, 1962, issue, page 347, the firstl word in line 23 from the top of the page should read "Methylenchlorid." NEW MEMBERS Aaronson, Alan M., 61-59 Dry Harbor Rd., Middle Village 79, N.Y. Barmak, Leonard, 101 Glenwood Rd., Cranford, N.J. Battista, Sam P., 50 Melrose St., Arling- ton, Mass. Block, Lawrence H., 3724 Clarinth Rd., Baltimore 15, Md. Burris, George H., 19-11 Hillery St., Fairlawn, N.J. De Gennaro, Vincent, 108 North Fifth St., New Hyde Park, N. ¾. Fuld, Melvin, 702 S. Wolfe St., Balti- more, Md. Goldlath, Arnold, 21 Varady Dr., Fords, N.J. ldson, Dr. Bernard, 32 Palmer PI., Leonia, N.J. JabIon, Paul A., 4010 Fallstaff Rd., Baltimore 15, Md. Kraft, Marvin, 396 E. Jeffery Ave., Wheeling, I11. Long, Kenion A., 3106 Speedway, Wichitai Falls, Tex. Lubienski, Andrew M., 1301 Jefferson• St., Hoboken, N.J. Marti, Max E., 39 E. Sixty-third St., i New York 21, N.Y. Maruzzella, Dr. Jasper C., 330 Eighthi Ave., Pelham, N.Y. Master, Dr. Karsondas J., 41 S. Cayugal Rd., Apt. B-2, Williamsville 21, N.Y. McGill, Mrs. Joan K., 24 Day St., Apt. I G12, Clifton, N.J. Most, Dr. Sylvia, 994 Haddon Ave.,, Coilingswood, N.J. Motiuk, Kalmen, 22 Brookfall Rd.,, Highland Park, N.J. Serenson, Eve G., 21 W. Twelfth St.,. New York, N.Y. Woodburn Rodney R., 2219 Grand Ave.,. Pueblo, Colo.

THE ROLE OF GLYCEROL IN SKIN HYDRATION By K. LADEN, Pi. D.* THE UTILITY of glycerol in cosmetic formulations is well established. I Thus, glycerol has been used as a humectant, lubricant, plasticizer, binder, • spreading agent, etc. For many years, one of the functions regularly attributed to glycerol •was'a "softening" action on skin. That glycerol per se does not have a •softening effect on keratin has been shown clearly by investigators during I the past ten years (1-3). Indeed in aqueous products containing glycerol, I the glycerol may actually serve to slow down the hydration of keratin when I these products are used on the skin. This may be illustrated by soaking •strips of desiccated callus in various glycerol-water solutions and studying I their hydradon by observing the rate at which they swell, soften, and become I opaque (hydrated callus is opaque, desiccated callus is translucent). Re- • sults indicate that callus hydrates most rapidly in pure water, and the addi- I tion of 5 per cent glycerol has an appreciable effect of slowing down the • rate of hydration. Higher concentrations of glycerol slow down the hydra- I tion even more markedly. Flesch (4) recently reported the results of experiments in which the rate of moisture loss from skin was studied. This was accomplished by mount- •ing a piece of excised skin over the mouth of a vessel filled with water and , then measuring moisture loss through this piece of skin by daily weighings. I When a film of glycerol is placed on this skin membrane, the rate of mois- ture loss from that system is decreased. From these results, the author I concluded that glycerol decreased the diffusion of water through the skin membrane probably via occlusion of the skin surface. An alternate expla- •nation of these results can be postulated, however, that does not involve , any alteration of the diffusion rate of water through the skin membrane. I Thus some of the moisture lost through the skin membrane could readily 'have been trapped by the glycerol film, thereby lowering the rate at which •moisture was being lost from the complete system. Indeed this would I be expected, since glycerol is more hygroscopic than skin. This would •mean that the skin would lose moisture at the same rate with and without , a surface film of glycerol, but, in the case of glycerol coating, some of this • moisture would not escape from the system. * The Toni Co., Div. of The Gillette Co., Chicago 54, Ill. 455