Improvements of skin hydration properties by the use of polyherbal moisturizers are the recent advances in cosmetic preparations to avoid the harmful effects of chemical moisturizers. The main aim of the study was to establish selection preference of different available marketed herbal moisturizers on the basis of the efficiency of constituents for their hydration effects. The criteria for the selection of formulations were presence of herbal constituents, wheat germ oil and Aloe vera extract. Initially, physiochemical and psychometric studies were performed to visualize the compliance of moisturizers with the skin. The clinical study was carried out in six groups of six healthy human volunteers (aged 20-25 years) each applying moisturizers twice daily over a period of 3 weeks in their forearm. The skin properties measured were conductance, glow and appearance. The results indicated that all the moisturizers show moisturizing effect in a time-dependent pattern and the maximum increase in skin conductance was 168.125 and 165.24% for A2 and A1, respectively. Ranking of moisturizers based on conductance as well as physicochemical analysis is A2 > A1 > A4 > A3 > A5 > A6. It was found that the formulation A2 having wheat germ oil, Aloe vera extract and turmeric extract in combination showed best results due to their synergistic effect and wheat germ oil or Aloe extract, when present separately produced skin hydration to lesser extent.
Keywords: Aloe vera; herbal moisturizers; humectant; skin hydration; wheat germ oil.