Uses
- In beauty products, cyclopentasiloxane is mainly used as a conditioner, delivery agent, lubricant and solvent. Like all other silicones, this ingredient has a unique fluidity that makes it easily spreadable. When applied to the skin and hair, it gives a silky and slippery feeling to the touch and acts a mild water repellent by forming a protective barrier on the skin. It can also fill in fine lines and wrinkles, giving the face a temporary “plump” look.
- Its ability to impart a wet and silky look makes it an ideal candidate in hair products, both rinse-off and leave-on ones. It’s particularly useful in hair conditioners because it provides a silky feel without weighing the hair down with greasy residue. Because of its water-thin consistency, it helps deliver heavier silicones also contained in a product; for this reason, is often used in conjunction with dimethicone. In fact, as a volatile silicone it quickly evaporates into the air after delivering nutrients to the skin and hair. You can mostly find this ingredient in products such as foundation, facial moisturizer/lotion, hair dye, shampoo/conditioner, styling gel, anti-frizz treatment, sunscreen, anti-aging treatment and deodorant/antiperspirant.
Cautions
- Cyclopentasiloxane may cause mild skin and eye irritation, according to the ingredient’s material safety data sheet, and a small percentage of it reaches systemic circulation through dermal absorption, as found in a study by the Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences.