Gellan Gum - sustainable high performance cosmetic and personal care ingredients

Gellan gum: An excellent natural stabiliser and thickener

High performance

Gellan gum is only needed in very low concentrations making it cost effective in use. It is heat stable, helping to extend shelf life even under warmer conditions thus potentially ensuring product quality over time. It works well as a stabiliser, keeping particles in suspension over long time periods.

Texture advantages

The texture of cosmetic products is important for skin feel, richness and stability. Gellan maintains a stable gel and can add richness and creaminess to products such as moisturisers and lotions. It is also film forming, helping to preserve moisture in hair and skin and enhance contact time of active ingredients in skin care formulations

Natural origins

Gellan is produced by the bacterium Sphingomonas elodea, originally discovered growing naturally on lily pads in a Pennsylvania pond. The connection to lily pads is significant in that it highlights the natural origin of gellan gum, an important consideration for the modern consumer. Gellan is also suitable for vegans and our gellan gum is non-GMO certified.

Benefits of using gellan gum for cosmetic and personal care products

Gellan gum has many benefits in formulations, improving factors such as the texture, stability and performance.
Contact us to discuss our cosmetic grade gellan options further and obtain samples and certification.

Excellent Gelling and Thickening Properties at Low Concentrations

Gellan gum is a highly effective thickener, helping to improve the texture and consistency of lotions, creams and gels. Typical concentrations are less than 1%, making it cost effective in use.

Stabilizing

Gellan helps stabilize emulsions and suspensions, preventing separation of ingredients, which enhances the product’s shelf life. It helps disperse ingredients evenly throughout formulations. Gellan is also heat stable so product quality can be maintained over a longer time period. This property also impacts the performance of lotions, especially. Due to the rheology benefits of gellan this can make mineral sunscreens, especially, more effective for longer and help prevent sun protection products sinking into skin folds and wrinkles.

Enhanced Skin Feel

Gellan gum provides a smooth, rich, non-greasy, gel-like feel on the skin, improving the sensory experience of products like moisturizers and serums. It gives better ‘spreadability’ to products and has a refreshing, hydrating feel. It is non-irritating so ideal for even hypo-allergenic products or those aimed at the sensitive skin market.

Biodegradable, Natural, Sustainably Produced, Non-GMO

As it is naturally derived, gellan gum is ideal for formulations based on natural and sustainable ingredients. It is well recognised as safe for use in cosmetics and personal care products as well as in the food industry. It is sustainably produced, suitable for vegans and SustainaLife gellan gum is also non-GMO.

Film Forming

Gellan Gum has excellent water-binding properties, making it useful in formulations aimed at hydrating and retaining moisture on the skin. It also helps prevent moisture loss from the skin barrier. Due to the longer contact time the potential to deliver active ingredients is enhanced as they are retained for longer to facilitate better absorption.

Advantages for Formulators

Gellan gum is simple to use and offers great versatility. It integrates smoothly into formulations, offering great results with minimal effort.

Rapid Gelation: Gellan gum forms a gel quickly upon cooling, which can save time during formulation and allow for efficient processing.
Good Compatibility: It works well with a wide variety of other ingredients, such as oils, extracts, and other thickeners, making it a versatile addition without causing incompatibilities in your formulation.
Stabilizing Effect: It helps stabilize emulsions and suspensions, which means it can simplify the formulation process by reducing the need for additional stabilizers or emulsifiers.
Cost-Effective in Use: Gellan gum is often more cost-effective in use compared with other thickeners or gelling agents as it is only needed in low concentrations.
Light, Even Texture: The gels created are lightweight and non-greasy, which can make it easy to create products with a pleasant feel, such as serums and lightweight lotions and moisturisers. As it is only used in low concentrations more ‘stringy’ textures can be avoided making products more aesthetically pleasing to use.

Examples of gellan gum cosmetic applications with associated benefits

Due to the various properties outlined previously and the fact that gellan gum ticks so many boxes with regard to performance and consumer trends, it is ideal for a wide range of products, including the following:

Clear Gel Products

The transparency and stability properties of gellan gum in formulations are perfect for clear gel preparations:

Hydrating and Moisturising Properties

The film forming properties of gellan gum in formulations make it ideal for products where moisturising is important. It can give skin barrier protection and lock in hydration in both the skin and hair in addition to helping protect from environmental damage.

It can also help with de-tangling of the hair and frizz control when used in shampoos and conditioners.

Enhanced Active Ingredient Delivery/Longevity of Skin Contact

Gellan forms a flexible, protective film on the skin and hair which gives actives ingredients longer to work and slows evaporation. It also combines well with popular active ingredients such as hyaluronic acid, peptides, niacinamide, Vitamin C and sunscreens.

Even Dispersal and Suspension of Actives and Other Ingredients

Gellan is widely used in the food industry to facilitate even distribution of particles and keep them in suspension for sustained periods, even in warmer temperature. Even distribution of active ingredients is also important and suspension of larger product components is also very desirable where this is a key functional and/or aesthetic advantage. This is an advantage for all actives but especially good for larger molecules or particles (eg proteins or peptides, minerals, vitamins, herbal ingredients, exfoliating beads, glitter/shimmering particles and decorative plant or other material.

Our supply partners for Gellan Gum

In today’s competitive environment it is more important than ever to choose business partners carefully. The company supplying our gellan gum satisfies every aspect of service and ethics discerning customers seek: high quality products, consistency, expertise, technical support and sustainability.

State of the art laboratory facilities

The team has extensive experience in the hydrocolloids industry and a wide range of application expertise.

Modern production plant

The plant is ultra modern with state-of-the-art facilities, fully automated control and monitoring and customised application performance testing to ensure consistently high quality