Application Note
Accurate and practical skin gloss measurements
SkinGlossMeter
SkinGlossMeter is fully portable, accurate and easy-to-use instrument for skin gloss measurements. Assessment of skin gloss provides important information of skin health and beauty for cosmetic and personal care product R&D. SkinGlossMeter is typically used in product formulation research for claims substantiation but also for assessment of skin types and evaluation of skin care and treatments.
Measurement princinple
SkinGlossMeter measures specularly reflecting light from skin and other surfaces and can be used to determine gloss or shine values of the surface. Light beam that reflects at the same angle as it contacted the measured surface is detected as gloss. SkinGlossMeter has an excellent correlation with industrial standard Gloss Units (GU).
Displayed Skin Gloss Units (SGU) are derived directly from the industrial gloss standard and are actual scaled up units of the values that skin yields. As a light source the instrument utilizes a built-in 635 nm red semiconductor diode laser with a spot diameter of 50 μm. Red light is ideal for gloss measurement as it has great reflective capabilities from the skin.
The gloss values are measured with a photodetector and the total intensity of the reflected beam is calculated. The power of the laser is optimized for accurate measurements which is less than 1mW to ensure that SkinGlossMeter is a safe instrument to use. The safety rating of the laser is Class 1M as specified by the IEC 60825-1 standard.
Science
The number of scientific articles about SkinGlossMeter is constantly increasing, skin aging being a common research topic. Skin gloss is known to be influenced by skin surface texture and roughness, both of which are typically affected by skin aging. Therefore, the study of skin gloss is in the interest of many cosmetic companies in pursuit for new anti-aging product lines.
Benefits
- Sensitive and reliable
- Measures only specularly reflecting light
- Measurements on skin, lips, and other non-planar surfaces
- Direct skin contact
- Short measuring time
- Portable and wireless
- PC program for data storage and collection
Application areas
- Product and formulation research and development in personal care and chemical industries
- Claims substantiation
- Skin research studies
- Assessment of skin types
- Evaluation of skin care of treatment
Delfin Technologies Ltd