Evaluation of the Effect of Skin Wiping with Cotton Pads

Abstract

Cosmetic products used for skin wiping have been gaining popularity. Although there are some reports on the effect of the formulations for skin wiping and the addition of wiping with cotton pads immersed with skin lotion to the usual skincare, the effects of an act of wiping the face with cotton remain to be elucidated. In this study, we compared skin wiping with cotton and skin patting with cotton and found that skin wiping has special features. In a 2-week practical use test, skin wiping resulted in a larger decrease in melanin index in participants who had a larger index at baseline. Moreover, the amount of stratum corneum protein adherent to the cotton was significantly higher after wiping than after patting, whereas the thickness of the stratum corneum did not change. These results suggested that skin wiping removes and enhances the production of stratum corneum cells at the same time. When skin wiping was applied to an artificially tanned part of the skin, which was made by the application of dihydroxyacetone as a sunless tanning agent, it was confirmed that wiping enhances the turnover of the stratum corneum, resulting in an improvement in skin color. Taken together, skin wiping with cotton pads enhances the turnover of the stratum corneum, thus resulting in a decrease of the stratum corneum, which contains pigment compounds and eventually produces a bright skin color.