Hoshi Chemicals proposes "aged lees" extract with concentrated fermented ingredients

 Founded in 1975 as a cosmetics raw material trading company, Hoshi Chemicals, which also handles cosmetics OEM and container manufacturing, has a growing need for hair care raw materials related to SDGs such as sustainability and upcycle, so from the fermentation technology of a long-established sake brewery. We are focusing on the proposal of "aged sake lees extract KOHAKUYUKI" (manufacturer = Koken), which is a purely domestic eco-sert cosmos registered raw material.

The raw material released in September 2021 is known as one of Japan's leading rice producing areas with a vast Shonai Plain, and has a production base in Tsuruoka City, Yamagata Prefecture, which was designated as Japan's first UNESCO food culture creation city. It is a raw material jointly developed by Ken and the Watarai head office, a long-established sake brewery with a history of more than 400 years in the city.

The base is "aged lees", which is a by-product of sake lees that has been strained in the sake manufacturing process and is carefully fermented in two stages at low temperatures for about 1000 hours or more using a traditional manufacturing method that has been passed down since the Edo period.

The extract obtained from freshly made lees is colorless and transparent, while the extract obtained from aged lees by a natural extraction method that does not use any solvent or chemicals is said to have a beautiful amber color.

It is said that this is a proof that fermentation-derived ingredients are concentrated and abundantly contained by aging, and the finished product with specifications that make it easy to mix in cosmetics is "aged lees extract KOHAKUYUKI".

In addition, when the components of unripened and aged lees were analyzed, the amino acids, organic acids, and kojic acid contained in the lees, as well as glucosylceramide, which regulates the skin barrier function, and α-, which promotes collagen production, were analyzed. It was found that the content of EG increased.

Regarding the effectiveness of hair care, it was confirmed that the effect of repairing the hair surface and the effect of suppressing damage during hair washing by applying the aged lees extract KOHAKUYUKI were each 1%.

In addition, it is possible to control the feel of foam, such as chewy and elastic foam, and finely textured and heavy moist foam by adjusting the blending amount.

Actually, in the foaming improvement test, when soap containing 1% of aged lees extract KOHAKUYUKI was foamed, the foam quality was finer and less likely to settle than the control.