How and why sugarcane is used in skincare products

Sugar cane grows along LA-1, Friday, November 4, 2022, in Iberville Parish as sugar cane farmers work through harvest season.

As anyone who has walked through Sephora knows, shelves of brightly colored, bauble-looking bottles promise wonders: anti-aging, anti-acne, skin-brightening, skin hydration, pore smoothing, the list goes on.

Many of those products have a common ingredient: glycolic acid. On a recent Wednesday at the Sephora in the Mall of Louisiana, more than 100 products featured it.

Glycolic acid is an alpha hydroxy acid, more commonly known in the beauty world as AHA. According to the Food and Drug Administration, products containing AHA “cause exfoliation, or shedding of the surface skin,” and the extent of exfoliation depends on the concentration of glycolic acid in the product.

“The benefit of AHAs is that it actually goes and it breaks up the ionic bonds between the skin cells,” said Dr. Jessica Chu, a dermatologist at Ochsner Health in Baton Rouge. “By breaking the bonds of the skin cells, you get superficial exfoliation of the skin. You get rid of the top layer of dead skin, which is why you see it not only in skin care to smooth out skin, but you see it being used in chemical peels.”

While a complex process is used to create glycolic acid, the base ingredient is simple: sugar cane. And that's one of Louisiana's most prominent crops.

At present, most of Louisiana's cane is used for making raw sugar, according to Sam Irwin, public relations director for the American Sugar Cane League.

Some of the byproduct is turned into molasses, or cane syrup, and some processors distill sugar cane into rum. The vast majority of the crop, however, is sold by the barge and truckload as sugar.

But the industry is increasingly looking for more varied uses for sugar cane, whether it's as an alternative fuel source or a way to trap carbon emissions. And glycolic acid might provide a promising new market.

"Wouldn't that be great for Louisiana sugar cane?" Irwin said. "Think of how many people use cosmetics."

The process for turning sugar into glycolic acid is complicated. But Tony O'Lenick, vice president of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists, said the simple way to explain it is that, when sugar-cane juice is being turned into sugar, the solids go one way, crystallize and become sugar; the liquids go another way.

“That’s a hugely oversimplified way of thinking about it. There’s a lot of processing to know how to make it come out the right way, but that’s the basics,” he said. “And there is no chemical part. Materials are naturally present that are separated from each other. From a sustainability, natural point of view, it’s a great thing.”

Over the past five years or so, interest in natural, biodegradable products has greatly increased, O'Lenick said. As Sephora shoppers know, the store has an entire section devoted to “clean beauty.”

“Sugar cane, for the fact that it’s a naturally occurring material, has become very interesting, very important for skin,” O'Lenick said.

Glycolic acid can be made synthetically from petroleum-based products. But as clean beauty grows in popularity, more glycolic acid is derived from sugar cane.

Biossance, for example, a major clean beauty brand, touts sugar cane as “our sustainable hero” in its marketing materials. The company owns sugar cane fields in Brazil.

Other big companies rely on outside chemists to mix their products. Once chemists have glycolic acid, they combine it with other ingredients to make the products on the shelves.

“Something to moisturize the skin, maybe a UV absorber for some sun capabilities,” O'Lenick said. “Glycolic acid is a good stimulant to not only get exfoliation going, but once the surface of the skin is changed by having the AHA, the cell turnover increases, newer cells come out, which also stimulates collagen, which fills in the wrinkles.”

Glycolic acid is the smallest alpha-hydroxy acid, according to the National Institutes of Health, giving it “excellent capability to penetrate skin.”

“It may reduce wrinkles, acne scarring, hyperpigmentation and improve many other skin conditions, including actinic keratosis, hyperkeratosis, and seborrheic keratosis," reads a summary of glycolic acid in the National Library of Medicine.

Over-the-counter products contain lower levels of glycolic acid, while dermatologists can use higher levels in chemical peels and other treatments.

“One of the big things we do is recommend it to patients that have acne,” Chu said. “Because it really does help unclog pores, reduce oil production, and it also helps with hyperpigmentation.”

Louisiana may not be where most glycolic acid comes from. Still, O'Lenick said if you can get your hands on real sugar, it can be good for the skin.

For years, he said, people have been making sugar scrubs and using sugar in homemade skin care products for exfoliation.

While sugar in multiple forms can be good for your skin, O'Lenick said, if you have acne, psoriasis or other skin conditions, glycolic acid at dermatologist-approved levels is your best bet.

“There are two very distinct differences. One is cosmetic, one medical. If you have skin that requires medication, you need to go to a dermatologist and not use serum from sugar cane directly,” he said.

Chu agreed.

“It has to be denatured and formulated correctly,” she said. “You can’t just pour sugar-cane juice on your face.”

Email Rebecca Holland at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter, @_rebeccaholland.