Polyamide fabric coated with a dihydroxyacetone-loaded chitosan hydrogel for a cosmeto-textile application

Cosmeto-textiles, which allow the administration of molecules when in contact with the skin, are increasingly being developed by cosmetic industries. We have designed an innovative approach for cosmeto-textile products, based on the impregnation of textile fibers with chitosan hydrogels, which have been cross-linked with genipin and loaded with dihydroxyacetone, which is an active component that induces sunless tanning. Dihydroxyacetone-loaded chitosan hydrogels have been prepared and characterized by means of cryogenic scanning electron microscopy (cryo-SEM). The images showed that genipin cross-linking decreases the mesh distance of hydrogels. The release of dihydroxyacetone from these cross-linked genipin chitosan hydrogels has been studied by a dialysis membrane method. These dihydroxyacetone-loaded chitosan hydrogels have been incorporated to polyamide textiles by a simple padding technique. The presence of dihydroxyacetone on these textiles has been detected by hyperspectral imaging on a dark field high resolution optical microscope. Finally, the performance of fabrics as cosmeto-textiles, with a tanning effect, has been evaluated by skin-colorimetry measured with an evaluation panel of 10 people. The results have demonstrated that dihydroxyacetone-loaded textiles produce a tanning effect on skin, and incorporation of dihydroxyacetone-loaded chitosan hydrogels into polyamide fabrics represents a friendly and appropriate strategy to obtain a cosmeto-textile with tanning effect.