Radiocarbon analysis of cosmetics

Specialists in carbon-14 (or radiocarbon) analysis, CIRAM laboratories comply with all current standards to deliver results that comply with regulations.

Laboratoires CIRAM analyze all cosmetic products to study their biobased content, whether in active ingredients, excipients or finished products.

Using radiocarbon (or carbon-14) analysis, we measure the proportion of natural versus synthetic components. With CIRAM's measurements and subject to a pMC of 100, you can stamp your products 100% natural. Discover the different methods of cosmetics analysis with CIRAM laboratories.

Radiocarbon analysis, for in-depth analysis of cosmetics

Radiocarbon analysis is based on the activity of the isotope 14 of carbon. Knowing that carbon 14 decays over time, and that it has completely disappeared after around 60,0000 years, we can consider that oil and other fossil materials no longer contain carbon 14; they contain only "old" carbon, unlike biomass which has a full carbon 14 reservoir and therefore contains only "modern" carbon.

Radiocarbon, to distinguish between old and modern carbon

The radiocarbon technique measures the amount of "old" carbon and "modern" carbon. This method is effective and has many advantages:

• It works on all materials, whether solid, liquid or gaseous;
• It offers high accuracy, of the order of 0.4% and a detection limit of 0.3%;
• It is very fast, as results are obtained in 7 working days on average, and inexpensive.

The carbon-14 test for developing natural products

In cosmetics, the high content of natural products is increasingly in demand. It's both a marketing and an ecological element. A carbon 14 test can therefore be used to develop a natural product, evaluate a supplier or check a product before marketing. This technique is useful and has been used since the R