GREAT news for beauty queens. Self-tanning lotion's nasty smell can be chemically neutralised.
Using established techniques called headspace and thermal desorption analysis, Tim Whiteley of CPL Aromas in Bishop's Stortford, UK, and colleagues captured odour molecules from the air as self tan was applied to various skin types. They identified 250 to 300 different molecules. Some particularly smelly ones, including sulphur dioxide, were specific to the reaction between collagen and the chemical dihydroxyacetone (DHA), an active ingredient in fake tan. Male skin generated the most smell - possibly because the upper layer of skin in men is thicker, so there is more collagen for the DHA to react with.
Next, the team tested chemicals they suspected would react with the smelly molecules to produce larger molecules that could no longer be smelled, or a different shape that would be perceived differently by the nose. They managed to reduce ...
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