Glycerin is a neutral, sweet-tasting, colorless, thick liquid which freezes to a gummy paste and which has a high boiling point. Glycerin can be dissolved into water or alcohol, but not oils. On the other hand, many things will dissolve into glycerin easier than they do into water or alcohol. So it is a good solvent.
We can apply it on face to mix it with rose water.
Glycerin is also highly "hygroscopic" which means that it absorbs water from the air. Example: if you left a bottle of pure glycerin exposed to air in your kitchen, it would take moisture from the air and eventually, it would become 80 per glycerin and 20 percent water.
Because of this hygroscopic quality, pure, 100 percent glycerin placed on the tongue may raise a blister, since it is dehydrating. Diluted with water, however, it will soften your skin. (Note: While people say this softening is the result of the glycerin attracting moisture to your skin, there is heated debate as to whether or not the glycerin has some other properties all its own which are helpful to the skin. Summed up, the current thinking is "We know glycerin softens the skin. Some people think its because it attracts moisture, but there could be other reasons.")
Glycerin is one of the most versatile and valuable chemical substances known to man. It possesses a unique combination of physical and chemical properties that are utilized in myriad products. Glycerin has over 1,500 known end uses, including many applications as an ingredient or processing aid in cosmetics, toiletries, personal care, drugs, and food products. In addition, glycerin is highly stable under typical storage conditions, compatible with many other chemical materials, virtually non-toxic and non-irritating in its varied uses, and has no known negative environmental effects. A water clear, odorless, viscous liquid with a sweet taste, glycerin is derived from both natural and petrochemical feedstocks. It occurs in combined form (triglycerides) in all animal fats and vegetable oils and constitutes, on average, about 10 percent of these materials. Glycerin is obtained from fats and oils during soap and fatty acid production and by transesterification (an interchange of fatty acid groups with another alcohol). It is subsequently concentrated and purified prior to commercial sale. Synthetic glycerin is produced from petrochemical building blocks via several processing steps designed to achieve the desired concentration and high product quality. Glycerin, whether recovered from triglycerides or synthesized, is principally used as a highly refined and purified product, with a very high concentration of glycerol.
Answered by
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1:05 PM on October 21, 2008
