I am a 7th grader and my project is titled, "The Skinny on Moisturizers." You might want to read through the project just to get an idea on what I am testing. I am trying to be as creative as possible to make the experiment my own. My science teacher, who is really passionate, encourages me to be as creative as possible. So I have been heavily researching other ways to mimic the human model skin but haven't found anything concrete besides gelatin. Please advise on creative alternatives and any other suggestions on how to make a better gelatin model.
Thank you very much. I really appreciate your help and time.
This looks like a great project. Like you said - most people use gelatin to mimic the skin. Why do you think this is? Maybe because it has trouble retaining it's moisture when left in a non-humidified atmosphere, and when it does lose its moisture, it is easy to see the drying that occurs. What else can you use that has these same attributes? I know you cannot use real humans or animals in your experiment... so what other materials can you think of? Perhaps your experiment can look at a variety of possibilities and compare their usefulness as a model system to the current standard (gelatin).
Materials that you could consider:
orange peels
Raw chicken with the skin attached (get help from an adult if handling raw meat!)
a very thin damp sponge
Water beads, like these: http://www.amazon.com/Pound-Bag-Water-B ... B0050ZNWYG
What else can you think of?
Like, instead of measuring the amount of moisture on the gelatin (I might be using orange peels ), would it be possible to measure that in a different way? I thought of using a hygrometer, but that only measures the moisture in the air.
I have been doing more research and I see that agar is a good alternative to gelatin. What is your recommendation on using agar plates to test moisturizers? My only concern for that is that agar grows bacteria......and I don't want that to happen!!!
Never mind all those questions! Sorry about that! All I need to know is where to buy a collagen sponge! Please inform me about that as soon as possible! (I will need 18 of them, so they can't be very expensive!)
Thank you so much! I appreciate your help, ScienceBuddies Expert!
You have done the moisturiser experiment right? I was wondering if using the collagen sponge worked and if there were any problems with it. If you didn't use collagen sponge, what other one did u use instead of jell-o?
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I am trying to be as creative as possible to make the experiment my own. My science teacher, who is really passionate, encourages me to be as creative as possible. So I have been heavily researching other ways to mimic the human model skin but haven't found anything concrete besides gelatin. Please advise on creative alternatives and any other suggestions on how to make a better gelatin model.