A J C SIAN OURNAL OF HEMISTRY A J C SIAN OURNAL OF HEMISTRY https://doi.org/10.14233/ajchem.2020.22614 INTRODUCTION The rapid growth of the cosmetics industry in the world is associated to the rising aesthetic needs of people for cleaning products. In Vietnam, a large number of cosmetics is labeled with “Fragrance” in the ingredient list on the packaging, imply- ing that flavourings are added to skincare products to over- whelm the uncomfortable natural smell of the other ingredients that make up the product [1,2]. However, it has been suggested that certain sensitive skins are unable to absorb these fragrance ingredients well and that the ingredients may persist for a long time after use in human body [3,4]. Although being sometimes termed as “natural fragrance,” they may some-times contain chemical ingredients that enhance the product’s properties and allow the fragrance to dissolve easily with the product. In addition, when used long-term, artificial aromas may destroy collagen, reduce the ability of the skin to heal itself and easily Formulation of an Essential Oil-Based Body Wash: Selection of Components and their Effects on Product Foamability and Emulsion Durability THIEN HIEN TRAN 1,2,3,4,* , TRAN THI KIM NGAN 3,4 , NGO THI CAM QUYEN 3,4 , TRI NHUT PHAM 5 , PHAN NGUYEN QUYNH ANH 1,2 and LE THI HONG NHAN 1,2 1 Department of Chemical Engineering, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, 268 Ly Thuong Kiet Street, District 10, Ho Chi Minh City 700000, Vietnam 2 Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City, Linh Trung Ward, Thu Duc District, Ho Chi Minh City 700000, Vietnam 3 NTT Institute of High Technology, Nguyen Tat Thanh University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam 4 Center of Excellence for Biochemistry and Natural Products, Nguyen Tat Thanh University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam 5 Faculty of Environmental and Food Engineering, Nguyen Tat Thanh University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam *Corresponding author: E-mail: hientt@ntt.edu.vn Received: 30 December 2019; Accepted: 26 May 2020; Published online: 25 September 2020; AJC-20059 To meetout the growing consumer demand for cosmetic preparations that incorporate biologically active and natural ingredients, this study utilized lemongrass essential oil to create the main scent for body wash products in place of artificial fragrances on the market. Lemongrass essential oil is distilled by the method of hydrodistillation with the optimum yield of 0.29%. The process of developing a body wash formula is based on the survey of parameters affecting the product qualities. Multiple parameters including detergent, humectants, skin emollient, foaming agent, preservative, essential oil content were investigated. The product was evaluated based on the criteria of the foamability, the durability of the emulsion and the storage of samples in different storage conditions (room temperature, heat shock, acceleration). The results indicate that lemongrass essential oil body wash formulae are on par with some other shower gel products on the market, opening up the development trend for new research products to enter the market. Keywords: Lemongrass essential oil, Body wash, Foamability, Durability of the emulsion. Asian Journal of Chemistry; Vol. 32, No. 10 (2020), 2495-2501 This is an open access journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of the Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License. This license lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit the author for the original creation. You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. induce dry skin and wrinkle formation. Aromas can also some- times come from natural extracts of fruits, herbs and plants [5-7] and sometimes cause mild irritation. On the other hand, daily exposure to environmental pollutants and increasing awareness to the role of hygiene and the risk of infection have risen the need for cleansing and body care products with potent bactericidal properties [8,9]. As a result, cleaning the skin is one of the most important measures to help prevent infections that cause disease in the body. However, the use of artificial antibacterial agents could promote itching fungus on the body [10-14]. In this study, a body wash product was formulated incor- porating essential oils instead of flavouring. Lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus) essential oil is the secondary metabolite that is extracted from the parts of citronella such as citronella leaves, citronella root. The essential oil accumulates in the leaves with the content varying from 0.4 to 2.0% depending