SoyaDESCRIPTION

Names: soya bean, soybean

Botany: An erect bushy annual, clad in red-grey hairs, with trifoliate leaves, 4-10cm long. Small, white or mauve, pea flowers appear in clusters of 3-15 m the axils in summer, followed by yellow-brown to grey, brown, or almost black pods, 3-7 cm long, containing 1-5 yellow, green, brown, black, or mottled seeds according to cultivar. Native to E Asia.

The parts used are seeds (beans).

History and/or folklore: This plant has been known and used by the Chinese for more than 4,000 years, though today most of the oil comes from the United States.

Biochemistry: Soybean is listed as a major starting material for stigmasterol, once known as an anti-stiffness factor. Stigmasterol is a plant sterol and has powerful skin properties including reduction in skin erythema (skin redness), reduction of pruritis (skin itching) and reduction in inflammation.

Products:
Glycine max botanical extract
Glycine max fixed oil

USES

Glycine max botanical extract
Traditional use: A decoction of the root is said to be astringent.

Glycine max. Soybean Fixed oil
Traditional use: This oil is a cost-effective base on which to prepare hair and body products where good moisturization is required at a budget price. This oil is one of the lightest and silkiest when applied to the skin and lacks the greasiness of many vegetable oils.

It has a natural SPF of 10.

TOXICOLOGY

Not assessed for safety in cosmetics by the industry panel.