STÄRKINA NATURAL
.svg)
.svg)
Natural potato starch for aesthetic modification and adsorption in personal care
INCI Name: solanum tuberosum starch
STÄRKINA Natural is a COSMOS-approved potato (Solanum tuberosum) cook-up starch formulated for cosmetic emulsions. It functions as an aesthetic modifier and adsorber, delivering a smooth skin feel, reduced greasiness and strong sorptive capacity for oils and active ingredients.
Key benefits
- Smooth skin feel – fast absorption reduces oiliness and shine without whitening or residue.
- Cook-up behaviour (gelatinization ≈75 °C) provides thickening and rheology control in thermally processed emulsions.
- Reduces tackiness and greasiness; improves spreadability and sensory profile similar to synthetic acrylates.
STÄRKINA Natural improves initial spreadability and delivers a mattifying, velvety finish while reducing greasiness; its sorptive capacity also helps retain and gradually release lipophilic actives for prolonged after-feel.
As an adsorber STÄRKINA Natural captures oils and active compounds, creating a dry, powdery skin feel and supporting sustained activity of deodorant actives.
Product range
Enhance the activity of your cosmetics the natural way by choosing the right variant. We provide formulation guidance, sample trials and scale-up support.
Formulation insights
Why potato starch can match acrylic modifiers in sensorial performance
Although potato starch granules are generally larger than the tactile threshold of 40 µm STÄRKINA Natural is processed and specified for cosmetic use to deliver particulate performance in emulsions. Its high sorptive power forms phase depots that take up both hydrophilic and lipophilic liquids and dissolved actives (for example fragrances, sun-filters and deodorant actives), enabling adsorption and sustained release.
The resulting “ball-bearing” mechanism reduces surface oiliness and produces a matte, smooth after-feel rather than a film-forming effect. AGRANA sensory and rheology testing shows STÄRKINA can reproduce sensorial and viscosity profiles comparable to acrylates copolymers while providing COSMOS-compliant naturality and cook-up functionality (gelatinization ≈75 °C). For heat-sensitive actives we recommend adding them after cooling to preserve efficacy.