Bissap in Cosmetics

Bissap or also known as hibiscus subdariffa is a plant is used for teas and other medicines in Senegal. The goal of this research is to see if the seeds can be used in oils for cosmetics. This is important toUniversity of Cheikh Anta Diop of Dakar, Ecole Supérieure Polytechnique (ESP), because this will be the first time that they have looked at the applications of the oil that comes from their native plant, bissap. The method that is used to gather the oil is extraction using a solvent. The reaction process used is called the Soxhlet extraction. Through this extraction with hexane as the solvent the oil is able to be collected from the ground up seeds. The final yield for each of the extractions are as follows: 1^st extraction yield 6.6g of product, 2^nd extraction yield 200g of product, 3^rd extraction yield 244g of product. The oils where then used to make the cosmetic products that is the goal of the research. Soap and lotion were made from the oils. The next step is to finish characterizing the oil to see how beneficial it is for the hair, body, and nails.