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Author: Yulia Gagarina, biochemist, cosmetics production technologist (Ukraine, Kyiv)

Source: KOSMETIK international journal, №1/2013, стр. 52-55

________________________________________________________________________

In our quest for luxurious hair, we use a variety of cosmetics. According to Euromonitor statistics, Ukrainians spend "poorly" on hair products - about $39 per year. For comparison, in the US, the annual budget for hair beauty is already six times more - $234 per person. Of this, the largest part is spent on dyes and care products. However, no matter how much the buyer spends, he still buys something other than what is sold to him.

Everything is not as simple as it seems

 
When choosing a product, consumers are guided by marketing promises (in advertising or on the label) and pay little attention to how they will be fulfilled. Often they are quite reassured by the phrase that the composition includes vitamins/minerals/extracts. And here the most interesting thing begins - the paradoxes of form and content.

<ol>
	<li>&laquo;Natural doesn't always work&raquo;. As for shampoos, extracts are an optional addition: since the product has little contact with the skin, they simply do not have time to "settle and get to work". Therefore, the softness of the washing base is more important than the naturalness. Plus, conditioning additives are important, which form the final consumer impression of the product (how the hair is combed, how it shines, etc.)</li>
	<li>&laquo;Chemistry is useful and good&raquo;. The main role in hair products is played by such "high chemistry", which is difficult to tell "beautifully" to the consumer. Therefore, often "the country does not know its heroes" or knows them under common names, such as "UV filters", "silicones", "polymers", "conditioning additives". But it is these nameless heroes who do truly fantastic things with our hair.</li>
</ol>

Hold your breath: we are about to dive into the fascinating world of “high cosmetic chemistry.”

 
What does a woman want?

 
Over the past three years, the greatest sales growth dynamics (not in percentages, but in monetary units) have been demonstrated by products for colored hair. Experts explain this trend by the fact that the age of the active consumer is increasing (people are getting older, but actively spending money), and the number of such people is also growing (people have begun to live longer and maintain active solvency). As is known, if there is demand, then there is supply. Therefore, many special products have begun to appear on the market. The most popular among buyers are masks (they are regularly purchased by about 56% of buyers), shampoos (35%) and conditioners/balms (9%).

 
According to experts, silicones are included in almost 70% of masks/conditioners/balms. In shampoos, the percentage of silicone additives is slightly lower - 50%. But it is thanks to silicones that consumers find what they are looking for in their "ideal hair product": shine, smoothness and obedience, restoration and protection of color. All this is clearly demonstrated by experiments with "silicone" shampoos (photo 1).

UV filters: for stability!

 
It has been observed that dyed hair begins to fade after approximately 90 hours of UV radiation (in laboratory experiments). In real life conditions, this time is "spread out" into 4 hours of intense sun (in summer) over approximately 26 days. Therefore, it is logical to include sunscreen filters in hair products.

 
The most commonly used UV filters are:

<ul>
	<li>Benzophenone-3 (in the US it is called Oxybenzone) - UVA/UVB filter. If the input concentration is higher than 0.5%, the label should say: "contains oxybenzone". This is due to the fact that benzophenones can cause irritation and also have an estrogen-like effect.</li>
	<li>Benzophenone-4 (in the US it is called Sulisobenzone) - UVA/UVB filter. Used mainly in hair care products and very rarely in skin care products due to its high irritating effect.</li>
	<li>Phenylbenzimidazole Sulfonic Acid (called Ensulizole in the US) - UVB filter. Used primarily in skin care, but also used in hair care formulations.</li>
	<li>Octyl dimethyl PABA (called Padimate in the US) - UVB filter. Due to its high irritant and potential carcinogenic properties, it is only approved for use in rinse-off products (such as shampoos).</li>
	<li>Butyl Metoxydibenzoylmethane (in the US it is called Avobenzone) - UVA filter. This is a popular filter in skin care products. If it is found on the label of a hair product, its main function is to protect the components of the product from destruction by light (for example, so that dyes do not fade). This filter is neutral for hair, in the sense that its protective activity is extremely low.</li>
</ul>

As a comparative study [1] has shown, benzophenones have proven to be the most stable and active UV filters in shampoos. They have the highest keratin protection factor, or KPF – this marking is accepted in specialized literature to indicate the degree of protection of a product from the destruction of hair keratin (analogous to the familiar SPF).

Paint the world with bright colors

 
We have already said that after only 90 "sunny hours" (or 26 days) the coloring pigment begins to deteriorate. But for most women it is no secret: the intensity of hair coloring begins to decrease much earlier (tested on my own hair).

 
This empirical experience shows that UV rays are not the main factor causing bleaching. The factor of “proper hair washing” is much more important, because after just one use of “harsh” shampoo the color fades. Rinse-off conditioners and masks are designed to combat this, and the UV filters and silicones they contain help to achieve significant progress in this direction. But again, not everything is so simple with silicones: each of them has a different specialization.

 
Amodimethicone is a universal “defender” against the washing out of color pigments. Today, this complex silicone is the “gold standard”, a classic in products for colored hair. Here is its “portrait”: smoothes unruly hair; facilitates combing of hair both in wet and dry state; reduces flyaways (eliminates the “dandelion” effect); provides long-lasting conditioning without a significant accumulation effect on the hair; increases color depth and durability when used in rinse-off conditioners and semi-permanent dyes.

 
But the presence of a "classic of the genre" implies that there will be no less "tasty" variations on the theme of the classic. In this case, amodimethicone is combined with additional substances to "focus" on a specific result (graph 1).

<img alt="" src="https://pro.bhub.com.ua/cosmetology/upload/images/1.png" style="height:400px; width:635px" />

Schedule 1. Contribution of different types of silicones to the depth of color of dyed strands (data from Dow Corning)

 
Color protection: how does it work?

 
When dyeing, most of the dye does not remain in the upper layers of the hair cuticle and only a small part of the pigments penetrates deep. That is why the dye pigments are washed out quite easily if they are not specially fixed.

 
In addition to pigments, solvents and other "developing and accompanying" parts, silicones (the same ones used in post-dyeing products) have been added to modern dyes. When it gets on the hair, the complex mixture of "dye + silicones" is deposited (precipitated) on the hair, forming a uniform silicone film (photo 1), which fixes the pigments in the upper layers of the cuticle.

<img alt="" src="https://pro.bhub.com.ua/cosmetology/upload/images/4.png" style="height:372px; width:600px" />

Due to the fact that complex silicones have low surface tension, they help to distribute the dye evenly over the hair and literally "push" it into the deeper layers of the cuticle. Further use of products with complex silicones only enhances and reveals the hair color more deeply, and also allows it to be fixed for a longer time (graph 2).

<img alt="" src="https://pro.bhub.com.ua/cosmetology/upload/images/2.png" style="height:400px; width:635px" />

Schedule 2. Color retention using silicone containing shampoo (data from Momentive Performance Materials)

Detergent base: friend or foe?

 
In the case of caring for colored hair, close attention to the chemistry of the washing base is entirely justified. After all, if it is aggressive, then the lipids that “cement” the scales of the hair cuticle will not withstand its force. As a result, after a “hard head wash,” the cuticle will become “loose,” which will lead not only to the rapid washing out of the coloring pigment, but also to increased hair fragility (plus split ends). Of course, if you apply a restorative mask after this, it will “fix what was just broken.” But then the question arises: why heal with one hand and cripple with the other? (Photo 3). Isn’t it easier to carefully approach the choice of shampoo?

<img alt="" src="https://pro.bhub.com.ua/cosmetology/upload/images/5.png" style="height:548px; width:635px" />

Fashionable topic: shampoos without SLS/SLES

 
They are also called sulfate-free shampoos. And this is no coincidence, since both of these components are very popular in washing products (not only for hair, but also for the face). The explanation is simple:

<ul>
	<li>They are convenient for technologists, as they are easily introduced into washing systems and give predictable results. They can be considered "classics of the foaming washing genre".</li>
	<li>They are convenient for marketers, as they allow creating products with low cost. For information, look at the prices of some cleaning components in 2009 on the US market (Table 2), and you will understand why.</li>
	<li>They are convenient for PR people, since their natural origin (obtained through the processing of palm kernel, palm and coconut oils) allows them to be described “correctly”.</li>
	<li>They are convenient for consumers, as they produce a lot of foam and have good cleaning properties. But for many, such indicators as lush foam and the squeak of the skin after washing are the main signs of "quality washing". And it is not scary that the "squeak" is the first signal that the protective barrier (consisting of lipids) has just been "blown away by a hurricane of foam", and the consequences will be extremely dire...</li>
</ul>

SLS Gate: The Last Nail in the Coffin

Let me remind you how it all began in the story of the "war against SLS". In 2002, the scientific community was alarmed: scientists from the University of Quebec (Canada) published data that if SLS is introduced in a high dosage and reinforced with another "harsh" surfactant - n-lauroyl sarcosine, it seems possible to kill virus cells, so highly cytotoxic is the effect of the resulting drug (tests were conducted on the herpes virus) [3]. By and large, this study was one of the last drops that broke the camel's back. Before that, there were numerous consumer complaints (scalp itching), research by scientists (high irritation index) and the reproachful look of inflamed rabbit eyes, which continued to drip solutions of detergents with SLS onto the mucous membrane of the eye.

Gentleness is a matter of friendship

 
And then a small cosmetic evolution (or revolution?) happened. Animal testing began to be eliminated (humanism triumphed), and more expensive ones were introduced in their place – cell culture tests.

 
The recipes began to be actively transformed, replacing Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) with a softer ethoxylated form - Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLES). And to further soften the effect of SLES, it began to be combined with softer (but more expensive) - co-surfactants. The consumer benefited from such "friendship": the compositions of detergents are becoming more and more tolerant to skin and hair. Now everything comes down to the price of the issue. Do you want a safe and low-irritant product? Be prepared for a high cost. But marketers are no longer very afraid of this, since the buyer is becoming more and more literate every year and no longer saves on their health and beauty.

Literature

<ol>
	<li>Bernhardt P., Giesen M., Hollenberg D. UV filters for hair protection // International Journal of Cosmetic Science. &ndash; Volume 15, Issue 5. &ndash; October 1993. &ndash; Р. 181&ndash;199.</li>
	<li>Brett Moss, Vince Ungvary, Sabrina Marchioretto. Silicones as a Color-Lock Aid in Rinse-Off Hair Care Products // Dow Corning Corporation, 2004</li>
	<li>Jocelyne Piret, Sylvie Roy, Myl&egrave;ne Gagnon, S&eacute;bastien Landry, Andr&eacute; D&eacute;sormeaux, Rabeea F. Omar, and Michel G. Bergeron (Centre de Recherche en Infectiologie, Universit&eacute; Laval, Qu&eacute;bec, Qu&eacute;bec, Canada). Comparative Study of Mechanisms of Herpes Simplex Virus Inactivation by Sodium Lauryl Sulfate and n-Lauroylsarcosine // Antimicrob Agents Chemother. &ndash; 2002 September; 46 (9): 2933&ndash;2942. doi: 10.1128/AAC.46.9.2933-2942.2002.</li>
</ol>

Active ingredients in products for colored hair