Hair care products for repairing hair damage have attracted a lot of attention. K Shimada, K Awai & H Irie introduce a new material that helps revive hair that is flagging as a result of ageing
The demand for controlling drop in hair volume that occurs as a result of physiological ageing of the hair, ie for increasing the volume of the hair, is increasing in parallel with the ageing of the population.
Ceracute-V is a new anti-ageing material for hair care products which revives hair that has thinned and lost volume as a result of ageing. The chief ingredient of Ceracute-V is ceramide polymer (Ceracute-F), which has a chemical structure of ceramides forming covalent bonds, as shown in figure 1. This polymer has already been marketed as a functional raw material for skin care products and shows a superior anti-ageing effect by forming a flexible polymer network structure on the skin surface.
When applied on the hair, the polymer increases the volume of the hair while keeping it soft and not making it stiff as it forms a highly flexible film on the hair surface, in the same way as it does on the skin. In addition this polymer forms nanometre-size micelles in water and has a structure similar to ceramide which is a constituent lipid of cell membrane complex (CMC). Thus it easily penetrates inside the hair, repairs damage, restores the internal structure and increases the volume of the hair further.
| Table 1: Safety data | |
| Term | Result |
| Acute oral toxicity | >2000mg/kg |
| Primary skin irritation | No irritation |
| Cumulative application | No irritation |
| Skin sensitivity | No sensitisation |
| Ocular irritation (10% aq sol) | No irritation |
| Mutagenicity | Negative |
| Chromosome aberration | Negative |
| Human patch | Negative |
| Table 2: Safety data | |
| Term | Result |
| Ocular irritation (10% aq sol) | Minimum irritation |
| Human patch | Negative |
The material acts on both the outside and inside of the hair and is thus a promising ingredient for effective hair care products for controlling drops in hair volume caused by ageing. Besides use for anti-ageing products for seniors, this ingredient is also feasible for products for young adults wanting to fluff out the hair.
Figure 2: Volumising efficacy (2)
In addition to the ceramide polymer of Ceracute-F, Ceracute-V contains glycerin, butylene glycol and ethyl cocoyl arginate (antiseptics) which are prepared into cationic fine polymer particles to improve the adsorption characteristics into the hair. In INCI terms it is: water (79.75%), glycerin (13.3%), butylene glycol (5.7%), glycerylamidoethyl methacrylate/stearyl methacrylate copolymer (1%) and PCA ethyl cocoyl arginate (0.25%).
Experimental data
1. Increasing hair volume
As a model of aged hair, human hair specimens that were bleached ten times were used. Photographs of the human hair specimens that were treated with various raw materials and the resultant increases in hair volume are shown as a graph in
Figure 3: Sensory evaluation
figure 2. The test material showed an effect superior to keratin, which is a representative volumiser. In addition the volume increasing function was maintained even when it was mixed in shampoos and conditioners.
2. Sensory evaluation
As a sensory evaluation, a blind test was conducted in which eight panellists felt and evaluated human hair specimens that were treated with various different raw materials. Special attention was paid to ‘stiffness’ (ie lacking smoothness and flexibility), a problem that can be found when using existing hair volumisers. The hair specimens treated with the test material were smooth, soft and flexible as shown in figure 3.
3. Safety
The safety of Ceracute-F which is the chief ingredient, is shown in table 1, and the safety of Ceracute-V in table 2.
Contact
Kunio Shimada,
NOF Corporation, Japan
e-mail Kunio_shimada@nof.co.jp
