The company, a commercial unit of specialty chemicals provider Ashland, showcased the patent-pending N-Hance SP-100 at in-cosmetics in Paris last week.
The cationic guar polymer reduces static, enhances lather and improves overall hair conditioning performance, according to the company.
“The main function of N-Hance SP-100 is its ability to increase conditioning, especially conditioning delivered by silicone oil and other conditioning oils,” Ashland’s Paquita Eraso-Majewicz told CosmeticsDesign.com USA.
Conditioning properties
The company says the ingredient can be used to replace cationic surfactants, which will result in different sensory properties.
“Relative to cationic guars, N-Hance SP-100 has a different wet and dry feel on the hair and that is unique to its composition and structure,” explained Eraso-Majewicz.
Ashland claims that the conditioning polymer delivers a 20 per cent improvement in the deposition of zinc, silicone and selenium on to the hair.
Tests carried out also showed the polymer to provide faster detangling, improved dry-comb performance and better deposition over conventional cationic polymers.
“We measure comb energy and the number of comb cycles or passes need to detangle hair. The N-Hance SP-100 delivered performance resulting in lower comb cycles and lower comb energy than other cationic conditioning polymers tested,” said Eraso-Majewicz.
Pushes silicone to end of hair shaft
According to Ashland, the polymer has been shown to push silicone to the ends of the hair shaft, an important attribute as this is often the part of the hair that is most damaged and in need of conditioning.
Ashland’s researchers developed a spectroscopic method to monitor the distribution of silicone along the hair fiber, explained Eraso-Majewicz.
With N-Hance SP-100 the analysis shows silicone is spread uniformly along the fiber – including to the tip of the hair,” she said.