New polymer helps deposit silicones onto skin and hair says Air Products

The new ingredient, Deposilk Q1 Polymer, is the first in a new family of products and will be showcased for the first time at next week’s in-cosmetics show in Milan, Italy.

According to the company, the ingredient can help deposit both silicones and active ingredients onto skin and hair.

Deposilk Q1 Polymer will work particularly well with water based actives, according to Air Products’ market manager for personal care Americas Arnoldo Fonesca, in both high and low pH systems.

Commenting on why a formulator would want to increase the deposition of silicones, Fonseca said: “Formulators use silicone for several reasons, including feel/emolliency, carrier benefits and barrier benefits.​

“In hair, for instance, silicone can help protect and enhance the feel of the hair shaft. Improving silicone deposition therefore can help improve the efficacy of some formulations.”​

Decrease silicone concentration ​

In increasing the deposition of silicones, the ingredient could also be used as a way to decrease the concentration of silicones needed in the formulation, without compromising the product’s feel, Air Products claim.

This could be seen as beneficial by consumers for a number of reasons, Fornesco said.

“Some consumers believe that lower levels of silicone provides a more ‘natural’ solution while others use a rule of thumb that fewer ingredients in general means that a formulation is more ‘natural’.”​

The dilemma for formulators when trying to achieve this is that consumers don’t want to sacrifice performance or sensory benefits, he said, adding that using Deposilk could allow a formulator to achieve the same performance or sensory benefits, but with reduced silicone.

Air Products is relatively new to the personal care market and this new range is part of its aim to take a more active role in the industry.