Physicochemical Aspects of the Performance of Hair-Conditioning Formulations

Abstract

Most of the currently used products for repairing and conditioning hair rely on the deposition of complex formulations, based on mixtures involving macromolecules and surfactants, onto the surface of hair fibers. This leads to the partial covering of the damaged areas appearing in the outermost region of capillary fibers, which enables the decrease of the friction between fibers, improving their manageability and hydration. The optimization of shampoo and conditioner formulations necessitates a careful examination of the different physicochemical parameters related to the conditioning mechanism, e.g., the thickness of the deposits, its water content, topography or frictional properties. This review discusses different physicochemical aspects which impact the understanding of the most fundamental bases of the conditioning process.

Evaporation of Sessile Droplets of Polyelectrolyte/Surfactant Mixtures on Silicon Wafers

“…It should be noted that the pH, the PDADMAC concentration, and the use of acetic acid for fixing the pH were not an arbitrary choice. Such conditions were adopted to mimic the characteristics of hair-conditioning formulations used for reducing the bleaching of hair fibers under application conditions [34,51,52].…”

“…In particular, the performance of hair conditioner formulations is related to the layer of polyelectrolyte-surfactant complexes adsorbed on the hair fibers after drying the hair [27][28][29][30][31][32]. It should be noted that together with the cosmetic industry, polyelectrolyte-surfactant mixtures are widespread in many other industries, ranging from detergency to tertiary oil recovery, and from dietary products and pharmaceutics to wood pulping [27,[33][34][35], with the understanding of the combined effect of evaporation and adsorption of surface active compounds to the involved interfaces being critical for their optimization [36,37].…”

Impact of polyelectrolyte‐surfactant interactions on the rheology and wet lubrication performance of conditioning shampoo

“…Thus, the cationic polyelectrolyte in the product will bind to the negatively charged hair surface. The deposition of this layer onto the hair surface conditions by flattening the cuticle scales against each other and improving the lubrication of hair fibres [24].…”

Determination of SLES in Personal Care Products by Colloid Titration with Light Reflection Measurements

“…Sodium laureth sulfate (SLES) is a common primary surfactant in skin and hair care products [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. Therefore, the determination of SLES concentration in personal care products is a routine task in industrial labs.…”

“…In general, hydrophobic interaction and secondary aggregation increase with the increase of the hydrophobic chain length in the surfactant molecule [ 19 ]. The self-association of polyDADMAC with anionic molecules is used to tune the adsorption of active cosmetic components on hair and skin surfaces [ 3 , 15 , 20 , 21 ].…”