Penetrating into the hair - Chemists Corner

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Formulating

Penetrating into the hair

Posted by Lisani on October 9, 2018 at 7:46 pm

Hello everyone,

I have been searching for an ingredient that can efficiently penetrate into the hair without damaging.
I came across a few ideas and I’ll be happy if someone here has an experience with them or alternatively has some other ideas for me.

Dimethyl Isosorbide
Ethyl Ascorbic Acid
Hydrogenated Soybean Oil
L-Cysteine Hydrochloride Monohydrate
Tetrahydropiperine

Thanks!

pepe replied 7 years ago 7 Members · 8 Replies
- hair
8 Replies

OldPerry

Member
October 9, 2018 at 10:47 pm

Try coconut oil.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4387693/
belassi

Member
October 10, 2018 at 12:26 am

Which of those ingredients have you seen in a shampoo’s list of ingredients?
Lisani

Member
October 10, 2018 at 7:03 am

Thanks @Perry and @Belassi. I haven’t seen those ingredients in any shampoo label actually, I am trying to effectively help the Carbocystein to penetrate into the hair for straightening application.
jeremien

Member
October 10, 2018 at 7:35 am

it is not a simple ingredient, but a mixture:

https://www.cosmeticsandtoiletries.com/research/methodsprocesses/Sticking-it-to-Hair-Damage-Delivery-Duo-Protects-and-Repairs-Inside-and-Out-494523421.html
chemicalmatt

Member
October 11, 2018 at 2:45 pm

For hydrophiles such as carboxylol cysteine, you may consider ethoxydiglycol (glycol ether DE). It is cheap too. For lipophilic components, dimethyl isosorbide works very well as a penetration enhancer. Still don’t know why it remains so expensive after all these years either.
Gunther

Member
October 11, 2018 at 3:18 pm

What about carboxylic acids?

https://www.cosmeticsandtoiletries.com/testing/efficacyclaims/Your-Hair-on-Acid-The-Influence-of-Carboxylic-Acids-494640401.html
Lisani

Member
October 13, 2018 at 8:28 am

Thanks @jeremien!

@chemicalmatt thank you, honestly I do believe that Dimethyl Isosorbide can do a great job but I’m still considering trying it because of the price. Croda sells this ingredient under the name Arlasolve and it’s super expensive. I will look into the Ethoxydiglycol, thanks again!

Hi @Gunther, I actually contain one carboxylic Acid in the formulation, is there any specific Acid you should recommend? And thanks for your comment, I appreciate that.
pepe

Member
November 2, 2018 at 7:32 am

@Lisani
You can try cetrimonium bromide if you want to penetrate into cortex.
Also as perry advice coconut oil is one of the natural oil that can penetrate into.

But if you are seeking damage repair and some conditioning you’ve better try low particle size hyrdolyzed keratins like Nutrilan Keratin(BASF)