Ideas for solving the toughest hair problem facing cosmetic chemists
Being a cosmetic chemist can be frustrating. You’ll want to create products that can solve consumer’s problems but the reality is that you are handcuffed by one significant fact.
The most pressing cosmetic problems probably require drug solutions.
Hair problems
There are a number of problems with hair that are easily addressed by cosmeitcs but the most significant one, hair loss, is not. I just read this story about one of the latest discovery in hair loss research, a molecule that can turn off the production of Prostaglandin D2. It’s very interesting and offers a chance for curing baldness.
But you know what? If it worked, it wouldn’t be a cosmetic. It would be a drug.
This is not a solution that a cosmetic chemist could offer. Of course, your raw material vendors might have different ideas and will offer lots of things that affect hair growth (which don’t work either) but I digress.
What can a cosmetic chemist do about hair loss?
A couple of ideas come to mind.
1. Spray on hair. The current technology is pretty crude. A cosmetic chemist could make it better.
2. Artificial hair fibers. Can you make a product like this better?
This isn’t much, but it is something and I don’t see much work going on in these areas.
If you could develop a product that could be put on the head and made hair that looked natural and stayed in place, that would be an incredible breakthru.
