Characterization of yield stress and slip behaviour of skin/hair care gels using steady flow and LAOS measurements and their correlation with sensorial attributes.

Gels made with three different polymers widely used as rheology modifiers in cosmetic formulations (cross-linked poly(acrylic acid), cross-linked poly(maleic acid-alt-methyl vinyl ether) copolymer and cross-linked poly(acrylic acid-co-vinyl pyrrolidone) copolymer) were characterized by rheological and sensory evaluation methods to determine the relationship between sensorial perception and corresponding rheological parameters. Both conventional rheological characterization methods and a more recent method, Fourier Transform Rheology with Large Amplitude Oscillatory Flow data (LAOS), were utilized to characterize the material with and without wall slip. Sensorial analyses were implemented in vivo to evaluate the perceived ease of initial and rub-out spreadability, cushion, pick-up and slipperiness attributes of the gels. Results were statistically analysed by both variance (ANOVA) and principle component analysis (PCA). Sensorial panel testing characteristics discriminated the three materials, and PCA analyses revealed that sensory attributes could be well predicted by rheological methods. Rheological experiments, without wall slip, revealed that gel strength in the linear viscoelastic region (LVR) and yield stress of these materials are similar, but exhibit significantly different wall slip and thixotropy behaviour in the low shear rate region under wall slip conditions. Above the critical shear rate, which corresponds to the yield stress, all tested materials did not slip and behaved as conventional, shear thinning polymeric fluids. In particular, the rheological parameters and sensorial perception of the 1% cross-linked vinyl pyrrolidone/acrylic acid copolymer were significantly affected by wall slip and/or thixotropy-related shear banding phenomena.

The effect of various cosmetic pretreatments on protecting hair from thermal damage by hot flat ironing.

Hot flat irons are used to create straight hair styles. As these devices operate at temperatures over 200 °C they can cause significant damage to hair keratin. In this study, hair thermal damage and the effect of various polymeric pretreatments were investigated using FTIR imaging spectroscopy, DSC, dynamic vapor sorption (DVS), AFM, SEM, and thermal image analysis. FTIR imaging spectroscopy of hair cross sections provides spatially resolved molecular information such as protein distribution and structure. This approach was used to monitor thermally induced modification of hair protein, including the conversion of α-helix to ß-sheet and protein degradation. DSC measurements of thermally treated hair also demonstrated degradation of hair keratin. DVS of thermally treated hair shows the reduced water regain and lower water retention, compared to the non-thermally treated hair, which might be attributed to the protein conformation changes due to heat damage. The protection of native protein structure associated with selected polymer pretreatments leads to improved moisture restoration and water retention of hair. This contributes to heat control on repeated hot flat ironing. Thermally stressing hair led to significantly increased hair breakage when subjected to combing. These studies indicate that hair breakage can be reduced significantly when hair is pretreated with selected polymers such as VP/acrylates/lauryl methacrylate copolymer, polyquaternium-55, and a polyelectrolyte complex of PVM/MA copolymer and polyquaternium-28. In addition, polymeric pretreatments provide thermal protection against thermal degradation of keratin in the cortex as well as hair surface damage. The morphological improvement in cuticle integrity and smoothness with the polymer pretreatment plays an important role in their anti-breakage effect. Insights into structure-property relationships necessary to provide thermal protection to hair are presented.