FEBRUARY 2019 • Vol. 25 No. 2
New York Society of Cosmetic Chemists
www.nyscc.org
Hair Care Development: Freedom to Work Outside the Box
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…by Joseph Dallal
hat a great time to be a hair care formulator or brand owner involved in the development of innovative products! The hair care market is incredibly dynamic due to the diverse nature of the end consumer who shapes the market. This challenges us to develop unique, specialty products for individuals who have short, long, curly, wavy, straight, natural, or color-treated hair. Many consumers want curlier, straighter, moisturized, out of bed/second day, or “beachy” hair. The difference between today’s hair care market and that of the past is that all these styles and desires exist concurrently. The list goes on and on, not only for describing the vast number of styles, but also when one takes into account the variety of styling techniques, which affects the way we formulate new products and textures. Today’s needs from both brand marketers and consumers are really pushing buttons and opening doors for those innovations many of us always wanted to make, but previously had no outlet or platform to launch them (e.g., online marketing). The shampoo market took a hit when people transitioned from 7+ shampoo cycles a week to 3 or less. Just the opposite is happening to people with Type 6, 7, or 8 curl classification,1 moving from a shampoo cycle of once every 24 days to 3 times per week, as well as blow drying their chemically relaxed hair! Shampoo and conditioner technology advances are making it possible for these changes in consumer-use habits. And, it does not stop there. With advances in polymer chemistry and active complexes, we now have
specialty ingredients to formulate split-end mending products, post foaming styling gels, durable conditioning and anti-frizz (lasting through 5 shampoo cycles) formulas, silicone containing shampoos, and anhydrous silicone treatments applied to the finished dry style or even to wet hair. Texas ‘High Hair’ was a ‘Hollywood’ joke until it morphed and transitioned around the country. Now we have high hair and flat hair at the same time, sometimes on the same head. In the mid-1970s, hair styles that were broadcast on TV during the figure skating competition at the Olympics as well as celebrity posters that hung on teenagers’ walls (e.g., Dorothy Hamill and Farrah Fawcett cuts and styles) changed the way salons cut hair and how shampoos and styling products were designed. The focus on styled hair was reborn from the preceding rolled, brushed, teased, and sprayed coiffures. The styles of the mid- to late 1970s still show vestiges in modern styles today. Blow dryers and curling irons made a resurgence in the 1980s with higher wattage, higher heat settings, and more forceful fans. It put more demands on the styling polymers, chassis of the styling product, and complexity of the hair-tool interface. Friction, drag, and raspiness—often resulting in tearing, ripping, snagging, or breaking of the hair— had to be eliminated. Formulators of shampoos, conditioners, and styling agents took the necessary steps forward generating plenty of patents, upgrading to extremely high-tech, high energy emulsions and new substantive ingredients, complexes, coacervation technology, and compounding techniques. (Continued on page 4)
N Y S C C H A I R C A R E W O R K S H O P February 6 • Chart House, Weehawken, NJ