A 'Green" Microemulsion for Improved Conditioning Performance of Shampoos

By: Matthias Hloucha, Hans-Martin Haake and Guadalupe Pellón, Cognis GmbH

Posted: May 4, 2009, from the May 2009 issue of Cosmetics & Toiletries.

Consumers are more and more interested in living a “green” lifestyle and have come to understand the impact of the products they use on society, the environment and on themselves. Despite this eco-friendly consciousness, however, consumers are generally unwilling to sacrifice product performance; thus, they seek eco-conscious products that provide the same or better performance levels.

Naturally sourced ingredients offer formulators innovative possibilities to develop products that fulfill these consumer expectations by combining performance benefits with environmental compatibility. Modern consumers expect more than one function from a cosmetic product. For example, shampoo should have an appealing appearance—i.e., it should be clear or pearlescent—with good cleansing and hair conditioning properties as well as fast foam generation.

A pearlescent appearance can be achieved by adding well-known pearlescent agents such as glycol distearate; cleansing and foam performance are dominated by the surfactant system, which is usually a synergistic combination of two or more surfactants such as fatty alcohol ether sulfate, cocamidopropyl betaine (CAPB) and alkyl polyglucoside (APG)^a.

This is only an excerpt of the full article that appeared in Cosmetics & Toiletries, but you can purchase the full-text version.