Patent Picks—Digitally Guided Treatments, Restructuring Hair and More

By: Rachel L. Grabenhofer

Posted: August 7, 2012

page 3 of 3

Composition for chemically modifying the internal region of a hair shaft
WIPO Patent Application WO/2012/100007
Publication date: July 26, 2012
Assignee: The Procter and Gamble Co., A. Flohr, T. Krause, and M. Loifenfeld

According to this invention, there is a specific need for improving the retention and durability of desired hair shape. Further, there is a need for improving the penetration of monomers into the hair shaft and/or improving the polymerization of the monomers, for example increasing the lengths of the polymeric chains within the internal structure of the hair shaft. In response, the disclosed composition is designed to chemically modify the internal region of the hair shaft. It comprises: an ethylenic monomer having a molecular weight of 500 g/mole or less; a cation and an anion, wherein the cation is selected from the group consisting of inorganic cations having a charge density of 0.05 charge/picometer or more; and a cosmetically acceptable carrier, wherein the composition has a pH of from 4.0 to 6.9.

Hair coloring compositions with a non-ammonia alkalizing agent
WIPO Patent Application WO/2012/099935
Publication date: July 26, 2012
Assignee: The Procter and Gamble Co., J. Schmenger and M Schmitt

Although prior art discloses two- or three-component systems to achieve permanent hair coloring without ammonia, this is usually obtained by the use of higher levels of hydrogen peroxide, which can result in great hair damage. Furthermore, prior art has not described a versatile system for providing different levels of lift at the discretion of the user based a single tint component. The present inventors have surprisingly found it is possible to formulate high lift coloring compositions based on a non-ammonia alkalizing agent while keeping hair damage to an acceptable level. This is accomplished by increasing the weight ratio of the non-ammonia alkalizing agent to hydrogen peroxide, which can be achieved via a two-component system in which case the tint component may be provided with higher than usual level of non-ammonia alkalizing agent. The inventors have also found that the lift provided by typical two-component demi-permanent coloring products can be increased by mixing them with a third component while still keeping the damage to an acceptable level. These compositions are said to provide similar levesl of lift and/or intensity of coloration but at lower hair fiber damage levels than compositions with higher levels of hydrogen peroxide.