42 HAIR CARE
storage optimisation. Thanks to its liquid form, the product is not only easy to handle, but is also able to decrease the need for heating while formulating hair conditioners or masks. While BTAC-based formulations need to be heated around 80°C, formulating with SF-EQ can be done at 65°C, hence contributing to energy savings. What is more, this sunflower oil- based esterquat is considered to be Derived Natural by ISO 16128 [Standard]. The Natural Origin Index for the product is 0.88. SF-EQ is a patent-pending technology due to its novel performance and composition.
A high-performance alternative, for demanding consumers While this esterquat was designed to meet as many sustainability criteria as possible, another crucial aspect to assess is the technical performance. A consumer may feel good about buying an SF-EQ-based conditioner, but if the effect of the product on the hair is not satisfactory, then SF-EQ would have little chance to make a sustainable impact on the long term. From a theoretical standpoint, as this
esterquat is derived from sunflower oil, its carbon chain distribution is supposed to be more optimal for hair applications than palm-based esterquats. That is thanks notably to the high amounts of the insaturated oleic acid (C18:1). This degree of unsaturation is believed to assist in coating and lubricating the hair for ease of combing. To verify this assumption and assess the
technical performance of SF-EQ, a variety of testing was performed. For the assessment of the detangling
BEFORE NO TREATMENT CONTROL (shampoo only) CETAC
BTAC SF-EQ
Figure 4: SEM Photography of comparative cationic-treated hair.
properties of this new esterquat, the Dia- Stron equipment was used. This instrument measures the force needed to pull a comb through a standardised tress of wet hair. The greater the force, the poorer the conditioning performance. Figure 2 shows the result of a wet
combability test. To simulate damaged hair, the tress tested was bleached Caucasian hair. The first bar corresponds to shampooed and rinsed hair, unconditioned. The second bar is the base conditioning formulation, without the cationic conditioning agent. Present in this base are fatty alcohols and cellulose thickening agents typically used in hair conditioners to provide viscosity and to stabilise the formulation. As expected for these two samples, combing forces are high, due to the absence of conditioning agents. When
AFTER TREATMENT BTAC
2% active conditioning agent is added to the base, the force needed to comb through hair is significantly reduced by all the cationic conditioning agents, showing easier detangling. However, CETAC and palm-based esterquats are not premium performers. Only the sunflower oil esterquat was able to equal the performance of the leading chemistry, BTAC. The same testing has been repeated
with dry combing evaluation and with Asian hair, and each produced similar results. Stepan also studied the deposition of
SF-EQ onto the hair fibre and assessed its substantive character. To do so, a modified Rubine test using the anionic Red 80 dye was performed. This anionic dye serves to reveal the presence of a cationic onto keratin, the main component of hair. Tresses
AFTER 2ND
STEPANQUAT Soleil
SHAMPOO
STEPANQUAT Soleil No build up effect
Figure 3:Modified Rubine Dye test: assessment of SF-EQ substantivity. PERSONAL CARE GLOBAL August 2020
AFTER TREATMENT
BEFORE TREATMENT
AFTER TREATMENT
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