32 ANTI-POLLUTION
reacting them with a small tertiary amine and quaternizing with methyl chloride, dimethyl sulphate or diethylsulphate. For these next- generation products, Stepan chose the greener route, using sunflower oil instead of a palm- derived fatty acid. This resulted in several benefits, as listed below. ■ Reduction of the chemical transformation steps ■ Local and sustainable supply chain. The sourcing of oil from sunflower seeds grown in the United States for Esterquat 1 and sunflower seeds grown in France and Spain for Esterquat 2, ensures the renewability of the feedstock and avoids the deforestation issues linked to standard palm oil ■ Much lower melt point due to the high degree of unsaturation of the oil, allowing for a high-active, low melt-point product without the need for flammable solvents As a result, Esterquat 1 and Esterquat 2 do
not contain any water, solvent nor preservative. Esterquat 1 comprises 95% total cationic and emollient actives, while Esterquat 2 comprises 100% actives. This fits the sustainability expectation for concentrated ingredients that enable transportation and 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 require heating to around 80°C, formulating with Stepan’s novel esterquats can be done at 65°C, contributing to energy savings. The third pillar is ensuring they meet technical
performance requirements. As these esterquats are derived from sunflower oil, their carbon chain distribution is supposed to be more optimal for hair applications than palm-based esterquats. That is due to the high amounts of the unsaturated 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, Stepan used a Dia-Stron instrument to measure the force needed to pull a comb through a
BEFORE NO TREATMENT (shampoo only) CONTROL
300 250 200 150 100 50 0
Shampoo Only
Conditioner Base
Figure 3: Wet combability test
standardized tress of wet hair. The greater the force required to comb through, the poorer the conditioning performance. Figure 3 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 stabilize the formulation. As expected for these two samples, combing forces are high, due to the absence of conditioning agents. When a 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 Esterquat 1 was able to equal the performance of the leading chemistry, BTAC. The same testing was repeated with
dry combing and with Asian hair, and each produced similar results.
AFTER TREATMENT BTAC
AFTER 2nd SHAMPOO
ESTERQUAT 2
ESTERQUAT 2 No build-up effect
Stepan also studied the deposition of these
esterquats onto the hair fibre and assessed its substantivity. 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 conditioning agent onto keratin, the main component of hair. Tresses of bleached Caucasian hair were
washed with a non-conditioning shampoo and rinsed thoroughly. A 2% active cationic conditioner was applied, and the hair was rinsed once more. The tresses were then dipped into a Red 80 dye solution, drained to removed excess solution, rinsed and left to dry overnight. Figure 4 shows the final observation of the
dry hair tresses, as follows. ■ Control (tress 1) that was only shampooed showed no trace of dye ■ The BTAC-treated hair (tress 2) showed some pinkish areas, resulting in a heterogeneous, low presence of BTAC ■ The Esterquat 2-treated tress was uniformly left bright red (tress 3), proving its superior substantivity towards the hair and suggesting that the effect of this esterquat could last longer than the time spent under the shower However, substantivity can be a
disadvantage when the conditioning agent keeps accumulating onto the hair surface, which eventually leads to a greasy and heavy appearance of the hair. That is why a second shampoo was performed on the Esterquat 2-treated hair tress (tress 4). After rinsing and drying, tress 4 was back
to its initial state (Figure 4). This indicates that the esterquat was eliminated through this next shampoo and rinsing, and would not contribute to buildup.
Conclusion Today’s consumers want more from their hair conditioners. Stepan’s novel esterquats for hair conditioning were developed to fulfill their performance requirements and demand for more sustainably advantaged products.
References 1. Cope R. 2022 Mintel Consulting Sustainability Barometer. Mintel. 2022
Figure 4: Final observation of the dry hair tresses PERSONAL CARE November 2022
2. de Bellefonds C. Brainy Beauty: Can Anti- Pollution Skin Care Really Protect Your Skin? Healthline Media. 2020
www.personalcaremagazine.com PC BTAC CETAC
Palm-based Esterquat
Esterquat 1
Maximum load (gmf)
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