While natural ingredients have become standard in many beauty and personal care categories, the hair styling segment still lacks effective natural alternatives in several key areas.
A natural styling polymer for lightweight formulations
With Verdessence Maize [1], BASF offers a plant-based styling ingredient and a readily biodegradable alternative to PVP (polyvinylpyrrolidone) and VP/VA (vinylpyrrolidone and vinyl acetate) polymers.
“Verdessence Maize is a biodegradable natural ingredient derived from corn. It helps create crystal clear formulations in hair styling in particular where viscosity is a key issue,” BASF’s Market Development Manager Natalia Chudinova told Premium Beauy News.
“It is designed for various applications, especially hair styling pump sprays as well as mousses with a cloud-like foam texture,” she added.
Being 100% derived from renewable feedstocks, the new ingredient is perfectly suited for natural and organic cosmetics.
In a performance assessment, 7% Verdessence Maize in a pump mousse formulation showed the same bending stiffness and better curl retention performance compared to formulations with 2% synthetic polymers. According to BASF, the same performance in terms of bending stiffness and curl retention can be achieved when added at 5% to a pump spray formulation instead of synthetic polymers.
“Verdessence Maize provides good curl definition without creating any weight in the hair. It’s a big step forward in the quest for more natural hair styling formulation. We have been able to reach the same performance than synthetic polymers,” Chudinova emphasized.
A wax-based opacifier dispersion for pure whiteness
Also introduced at this year’s in-cosmetics global show, BASF’s new wax-based and readily biodegradable opacifier dispersion, Lamesoft OP Plus [2], has a high natural origin content [3] and can be used as an alternative to synthetic, acrylate-based ingredients.
The dispersion is characterized by its high-opacifying efficacy and offers additional care benefits in rinse-off applications.
Lamesoft OP Plus provides a creamy white and caring appearance to formulations with various surfactant systems, without any undesired pearlizing effects. Performance tests indicate that it significantly reduces wet/dry combing effort while enhancing anti-hair breakage performance.
A versatile sustainable betaine
Another addition to BASF portfolio of sustainable personal care solutions is Dehyton PK45 GA/RA [4], a betaine derived from sustainably sourced coconut oil, certified by Rainforest Alliance. This amphoteric surfactant is readily biodegradable and suited for use in shampoos, shower and bath preparations, as well as skin cleansers where it enables excellent foaming properties.