Defending Integrity: Microemulsion to Restore Bleached and Dyed Hair Properties

During bleaching and coloring treatments, it is crucial to introduce an ingredient to protect and preserve hair integrity.

Restoring hair's fiber integrity requires understanding the structural and chemical composition of hair, along with the chemistry necessary to counteract the damaging effects of bleaching and color treatment processes. The present article reviews these aspects and proposes a bis-PCA dimethicone solution, which acts via novel bonding mechanisms to impart cumulative strengthening in chemically treated hair.

Chemical Processing

Bleaching and dyeing are damaging processes that affect the physical, mechanical and surface properties of hair, leading to dry and straw-like properties that make hair frizzy, difficult to style and easily broken. During such chemical treatments, much of the hydrophobic lipid is stripped from the surface of hair, leading to increased tangling due to increased friction and surface roughness. Hair bleaching compositions and methods have been discussed thoroughly in the patent literature. Furthermore, hair can become permanently discolored after applying high concentr­ations of oxidizing agents containing strong alkaline agents. The bleaching process is often highly alkaline (pH 9-13), resulting in a dramatic degradation of the external and internal structural integrity of hair, especially after repeated cycles.

Unlike skin, hair lacks regenerative properties. Therefore, it is important introduce components during bleaching and color treatment processes that preserve and maintain hair’s structural integrity. To this end, a microemulsion based on bis-PCA dimethiconea was designed and tested, as shown here, for its ability to impart the desired effects without affecting the efficacy of bleaching and color systems.

Bis-PCA Solution

The described bis-PCA dimethicone ingredient contains pyrrolidone carboxylic acid (PCA), whose functional group is found naturally in human skin and has been thought to be responsible for ubiquitous moisturization. It is an excellent humectant, displaying moisture-binding capacity that is 1.5× greater than glycerin. PCA can form hydrogen bonds with water,

which is essential to hair because it maintains hydration and a moisturized, healthy appearance and texture. Aside from hydrogen bonds, however, PCA can reconstruct ionic bonds; in the described microemulsion, the PCA groups at the polymer chain ends are fully ionized at an elevated pH and enhance the affinity of the bis-PCA dimethicone to hair. These ionic bonds can be useful for preventing further hair damage when the PCA dimethicone is coformulated with volatile amines and other solubilizers, favoring the exchange of volatile amine with the amino group in proteins of the hair.

This cumulative strengthening of both hydrogen bonds and ionic bonds becomes crucial to supporting the external and internal structure of keratin protein. When the moisturization and hydrophobicity of hair are in balance, conditioning is improved. Thus, to put the capabilities of

the bis-PCA dimethicone ingredient to the test, hair was treated with and without it, subjected to several chemical assaults and its sensory traits were assessed.

Bleach Damage Tests

Materials and methods: To test in vitro effects of the ingredient in a bleaching system, virgin black hair tresses were used. These were cut to the same weight and length, then treated with one of two formulas containing bleaching powderb and 40 v/​v developer cream (12% hydrogen peroxide). The control formula omitted the microemu­lsion, whereas the test formula included it at 2.​7 parts,

Each formula was brushed onto the virgin tress, wrapped in aluminum foil and allowed to stand at ambient temperature for two hours; tresses were then rinsed with water and blown dry after each application. This bleaching step was repeated for three to four cycles before hair was evaluated.

Note that tresses were not post-treated with conditioners. In addition, the described tests simulated extreme conditions. The goal was to replicate the pre-damaged hair many stylists face when servicing clients, rather than untouched, virgin hair.