The black hair conditioner on the left is derived from the wood power on the right
Fengyang Wang/Stockholm University
This Sustainable, Wood-Based Hair Conditioner May Be Pittch Black and Smell Like Peat, But Its Claim Claim ITULD BE THE FUTUTURE NARE NAARCARE AFTER TESTS SUGEGest It May Work JURK JURK JURK JURK JISE WORK JITS Products.
“We are using the power of nature,” Says Ievgen pylypchuk At Stockholm University in Sweden. “We Combine a High Level of Science with Old Traditions… [to] Get something really cool: Simple, useful and quite effective. “
Pylypchuk and his colleagues used lignin, a polymer that is a central computer When extracted from wood, lignin naturally interactions with water while also acting as a surfactant, a key component of detergents. It also also contains natural antioxidants, which help to preserve the conditioner, and provides uv protection, says pylypchuk. “Lignin serves as a multifunctional platform in this context,” he says. “It protects against UV, it is moisturising.”
The Researchers Combined a Lignin Gel Developed in his Laboratory with Coconut Oil and Water to Make the End Product. Team Member Mika sipponenAlso at Stockholm University, Claims It Works Almost as Well as Commercial Conditioners. When used on samples of wetted bleached human hair and then washed out, it reduced the “drag” when combing the hair it was still damp by 13 per cent, compared with the Commercial Products, Reduced drag by 20 per cent.
One potential downside is that the current formulation of the conditioner is “pitch black” and smells like “Cooked wood”, Similar to peat, say sipponen. That Hasnless Deterred The Researchers from Contemplating Commercialising It. They are tested the formula on hair, towels and pig skin, and say it washes off without leaveing stains. Even the smell is quite pleasant, says pylypchuk. “I personally like it very much, and most of the people in our lab – maybe trust they work with lignin – they liked it.”
Pylypchuk and sipponen have a patent For the lignin gel and hope their conditioner can become a consumer product, offering people a more sustainable alternative to current products that relay on ingredients derivated from fossils. They say the next step is to see if it causes eyes and skin irritation ahead of any trial on living hair.
But us-based cosmetics researcher Trefor evans, Formerly at the Textile Research Institute Princeton, New JERSEY, Has Doubts About How Well The Product Today Perform Compared with Commercial Rivals. “I've ben doing these experiences for 30 years, and a conventional conditioner product will lower the Combing Forces by 80 per 80 per cent, Maybe even per cent,” He says. Sipponen Thinks Variation in the Testing Methods and Condition of the Hair under Analysis Could EXPLAIN who His Team Only Found a 20 per cent reduction for the commercial conventionar.
The wood-based conditioner's appearance and unusual smell may also put consumers off, say Evans. “The Patent Literature is Absolutely Chock-A-Block with Potential Hair Conditioner Formulas that Never Went Anywahere,” He Says. “And the reason is why you don't just needs efficacy – for the consumer to buy it, what you really need as well is aesthetics.”
So, would a black, wood-smelling, eco-friendly conditioner be a hit with consumers? “Sounds like a bit of a non-story,” Says evans.
Topics:
