An evolving personal care market inspires new ingredients from Dow Corning
Several personal care ingredient manufacturers, which Univar distributes for, spoke at the conference. Dow Corning’s presentations keyed in on the shifting expectations of today’s high-efficiency personal care consumers.
Film formers
The Personal Care Affair in Edison, New Jersey, was the site of Dow Corning’s neat material launch for FC-5002 IDD Resin Gum. So there are, as yet, no prototype formulations incorporating the new ingredient. IDD, in this case, stands for isododecane.
Within the company’s portfolio of film formers, “silicone gum resin is new for beauty,” says Evan Waddell of Dow Corning, who presented at the Univar event. He went on to explain that FC-5002 is “a gum-tethered MQ resin” that’s quite hydrophobic.
In lab tests Dow Corning observed water repellency by contact angle, and the FC-5002 measured 105.2⁰. In a similar test for sebum repellency FC-5002 had a contact angle of 67.7⁰. For comparison, the presentation noted that these values are “higher than common non-silicone film-forming technologies like polyurethanes and polyacrylates (60° to 80°).”
The presentation also showed figures on the breathability, flexibility, durability of FC-5002. And, “this new tech seems to be smoother feeling, based on our sensory panel,” notes Waddell. Dow Corning anticipates the ingredient will be useful in skin care, sun care, hair care, and long-wear color cosmetics products.
Two additional resin gum film formers are coming soon but not yet commercially available. One made with cyclopentasiloxane—FC-5001 CM Resin Gum—and another with dimethicone—FC-5004 DM Resin Gum.
Fast-drying hair care
Inspired by the fast-drying hair care trend, Dow Corning is testing some of its existing ingredients in new ways. With the results, the company hopes to help formulators blend products that meet this consumer demand. The presentation indicated that fast-drying products can save consumers time, limit blow dryer use (and thereby heat damage), and have add-on benefits like “conditioning, repair, moisturizing, alignment, [and] color retention.”
The company sees leave-in and rinse-off conditioners as likely candidates for fast-dry claims. And the presentation showed testing data that suggests the following ingredients may be useful for such formulations: CE-8411 Smooth Plus Emulsion, 5-7113 Silicone Quat Microemulsion, HMW 2220 Non-Ionic Emulsion, and MEM-0949 Emulsion.
OTC skincare
The company is showing quite a few new ideas this fall. At this month’s SCC Suppliers Day in California, Dow Corning debuted a portfolio of health care–grade skin care ingredients.
Zeroing in on the overlap between wellness and beauty, the company is leveraging its tenure in the health care industry to provide ingredients that can function in topical cosmetic applications, as well as in the consumer healthcare space and as topical excipients.
The current line comprises several prototype formulations for OTC skin care products for scared skin, acne and stretch marks. Read the Cosmetics Design article on the launch here and watch this CD Buzz video to learn even more.
