Hair treating composition and process for improving the condition of the hair

Frequent bleaching, perming and dyeing, but also frequent washing of the hair with degreasing surfactants, damages the hair structure. The hair becomes brittle and loses its shine. Furthermore, the hair becomes electrostatically charged when combing, and the roughened hair surface causes matting and knotting of the hair. This makes combing very difficult.

Hair treatment agents with a combability-improving and nourishing effect have therefore gained considerable importance. Such agents are often distributed, for example, in the form of a clear hair conditioner or also in emulsion form, as so-called cream rinses, after washing the hair in still wet hair, left to act for a few minutes to an hour and then rinsed out with water.

Mainly cationic surfactants, in particular quaternary ammonium compounds, such as cetyltrimethylammonium chloride, are used as active ingredients for improving the hair structure in combination with various waxy additives, such as, for example, petroleum jelly, fatty alcohols and fatty acid esters.

However, hair treatment compositions based on the above conditioning agents show satisfactory results only in the treatment of dry and porous hair. They are less suitable for the treatment of quickly regreasing hair, since their use increases the natural regreasing of the hair, which in turn deteriorates the durability of the hairstyle.

The causes of the strong re-greasing of the hair are on the one hand the residues of the hair treatment agent remaining after rinsing out, and on the other hand the cationic emulsifiers contained in these agents. The cationic emulsifiers adsorbed by the hair cause the surface of the hair to become hydrophobic, as a result of which the secretions of the sebum glands can be distributed more quickly in the hair. In addition, because of their incompatibility with anionic surfactants, cationic emulsifiers cannot be incorporated into hair treatment compositions containing these surfactants, such as, for example, in many shampoos or hair colorants.

Hair treatment agents have also been described which serve the purpose of preventing hair loss and promoting hair growth. The agents can also contain betaine and, at the same time, the amino acids glycol and cystine. They should be applied to the scalp several times a day and gently massaged in (see DE-B-1 007 957).

Accordingly, the object of the invention is to provide a hair treatment agent and a hair treatment method on the basis of more suitable active ingredients which condition the hair and thereby to avoid the disadvantages described above.

For this purpose, it has now been found that hair treatment agents, characterized in that they are a combination of<ul id="ul0001" list-style="none"><li>a) 0.1 to 25.0% by weight betaine j-trimethylammonioacetate of the formula [(CH₃)₃N^⊕-CH₂-COO^⊖ and</li><li>b) 0.1 to 10.0% by weight of at least one aliphatic organic acid free of amino groups</li></ul>included, perform the task in an excellent way.

While hair treatment agents based on betaine alone or based solely on an aliphatic organic acid show no noticeable hair conditioning properties, the hair treatment agents according to the invention based on a synergistic combination of betaine and an aliphatic organic acid free of amino groups show a good combability effect, without straining the hair. They continue to have an astringent and detangling effect on the hair, smooth the hair surface and improve the feel of the hair.

In addition to pure betaine, it is of course also possible to use the betaine in any other commercially available form, for example as betaine monohydrate, to produce the agents according to the present application.

Examples of suitable aliphatic organic acids contained in the agents described here that are free of amino groups are, in particular, water- or water-alcohol-soluble aliphatic organic acids, such as citric acid, tartaric acid, lactic acid, pimelic acid and glyoxylic acid.

The agents according to the invention should contain the betaine in particular in a concentration of 3.0 to 15.0% by weight, while the aliphatic organic acids free of amino groups - of which citric acid is preferred - alone or in a mixture with one another, in particular in an amount of 0.1 to 5.0 wt .-%, are included.

The hair treatment compositions described in the application can be in any preparation form suitable for the hair treatment, for example in the form of a lotion, emulsion or gel. Preferred preparations are hair rinses, hair care emulsions, hair treatment packs, hair fixatives or shampoos. However, the hair treatment compositions according to the invention can also be present as hair colorants, hair tinting agents or as fixing agents for hair shaping.

These are preparations that remain on the hair for a shorter or longer time depending on their intended use. Because of the content of the active ingredient combination described according to the invention, the treated hair is simultaneously conditioned. However, preparations which serve mainly or exclusively to improve the condition of the hair structure are particularly preferred.

The composition of these cosmetic preparations is a mixture of the conditioning combination according to the present invention with the other constituents customary for hair treatment agents.

Water, alcohols, such as ethanol, n-propanol, i-propanol, polyhydric alcohols, such as glycerol and propylene glycol, anionic, cationic, amphoteric or nonionic surfactants, such as fatty alcohol sulfates, fatty alcohol ether sulfates, alkyl sulfonates, alkylbenzenesulfonates, are particularly suitable components of hair treatment agents. Fatty acid alkyltrimethylammonium salts, ethoxylated fatty alcohols, ethoxylated nonylphenols, fatty acid alkanolamides, also natural, modified natural or synthetic polymers, such as, for example, shellac, alginates, gelatin, pectins, cellulose derivatives, chitosan, polyvinylpyrrolidone, polyvinyl acetate, acrylic or methacrylic acid polymers, basic polymers of esters from acrylic acid or methacrylic acid with amino alcohols or the salts or quaternization products of these basic acrylics and copolymers of compounds such as polyvinylpyrrolidone-vinyl acetate, further thickeners, such as fatty alcohols, fatty acid esters, starch, cellulose derivatives, liquid and solid paraffins, isoparaffins, petroleum jelly, wool wax and fatty acids and also care substances such as lanolin derivatives, cholesterol and pantothenic acid, furthermore dyes, pigments, perfume oils, antioxidants, preservatives, such as formaldehyde and Salicylic acid.

In the method according to the invention for improving the condition of hair, the hair is characterized by a hair treatment composition, in particular a hair conditioner, in that it is a combination of<ul id="ul0002" list-style="none"><li>a) 0.1 to 25 wt .-% betaine and</li><li>b) 0.1 to 10.0% by weight of at least one aliphatic organic acid free of amino groups</li></ul>contains, brought into contact at a temperature of about 15 to 60 ° C.

The hair conditioning-active betaine salts present in the hair treatment compositions according to the invention - for example betaine citrate - are readily soluble in water or in water / alcohol mixtures and physiologically completely harmless, even at very high concentrations.

In addition, it has surprisingly been found that low-viscosity emulsions with a content of 10% by weight betaine and 2% by weight citric acid, despite this high electrolyte content, can be prepared without problems with a suitable choice of wax components and emulsifiers.

In addition, the synergistically effective combination according to the present invention described here can be incorporated without precipitation into preparations containing anionic, cationic, nonionic or amphoteric surfactants.

The combination of betaine and an aliphatic organic acid free of amino groups contained in the hair treatment compositions continues to have an antioxidative effect and a buffer in these preparations. In addition, hair fixers which have a content of at least 1% by weight betaine and at least 0.2% by weight of an aliphatic organic acid free of amino groups can also have a noticeable hair-setting effect without the addition of a resin. In hair setting agents, the active ingredient combination according to the invention can thus replace the resin which is usually required.

Finally, an important advantage of the hair treatment agents according to the invention is that they are considerably better tolerated by the eyes and skin than agents based on conventional cationic hair-conditioning agents, such as fatty acid alkyltrimethylammonium salts.

The following examples are intended to explain the subject matter of the invention in more detail.

Examples

example 1

Hair conditioner

<tables id="tabl0001" num="0001"><img file="EP0056595B1_D0001.tif" /></tables>

After shampooing, this hair conditioner is well distributed on the towel-dried porous hair, left to act for a few minutes and then washed out with water. The hair is significantly less matted and easier to comb.

Example 2

Hair conditioner

<tables id="tabl0002" num="0002"><img file="EP0056595B1_D0002.tif" /></tables>

This hair conditioner, which consists of two liquid phases, is shaken shortly before use and then applied to dull and porous hair as in Example 1. The hair is easy to comb and smooth after the treatment.

Example 3

Hair care emulsion

<tables id="tabl0003" num="0003"><img file="EP0056595B1_D0003.tif" /></tables>

After shampooing, the hair care emulsion is evenly distributed in heavily matted, very porous hair. Detangling of the hair can already be noticed when applying. After a short exposure time, the hair is rinsed out with warm water. This treatment results in a very smooth, cosmetically pleasant handle on the hair and very good wet combability.

Example 4

Hair fastener

<tables id="tabl0004" num="0004"><img file="EP0056595B1_D0004.tif" /></tables>

This hair set is applied evenly to towel-dried hair after shampooing. Then the hair is rolled up on water wave curlers. After drying the hair, which can expediently be carried out with the aid of a drying hood at about 40-60'C, good hair fixation, improved durability of the hairstyle and a very smooth feel of the hair can be found.

Example 5

Hair color setting

<tables id="tabl0005" num="0005"><img file="EP0056595B1_D0005.tif" /></tables>

This hair color set is applied evenly to towel-dried blonde human hair after shampooing. Then the hair is rolled up on water wave curlers. After drying the hair, a good hair fixation, an improved durability of the hairstyle and a very smooth handle of the hair can be found. The hair also has a reddish-blonde color.

Example 6

Hair fastener

<tables id="tabl0006" num="0006"><img file="EP0056595B1_D0006.tif" /></tables>

This hair set is applied evenly to towel-dried hair after shampooing. Then the hair is rolled up on water wave curlers. After drying the hair, although the hair setting agent contains no resin, good hair setting and improved durability of the hairstyle can be found.

Example 7

shampoo

<tables id="tabl0007" num="0007"><img file="EP0056595B1_D0007.tif" /></tables>

Human hair that has been washed with a shampoo of the above composition and then rinsed with water shows very good wet combability. In addition, the betaine contained in this shampoo stabilizes the pH of the shampoo and counteracts rapid drying of the scalp.

All percentages given in the registration represent percentages by weight.