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Approaches to polymer selection for mascara formulation
Yelena Loginova1, Vibha Shah, Glenn Allen
1COTY, Inc., 410 American Road, Morris Plains, NJ 07950, USA.
Abstract:
The use of hair-care and hair-styling polymers in mascara formulation is well known. This paper introduces pre-formulative evaluation of film formers which are intended to be applied on eyelashes for mascara development to screen film formers more effectively. The film-forming characteristics of randomly selected hairstyling polymers were evaluated under the influence of pH, temperature, surfactant, and pigment dispersion. The selected polymers included acrylics, polyurethanes, and a pyrrolidone, all of which are used throughout the hair-care and mascara industries. An Erichsen Model 299/300 Pendulum Damping Tester was used to determine film hardness. In analyzing samples by the effect of temperature, the hardest neat polymer, a styrene-acrylate, softened 30% after heating. For most of the other polymers, the hardness was slightly lower compared to the neat polymer. The addition of pigment didn't significantly influence the hardness of one acrylic copolymer and a urethane dispersion, but most of the other polymers exhibited a reduction in film hardness. Various hardnesses were observed with different surfactants and different pH's.
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