Conditioning polymers offer benefits to skin

Some of these benefits could be of interest for skin care applications, but many existing conditioning polymers were not designed with skin in mind, leading to shortfalls in performance. New skin-focused conditioning materials like Air Products’ Deposilk Q1TM polymer are nonetheless making their way into the marketplace, providing formulators and consumers with new capabilities and aesthetics.

The nature of conditioning

Products are typically considered as “conditioning” when they improve the surface of skin or hair. In hair care, “conditioning” is typically understood to denote an improvement in the “condition” or appearance and manageability of hair alongside quality characteristics including combability, flyaway, body, curl retention, slip, and other well-defined facets.1 Everyday demands on hair, ranging from grooming habits to harsh chemical colour treatments, can adversely impact its healthy state, and since the regenerative process of hair growth takes a long time, proactive use of conditioning agents is often needed to maintain hair manageability. Among the ways some of these agents work is through substantivity onto the hair, providing a layer of protection that may in turn reduce combing friction, static electricity build-up, humidity impact, mechanical weaknesses of hair strands, and other deficiencies. The use of silicones in conjunction with cationic polymers is a common approach to achieve this benefit in hair conditioning products. Other approaches to hair conditioning include increased hair swelling or fibre density, as well as actual fibre repair.2 Unlike hair, skin is a living organism, making the requirements and nature of conditioning different. Skin is continually shedding and replacing cells, and its more rapid regenerative cycle helps it to cope better with everyday stresses. Nevertheless, skin is exposed and reacts differently to several factors, increasing the relevance of skin conditioning as a benefit. Some common factors include environmental conditions like heat and sun, and physiological conditions such as ageing, which has been shown to be accompanied by reduced skin regenerative capacity.3 In skin care, “conditioning” has more recently been understood to suggest skin repair, regeneration, and other anti-ageing related benefits provided by active ingredients. This is reflective of consumer demand for products that improve the skin’s visible qualities and, by extension, feel. More traditional interpretations of skin conditioning focus on skin feel and include mechanisms similar to those employed in hair care, namely, the use of ingredients providing a barrier function. Improvement in skin barrier function has been associated with faster skin repair and overall health.4 Moisturisers, emollients, and a range of occlusive agents are commonly used to achieve these benefits, by, among other means, physically protecting the stratum corneum and improving skin feel, and consumers are increasingly seeking to improve the appearance and “condition” of their skin by addressing skin dryness, roughness, flakiness, and smoothness. Cationic conditioning polymers’ substantivity could provide some similar benefits.