The Challenge with Quat Conditioning
Conditioning hair has long been tethered to quaternary ammonium compounds—commonly known as quats. While effective, these traditional ingredients come with baggage: environmental persistence, potential skin irritation, and concerns over long-term sustainability. Quats can accumulate on hair over time, leading to product build-up, reduced conditioning efficacy, and compatibility challenges with other ingredients, especially in sulfate-free or natural formulations.
In response, formulators have explored alternative conditioning agents such as cationic guar and amino silicones. However, these alternatives often compromise performance or introduce similar environmental concerns. Enter SurfaTech’s CosmoSurf® CE-250 and CosmoSurf® CE-150—advanced, quat-free alternatives that address these challenges with high performance, sustainability, and compatibility for today’s conscious consumers and innovative formulators.
The Science Behind the Innovation
SurfaTech employs a multi-domain polymer platform that strategically incorporates groups with varying solubility and physical properties. This molecular engineering enables formulators to tailor solubility, fine-tune aesthetics, and achieve reliable film formation without the need for quats.
This innovative platform works by introducing polymer chains with distinct functional groups, which interact differently with water, oils, and hair surfaces. This controlled interaction results in optimized conditioning, detangling, and long-lasting effects without the environmental concerns linked to traditional quats.
Performance Metrics: Data-Driven Superiority
SurfaTech’s hair conditioning studies utilized bleached European hair tresses to evaluate performance under standardized conditions. The results reveal critical insights for formulators striving to balance performance, sustainability, and consumer satisfaction.
Wet Comb Study
Dry Comb Study
The wet combing results demonstrate that CosmoSurf® CE-150 and CE-250 achieve significant reductions in combing force, with 63% and 58% respectively. These values are comparable to high-performing quats like PQ10, which range from 63% to 70%, but with the added benefit of being quat-free. Cationic guar, a common alternative, shows a lower reduction of 54%, while PQ7 and PQ6 display even less conditioning efficacy. These findings indicate that SurfaTech’s solutions provide competitive conditioning without the typical drawbacks of traditional quats, such as buildup, irritation, and environmental persistence. This positions CosmoSurf® as a high-performance alternative that meets modern formulation standards.
In dry combing tests, CosmoSurf® CE-150 and CE-250 reduced combing forces by 55% and 54%, closely matching the performance of premium quats. Dry combing efficiency is critical for maintaining post-wash smoothness, minimizing breakage, and ensuring an optimal sensory experience. The near-equivalent performance to industry-standard quats makes these ingredients highly attractive to formulators seeking to develop products that deliver lasting conditioning without relying on cationic surfactants.
A broader comparison of wet combing performance against market alternatives reveals additional advantages. While PQ10 achieves slightly higher reductions in combing force, other common conditioning agents such as cationic guar (54%), PQ7 (29%), and PQ6 (0%) show significantly lower effectiveness. This highlights that CosmoSurf® CE-Series competes with leading quats while outperforming many widely used alternatives. For formulators, this means greater flexibility in creating high-performing, sustainable hair care formulations that cater to evolving consumer preferences.
Competitive Advantage: Clean, Green, and High-Performance
The CE-Series polymers provide a competitive edge in several key areas:
A Smarter Choice for Modern Hair Care
Formulators often navigate a landscape of ingredient restrictions and evolving consumer expectations. CosmoSurf® CE-250 and CE-150 simplify this challenge by providing dependable, high-performance conditioning agents that align with eco-conscious formulation standards without sacrificing sensory experience.
The CosmoSurf® CE-Series represents more than just an alternative; it’s a forward-thinking solution for formulators seeking performance, sustainability, and consumer-friendly formulations. In the evolving hair care landscape, the future is clear—and it’s quat-free.
