Technology for Controlling the Hair Alignment (Texture), which is Key to Beautiful Hair

Have you felt the lack of moisture in your hair, even though you care for it with a hair treatment? In hair kept moist, the individual strands are arranged neatly and have a large contact area with the finger surface, and heat transfer is large. As a result, it is cool to the touch. What is important is making hair alignment uniformly or ensuring it is evenly textured, rather than soaking it excessively with hair care ingredients.

We conducted fact-finding surveys and experiments on hair alignment. They focused on the fact that countless tangles of hair that cannot be untangled by hand form during shampooing, and they remain untangled after drying. This prevents hair from aligning uniformly. So to give hair an evenly texture, it is necessary to remove such tangles of hair that form during shampooing.

We examined why such hair tangling forms during shampooing, we found that friction occurs between hair fibers in the water due to adhesive force between them. After investigating a number of substances, we found that BIPA polymer (Bis-Isobutyl PEG-14/Amodimethicone Copolymer), which sticks to hair and is soluble in water, can be used to greatly reduce friction between wet hairs. Treatment with BIPA can significantly reduce tangles of hair that form between shampooing and drying, so the individual strands of hair line up uniformly on their own just with washing hair.

Just like this one, Kao is conducting various studies on technologies that give you beautiful hair, and we will keep striving to develop products that ensure you’ll be proud of your hair.