High Hair Styling Force without Sticky or Stiff Feeling Thanks to Self-Selective Adhesive Polymers

In recent years consumers in Japan and around the globe have demonstrated a preference for full and airy hairstyles with natural touch feeling. With this in mind, Kao has pursued technology development of hair-styling that can provide high hair styling force with natural touch feeling.

Creating a full and airy hairstyle used to require the kinds of oil-based ingredients used in styling wax or the sort of film-forming polymers used in hair spray in order to fix hair fibers. But such ingredients tend to make hair sticky or stiff, resulting in a heavy, unnatural look.

To solve this problem, Kao developed a self-selective adhesive polymer (SSAP). As suggested by the name, SSAP adhere to themselves, resulting in a high styling force. Yet they do not impart a sticky feel because they do not adhere to other substances, such as hands and fingers. This combination of properties, never before achieved in a hair styling polymer, makes it easy to create full and airy hair styles while retaining a natural feel. Kao has made extensive use of this hair-styling technology, incorporating it in such domestic brands as Cape and Liese, as well as in products for the overseas market. We continue “essential research” for styling technology and diverse hair types with the aim of developing ground-breaking preparations to please customers all over the world.

Self-selective adhesion and non-selective adhesion of SSAP and pre-existing technologies