US2305356A - Dressing of hair - Google Patents

Description

' hair.

Patented Dec. 15, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DRESSING OF HAIR William F. Luckenbach, West Collingswood, N. 3.,

asslgnor to Riihm allaas Company, Philafl phla, Pa.

No Drawing. Application April 4, 1940,

Serial No. 327,744

2 Claims. (01. 16 7.-87.1)

This invention relates to improved methods and compositions for holding hair in desired forms.

Many kinds of preparations for setting waves or curls in human hair have been proposed. Most of such preparations have been based on sticky ormucilaginous substances with the natural gums tending to displace other materials, because they are more readily applied and are freer from disadvantages. Yet the natural gums do not possess all the desired and required properties for a successful wave-set or for a preparation to hold human hair in any desired form. They are usually insufliciently effective in very thin layers, lack adhesion, flake oil, dry hard and turn white,

discolor the hair, impart to some degree an unproperties which interfere with proper application. Gelatine dries to a brittle stage which renders hair wire-like and stiff. Furthermore, thoroughly dried protein films become flaky and do not regain moisture readily.

It is an object of this invention to provide compositions which may be readily applied to human hair and which are free from the disadvantages of the sticky or mucilaginous substances heretofore used. It is an object to shape and set hair with a minimum amount of coating material and c.

with the minimum of chemical attack on the It is also an object to provide compositions and methods for treating hair and at the same time for givinghair a neat and wellgroomed appearance.

These objects are attained in a highly satisfactory manner by applying to hair a thin deposit or coatingwila water-soluble, polymeric,

acrylic acid derivative from a solution thereof. After an aqueous solution of the polymeric material is applied to hair by brushing, combing, spraying, or similar procedure, the hair is shaped as desired and dried leaving thereon a thin, transparent, colorless, flexible film, which is highly adhesive yet free from tackiness.

It has been found that the water-soluble, polymeric, acrylic acid derivatives possess properties which make them particularly suitable for this use. These derivatives on hair impart thereto a degree of hygroscopicity which preserves flexibility, prevents excessive stiffness and brittleness, avoids harshness and hardening of the coated hairs, keeps the deposit adherent and coherent so that flaking, powdering, and discoloration, particularly by the deposits turning Hydrogen peroxide, particularly in the presence white, do not result, and yet the hair is not sticky and the deposit may easily be removed by washing with water.

The water-soluble, polymeric, amorphous acrylic acid derivatives which are useful for dressing and setting hair include (a) the alkali, ammonia and amine salts oi. the polymeric acrylic acids and the corresponding derivatives of polya-alkacrylic acids, such as polymethacrylic acid, (b) the water-soluble polymers of these esters and nitriles obtained by incomplete saponification or hydrolysis of polymeric acrylic and a-alkacrylic esters and amides, (c) mixtures 01. the polymeric salts and incompletely hydrolyzed polymers, and (d) water-soluble hydrolysis or saponification products of copolymers of an acrylic derivative and another polymerizable material, such as maleic acid, styrene, vinyl acetate or other vinyl compound, etc. These various derivatives are polymerized sufiiciently to prevent crystallization, thereby holding them in an amorphous form. They are prepared so as to be free from either excess alkaline or excess acidic materials and, hence, are substantially neutral. The compounds meeting these various requirements are summarized by the expression watersoluble, amorphous, polymeric, acrylic acid derivatives.

The water-soluble, polymeric acrylic acid derivatives are most conveniently handled in the form of aqueous pastes or solutions. In the actual application to hair there are used solutions containing from about 0.1% to about 2% of the polymeric derivatives, in addition to which there may be used dyes 'or tints to give the preparation a distinctive color, perfumes, softeners, such as glycerine, lubricants or conditioners, such as olive oil, cetyl alcohol, or lanolin, a preservative, such as the methylester of hydroxybenzoic acid, etc. There may also be incorporated in a solution some of a natural gum, such as tragacanth, karaya, etc., the disadvantages of which are largely ofiset by the polymeric acrylic acid derivative.

Similarly, there'may be added a hair or scalp medicant or antiseptic such as quinine, a quinine salt, cantharides, capsicum, thymol, resorcinol, resorcinol monoacetate, sulfur, boric acid, salicylic acid, etc. There may also be added a small amount of alcohol, particularly to carry the medicant, but the amount of such should not be over 10% if the deleterious effect of the alcohol is to be avoided.

Instead of a medicant there may be used an active material such as a bleaching agent.

of ammonia or an ammonium salt, such as ammonium carbonate, is a satisfactory agent of this type. Here it is generally desirable to use a conditioner to protect and soften the hair.

Preparations of this type have the dual function of producing a lighter color in the hair and holding the hair in a desired form. Such preparations have advantages in improved conditions of application and more efficient utilization of the bleaching agent.

There may be used in conjunction with the water-soluble, amorphous, polymeric acrylic acid derivatives, chemicals which are recognized as of value in the permanent waving of hair, particularly ammonium salts, both organic such as morpholine, diethanolamine, etc., and inorganic such as ammonium carbonate, ammonium chloride, ammonium sulfite, or other thermally decomposable salt, usually with such alkaline materials as borax, potassium or sodium carbonate, etc. and, if desired, a sulflte, such as potassium It is general practise in this type of waving solution to incorporate with the above materials a conditioner, by which term is meant an oily, greasy, or waxy material to soften the hair and protect it from the harshness of alkaline ma- There may be used as a typical concentrated aqueous paste one containing about solids derived from acrylic nitrile by reaction with a dilute solution of sodium hydroxide in an amount less than equivalent to the nitrile. One part of this paste is diluted with ten to fourteen parts of water to yield a solution suitable for giving hair a rather stiff set. Such a solution is useful in overcoming natural curl or kinkiness in hair.

One part of the concentrated paste with about nineteen to thirty-nine parts of water gives suitable solutions for so-called finger waves.

Example 2 One part of the 5% concentrate is diluted with five to ten parts of water. A small amount of a water-soluble tint is added and 0.01% of isooctylhydroxybenzyldimethylamine citrate as a preservative. The resulting solution is useful in barber shops for combing into hair to keep it in place and for presenting a neat appearance without imparting to hair a greasy eifect.

Example 3 To ten parts of the preparation of Example 2 there is added one part of a 9% solution of ammonium hydroxide. Just before this preparation is applied to the hair three parts of a 3% solution of hydrogen peroxide is added and thoroughly stirred in. The preparation is then applied to human hair as a combined bleach and wave-set.

Example 4 A preparation suitable for use in permanent waving was made from one part of the 5% paste shown in the above examples and two parts of water which contained 0.15 part of monoethanolmonium compounds amine and 0.15 part of ammonium carbonate and small amounts of water-soluble colors and perfumes. In compounding this preparation the water was added to small increments with rapid and efllcient agitation and then warmed to about C. About 0.15 part of lanolin, which had previously been warmed to about 60 C., was added to the solution with rapid stirring and the preparation passed through a homogenizer, cooled, and packed into collapsible tubes or Jars.

The preparation is applied to hair and the treated hair is then divided into tresses, wound on bars, and heated to give it a permanent shape. The hair is then moistened, arranged in any desired form, and dried. The forming and dressing of hair with a composition based on the water-soluble, polymeric, amorphous acrylic derivatives may be performed according to practically any of the techniques which have been developed for permanent waving of hair and with the many types of apparatus used therefor. The use of these new compositions simplifies the work and produces a superior result. When only amare used, the procedure may be as simple as shown above.

Hair which has been treated with one of the above compositions holds for a long time the form or shape which has been given it. Because of the hygroscopic properties of the treated hair, as has been explained, the hair remains flexible and retains its normal luster and color. The film-forming properties of the polymeric acrylic acid derivatives cause a smoothness which is not attained with gums. The solutions possess a unique advantage in that they are somewhat thixotropic and pseudo-plastic so that they are easily worked into the hair and yet are quick to set without complete drying. They have the further advantage in drying of not passing through the sticky stage which makes many other materials very difflcult to apply properly. The watersoluble, polymeric acrylic acid derivatives impart a high viscosity to solutions with a relatively low percentage of solids. The films which are deposited from these solutions are, therefore, relatively thin yet highly effective. This preserves a natural appearanceof the hair. These polymeric materials have further advantages in control of material, uniformity, stability, and lack of odor.

I claim:

1. A hair shaping composition, which, when applied to human hair, produces a plastic mass to which may be imparted a desired form that is retained when the hair is dried, which composition deposits on the hair a hygroscopic coating substantially free from flaking tendencies and tackiness, and which comprises an aqueous solution containing between about 0.1% to 2% of a polymeric acrylic acid derivative.

2. The process of shaping human hair which comprises applying to said hair an aqueous solution containing about 0.1% to 2% of a watersoluble, amorphous, polymeric acrylic acid derivative to form a plastic mass, working and shaping said mass into a desired form, and drying the shaped mass, thereby depositing upon the hair a thin coating which is hygroscopic and substantiallyfree from flaking tendencies and tackiness.

WILLIAM F. LUCKENBACH.

the concentrated paste in.