VELASOFT® NE 100
Plant-Based Hair Care and Styling
VELASOFT® NE 100 is a high-performance hair styling ingredient that offers a non-tacky hold and anti-frizz benefits without buildup or weighing down hair. Hair styled with this ingredient retains a touchable soft, natural feel. NE 100 is biodegradable and produced from natural plant-based sources.
Properties
Advantages
- Shields against cuticle damage
- Prevents roughness, making the hair feel sleek and easy to comb
- Protects against the loss of hair strength
- Washes out easily, leaves no residue or build-up
- Superior curl retention in high temperature and humidity
- Highly effective frizz control agent
- Outstanding sensory properties offering a non-crispy, natural feeling to styled hair
- Produces low tack formulations
- Water soluble
- 100% naturally derived
Applications
Product Information
| INCI | Sodium polyitaconate |
|---|---|
| CAS# | 26099-89-8 |
| pH | 5.2 |
| Odor | None |
| % Active | ~83% |
| Appearance | Off-white powder |
| Chemical nature | itaconate homopolymer |
Soft, Natural Feel
Traditional styling polymers may deliver good style hold, but they often leave the hair stiff and brittle to the touch. Some synthetic polymers also leave residues on the hair even after washing, which has been shown to significantly increase the force needed to comb the hair.
In addition to outstanding performance in curl retention studies, hair treated with Itaconix VELASOFT NE 100 requires relatively low force to comb. The force required after hot iron straightening is reduced by more than 50% when using VELASOFT NE 100 vs the control.
Superior Frizz and Style Hold
VELASOFT NE 100 performs as well as many synthetic polymers in keeping a straight style when subjected to 85% humidity for 24 hours. Hydrogen bonds are broken when hair becomes wet either during washing and styling, or when hair absorbs water from the environment in high humidity conditions. For heat styled hair this can lead to a loss of hold and frizzing, particularly for naturally wavy or curly hair.
Damage Control Experiments
VELASOFT NE 100 was shown to give a 15% improvement in tensile strength compared to both the control and a synthetic polymer.
1.2g of a solution of the Velasoft NE 505 in water at 2% was applied to tresses made from wavy European brown hair and combed through. For the control, water was used in place of the polymer solution. A straightening iron was used to hot style the tresses at 200°C. 10 passes of 10 seconds each were made for each cycle. Following each cycle, the tresses were washed and then evaluated at the end of multiple cycles. The load to breaking point was determined for individual fibers.
Buildup and Residue
SEM Imaging shows how VELASOFT NE 100 not only protects the cuticle from damage, but does so without leaving any polymer buildup or residue.
Consumers are concerned that styling products build up on hair after prolonged use. This can lead to a reduction in the sensory feel of hair; product buildup might also reduce the effectiveness of other treatments such as hair coloring.
