Drug – bio-affecting and body treating compositions – Live hair or scalp treating compositions
Reexamination Certificate
2001-10-17
2003-09-23
Venkat, Jyothsna (Department: 1615)
Drug, bio-affecting and body treating compositions
Live hair or scalp treating compositions
C424S070130, C424S070122, C424S070150, C424S070160, C424S070170, C424S074000, C424S195170, C514S944000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06623727
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The subject matter of the present invention includes hair treatment compositions in the form of solid, form-stable gels containing carrageenan in an aqueous or aqueous-alcoholic base.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hair treatment compositions, among others, are used in the form a thickened preparations, e.g. gels, in order to fix and hold human hair or to stabilize a prepared hairdo or hairstyle. This type of product has a highly viscous, but still fluid, consistency. These gels are usually packaged in plastic tubes, from which they are forced out in the form of strands when they are used. They usually contain a gel former, such as a polyacrylate, and a hair-fixing polymer, for example polyvinylpyrrolidone. The cosmetic hair-fixing polymers usually used for this purpose in conventional aqueous or aqueous-alcoholic gels have good fixing properties. They hold and fix the hair during application and stabilize an established hairdo or hairstyle.
Because conventional hair gels disadvantageously are not form-stable and deliquesce, it is not possible to proportion them in fixed discrete amounts sufficient for a particular application. Also three-dimensional stability and preparation of an attractive outer form, such as a cube, ball, etc, are not possible. Liquid gels or thixotropic gels, which become liquid under pressure, can run off the hands or the hair during use. An additional disadvantage of the typical carbomer gels is that they only have a stable viscosity in a limited pH range. This means that, in the first place, there is a high production expense because a predetermined pH range must be obtained and, in the second place, there are incompatibilities with other ingredients, which, for their part, can be used only in other pH ranges.
EP 0 923 931 discloses solid cosmetic compositions, which contain at least 2% kappa-carrageenan in combination with certain hydrocolloids in a natural base and which are used essentially as body care sticks (sticks, lipstick). Comparatively large amounts of carrageenan are required in these compositions in order to achieve the required fixing action. These types of compositions are not suitable for hair treatment, since an ugly visible residue forms in the hair because of the large amount of carrageenan included in them (greater than 2% by weight). Sufficient fixing action is no longer obtained when the amount of carrageenan present in the composition is decreased.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a solid, form-stable gel of the above-described type containing carrageenan for treating hair, which satisfactorily fixes the hair and which can be divided into portions having a stable three-dimensional form during manufacture, and simultaneously is easily and satisfactorily spread with the hands and distributed on the hair.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a solid, form-stable gel of the above-described type for treating hair that includes carrageenan, which satisfactorily fixes the hair and at the same time has a stable viscosity in a wide pH range and forms no undesirable visible residue on the hair.
It has now been found that these objects are attained by a hair treatment composition in the form of a solid, form-stable gel containing a combination of:
(A) a carrageenan or a mixture of carrageenans, and
(B) at least one additive selected from the group consisting of hair fixing polymers, amphiphilic associative thickeners, monoalcohols, polyalcohols, compounds that release calcium ions in aqueous media and compounds that release potassium ions in aqueous media;
in an aqueous or an aqueous-alcoholic base, in which the components (A) and (B) are contained in predetermined amounts, whereby the composition is present in the form of a solid, form-stable gel at room temperature (20° C.).
The words “solid, form-stable”, in the sense of the present invention, mean that the gels according to the invention have a resistance to compression under normal conditions (20° C., 65% relative humidity) of at least 0.15 N, preferably from 0.30 to 2.0 N, especially preferably 0.40 to 1.5 N, measured by penetration of the solid gel with a cylindrical piston of a diameter of 8 mm at a penetration speed of 0.5 mm/sec up to a compression depth of 1 mm and subsequently at a withdrawal speed of the piston of 0.5 mm/s. The gels are form-stable at least at room temperature (20° C.) and below, but preferably at temperatures up to 20° C. and especially preferably up to 35° C.
Carrageenan or a mixture of carrageenans and the additive ingredient, which may include a synthetic hair-fixing polymer, are contained in such amounts, that the composition is present at room temperature in the form of a solid, form-stable gel. Normally a carrageenan amount of at least about 3 percent by weight in water is required in order to obtain a solid, form-stable gel, which is unacceptable for hair fixing composition, since it leads to an undesirable residue on the hair. Surprisingly it has been found that it is possible to prepare a hair treatment composition in a solid gel form on the basis of carrageenan, wherein the carrageenan amount is reduced sufficiently so that the undesired residue formed on the hair does not occur. The required solidity of the gel can be achieved, when at least one hair-fixing polymer and/or at least 15% by weight of at least one monoalcohol or polyalcohol and/or at least one salt containing calcium or potassium ion are added.
The composition according to the invention has a sufficient solidity of the gel already with reduced carrageenan amounts (e.g. under 2 percent by weight). It is thus possible to use the composition for hair treatment, especially by addition of hair fixing polymers as hair styling agents for hair fixing, since the problem of the undesired residue formation is thus solved.
Carrageenan
Carrageenan, especially kappa-carrageenan or iota-carrageenan, is suitable as a gel-former in the composition according to the invention. Kappa-carrageenan or a carrageenan mixture containing kappa-carrageenan is particularly preferred. For example, a carrageenan with an average molecular weight like that in SEA KEM® CM 611 of FMC Corporation, which is a mixture of carrageenan and dextrose, is especially well suited for the compositions according to the invention. The gel-former is used in those amounts, so that the composition is present in the form of a solid, form-stable gel at room temperature (20° C.). The carrageenan is suitably present in the composition according to the invention e.g. in an amount of from 0.5 to 5 percent by weight, preferably from 1 to less than 2.5 percent by weight and especially preferably from 1.3 to less than or equal to 2 percent by weight. The solidification of the gel can take place after some time, i.e. in the course of two to three days. The hardening of the gel however can be accelerated if the gel-former is first dissolved in water, if necessary, with heating at about 80° C. and subsequently is rapidly cooled to at least 50 to 55° C. with additional external cooling.
Calcium and Potassium Ions
The at least one additive in the gels according to the invention also may be calcium and/or potassium ions that are released by water-soluble compounds included in the aqueous or aqueous-alcoholic base. These water-soluble compounds are preferably water-soluble salts, e.g. halogenides, sulfates, etc, of which the chlorides are especially preferred. Preferably these water-soluble salts are included in the compositions of the invention in an amount of from 0.2 to 1 percent by weight, especially preferably from 0.4 to 0.8 percent by weight. Potassium ions are preferred, since clear non-turbid gels are produced when the gels include the potassium ions.
Hair-Fixing Polymers
It has been shown that the solid gel with pure carrageenan has a certain hair fixing action, even without additional conventional hair-fixing polymers. In this case however for sufficient hair fixing comparatively large amounts of carrageenan are required,
Allwohn Juergen
Baecker Sabine
Beyer Angeliky
Birkel Susanne
Krause Thomas
Striker Michael J.
Venkat Jyothsna
Wella Aktiengesellschaft
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