Beauty and Personal Care Solutions

MIDLAND, MICHIGAN, USA: Repeated use of styling devices to straighten or curl hair often leads to direct damage to the hair cuticle. Laboratory tests demonstrate that a selection of specialty polydimethylsiloxane derivatives from Dow Corning can visibly revive heat-damaged hair and provide the smoothness and glide of undamaged hair when used in leave-in conditioners. By improving resistance to hair breakage, they also can help minimize further damage to weakened heat-damaged fibers.

Sabrina Marchioretto from Dow Corning's Beauty and Personal Care application engineering and technical service group will present a technical poster – "The Benefits of Silicones for Repairing Heat-Damaged Hair Fibers" – at the 27th International Federation of Societies of Cosmetic Chemists (IFSCC) Congress, October 15 through 18 at The Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Marchioretto's poster presentation will take place from 1530 to 1630 hours (3:30 to 4:30 p.m.) October 16 in Exhibition Hall 1, Level Zero.

"I look forward to sharing results that explore the ability of a new generation of polydimethylsiloxane derivatives that provide improved conditioning performance designed to revitalize heat-damaged hair," Marchioretto said.

The study not only provides a fundamental understanding of the effect of heat on hair fibers; it also demonstrates that by customizing the functionalities of polydimethylsiloxanes, specific needs for hair repair can be optimized, restoring the natural look and feel consumers desire.

According to Marchioretto, "These polydimethylsiloxane derivatives have proven to decrease the amount of broken hairs caused by combing and detangling, which could help prevent the formation of split ends."

Dow Corning offers a range of specialty silicones that enable the formulation of leave-in hair conditioners that can help restore the beauty of heat-damaged hair. Additional information, including product data sheets, sample formulations and a product guide with representative test results, is available at dowcorning.com/hair-repair.

About Dow Corning
Dow Corning (dowcorning.com) provides performance-enhancing solutions to serve the diverse needs of more than 25,000 customers worldwide. A global leader in silicones, silicon-based technology and innovation, Dow Corning offers more than 7,000 products and services via the company's Dow Corning® and XIAMETER® brands. Dow Corning is equally owned by The Dow Chemical Company and Corning, Incorporated. More than half of Dow Corning's annual sales are outside the United States. Dow Corning's global operations adhere to the American Chemistry Council's Responsible Care® initiative, a stringent set of standards designed to advance the safe and secure management of chemical products and processes.

About Beauty and Personal Care
Dow Corning's specialty silicone solutions help customers bring beauty to life in new and exciting ways by enabling the development of products that are unique and memorable, with an impact consumers can see and feel. Recent innovations range from amino silicone elastomer emulsions that provide differentiating hair styling and conditioning results to novel silicone resin technologies that inspire skin care products with longer-lasting, more beautiful wear. For more information, visit dowcorning.com/personalcare.

For media inquiries, please contact Kristi Allen, Dow Corning Beauty Care Global Marketing Communications Leader, +1 989 492 1273, kristi.allen@dowcorning.com.