HAIR COLORING MODERN FORMULATION CONSIDERATIONS 291 (17) Fosdick, L. S., Science, 52, 9 (1956). (18) Sulser, G. F., Fosket, R. R., and Fosdick, L. S., 5 t. vim. Dentalzlssoc., 56, 368 (1958). (19) Zipkin, I., and McClure, F. J., •t. Dental Research, 34, 768 (1955). (20) Stephan, R. M., Fitzgerald, R. J., McClure, F. J., Harris, M. R., and Jordan, H., Ibid., 31, 421 (1952). (21) Zander, H. A., 7. •lrn. Dental •lssoc., 40, 569 (1950). (22) Knutsen, J. W., and Armstrong, W. D., Pub. Health Report, 58, 1701 (1943). (23) Dean, H. T., Jay, P., Arnold, E. A., McClure, F. J., and Elrone, E., Ibid., 56, 761 (1941). HAIR COLORING--MODERN FORMULATION CONSIDERATIONS By ROBERT L. GOLDEMBER( * Presented November 20, 1958, New York City IT •s S:XID that the ancient Chinese dyed their hair in a very ingenious manner. They drank certain well-known mineral waters for a period of time and then painted their hair with nutgall extract. The pyrogallol in the nutgalls reacted with their hair to produce a lovely permanent dark brown or black. It is amazing that no modern formulatot has thought to do the same. If he sold a pill containing iron salts and other appropriate minerals to be in- gested, his customer's body would obligingly excrete this foreign material through her hair and nails via the cysteine detoxification mechanism. Once in the hair, these salts act as perfect built-in mordants for such vegetable dyes as logwood, juglone, lawsone and pyrogallol. Think of the uproar such a product would cause at the Food and Drug Administration. Al- though it would not require the caution label, it might require a New Drug Application! In more recent times, we find that the use of various permanent colorants are covered at considerable (and often repetitive) length in the literature. These include the oxidation dyes--often broadly referred to as para dyes-- the natural extracts such as henna, and the metallic or progressive dyes. There have been relatively few references to temporary coloring of human hair until recently. In view of the exceptional market potential of such products for the grow- ing home-use market, it would seem profitable to examine the new con- cept--the full-intensity rinse--both from the marketing and formulating viewpoints. We shall soon see that many of the classic concepts of both viewpoints are deliberately being violated as the search for new markets, * Shulton, Inc., Clifton, N.J.

292 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS new advertising claims and new forms of product application and presenta- tion are explored. THE NEW TREND The first temporary colors were a simple mixture of acid and dye, pre- sented in an acetate capsule whose contents were to be dissolved in a cup of warm water. This solution was then poured through the hair until most of the dye was absorbed. Millions of these capsules are still sold yearly, for five to twenty-five cents each. But just as the field of hair grooming pro- gressed from the simple lemon or vinegar rinse to the currently popular cationic creme rinse, hair coloring also had to follow the new imperatives created by advertising. Thus "color conditioners" and "color creme rinses" were born. It was inevitable. Let us examine the general sales trend first before deciding how to for- mulate for it. The trend is more toward home application rather than the professional job done in the salon. This often means a lack of expertness-- lack of understanding of what can go wrong and why, lack of patience so necessary to achieve even results, and most obvious of all--.the inability of the customer to see the back of her own head. As a result, we see a profusion of new forms of applicators ranging from hollow combs with the dye solution in a "squeeze bottle" handle reservoir to aerosol colored films and foams. All stress the ease of application for the do-it-yourself fan at home. Many stress the ease of removal of the product as well. This brings us to another important part of the do-it-yourself product presentation. It is the hidden assertion by the manufacturer, and often the frank admission by his customer, that she just cannot apply the stuff prop- erly by herself, that she may want to remove it "when she tires of the shade." This is often a polite euphemism for saying, "if she didn't apply it correctly." Finally, and especially in the less urban areas, there is still perhaps the impression that dyed hair is unnatural hair and that unnatural hair is damaged hair. Under such circumstances, a co/or conditioner would be ex- pected to sell better than a hair dye. It does. As a matter of fact, it would be difficult to find any product simply labeled "hair dye" being sold today, regardless of its function. As competition grew more intense in this very lucrative, high turnover field, it was inevitable that the woman should be promised more and more. From all these claims and counterclaims and various applicators, we can be- gin to build up what is presumably the ideal product for home use. As distilled from the experience of many in the field. it would seem to be the oeu//-intensity rinse--a product giving as much color as any permanent dye,