JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS THE COMPATIBILITY OF LANOLIN DERIVATIVES WITH DILUTE HYDROGEN PEROXIDE L. I. CONRAD* AND A. P. MENTECKI} ,Presented at the Second Congress of the International Federation of Societies of Cosmetic Chemists, London, on 4th July 1962. The uses of hydrogen l•eroxide in hair treatment l•rel•ara•ious are described, and the conditioning, l•rotective and medi•ying effect of lanolin derivatives on hair, and the emulsifying, •hickening anal stabilizing l•rol•er•ies of •hese l•roducts in hydrogen l•eroxide lotions are indicated. The stability of lanolin derivatives in the l•resence of hydrogen l•eroxide is discussed. Me•heds for testing the stability of hydrogen l•eroxide in the various systems are described and an analytical l•rocedure for the quantitative ana- lysis of hydrogen l•eroxide is l•resented. The coml•atibili•y of six water-soluble and eight water4nsoluble lanolin derivatives with six l•er cent hydrogen l•eroxide is established. HYDROGF,• P•ROXI•)•, one of the most widely used oxidizing agents avail- able, serves several important functions in the hair treatment industry. It has been used as a bleaching agent for human hair since 1867 • and is still probably the most satisfactory for this purpose, since, after its available oxygen has been released, nothing but water remains. Goldemberg 2 •estimates that in the United States, 95 per cent or more of all hair bleaching is done with hydrogen peroxide. A concentration of 6 per cent (20 volume) is commonly employed. Hydrogen peroxide is also widely used as the oxidizer to develop the colour of para dyes (so called after the most common of all, p-phenylene- diamine), in situ, on hair. Many hair colouring compositions have been formulated and marketed which both bleach and dye the hair almost simultaneously again using 6 per cent hydrogen peroxide as the oxidizing agent. Obviously this is a far more sophisticated function than bleaching alone. It requires skill and care, in both the compounding and the appli- cation of the products, to obtain uniformly reproducible results. A third important use for this simple yet versatile oxidizing agent is in permanent waving preparations, as neutralizer or fixative, for thioglycolate waving lotion. Here, too, a careful balance must be maintained to obtain the desired waving or straightening effect in the presence of both natural and synthetic colour bodies or agents. These should be neither darkened nor lightened by the hydrogen peroxide unless so desired. All the above functions must be carr/ed out with a minimum of damage *American Cholesterol Products, Inc., Edison, N.J., U.S.A. pFMC Corporation, Inorganic Chemicals Div., New York, N.Y., U.S.A.

LANOLIN DERIVATIVES WITH DILUTE HYDROGEN PEROXIDE to hair and scalp. Emollient lanolin derivatives have been included in bleaching lotions, creams, and solutions and in neutralizing and oxidizing preparations as well, with a view toward protecting, modifying, coating, adding lustre and improving manageability of treated hair. It may seem a rather optimistic viewpoint to hope for such improvements and protective effects while the hair is undergoing drastic chemical and physical changes, but the so-called "conditioning action" of emollient and superratting additives has been fairly well established. Oil-soluble !anolin derivatives and cholesterol are often used for this purpose as well as water-soluble derivatives resulting from the ethoxylation of various lanolin derived materials •-0. There is some evidence that surface active lanolin derivatives take a lunctional part in bleaching and dyeing, by solubilizing and assisting in the penetration and deposition of hair dyes which are to be oxidized with peroxide, resulting in more uniform bleaching and dyeing action. This is an area in which much investigational work is now going on. Lanolin derivatives are also used for clouding, thickening and emulsifying dilute hydrogen peroxide solutions, thereby giving them cosmetic elegance and improving the ease of application of the product 4. Because of present interest in the inclusion of lanolin derivatives in hydrogen peroxide-containing products, and the obvious potential for future growth of this type of product, it was felt that data on the compatibility of lanolin derivatives with hydrogen peroxide would be of value to the cosmetic industry. The present investigation was undertaken to fill some of the gaps in our knowledge in this field. In addition to making simple compatibility studies of soluble products, dispersed systems were developed for water-insoluble materials, and emulsified oxidizing lotions were formu- lated with lanolin derivatives known to have good hair conditioning pro- perties. Methods of determining the stability of H •0 • in the various systems are described along with a detailed procedure for the quantitative analysis of H•O• in these systems. PRODUCTS TESTEr) Six water-soluble and eight water-insoluble lanolin derivatives were ,evaluated for compatibility in the presence of 6 per cent hydrogen peroxide. In addition, eight emulsified H•O• lotion formulations containing various _lanolin derivatives were studied for H•O• and emulsion stability. Fig. 1 illustrates the chemical nature and derivation of the lanolin products. All the lanolin derivatives employed in this study had previously been bleached with hydrogen peroxide as part of their processing on a ,commercial scale. Although normally slight surface oxidation does take place in lanolin, lanolin alcohols and cholesterol when exposed to air for