J. Cosmet. Sci., 62, 149–160 (March/April 2011) 149 Characterization of hair styling formulations targeted to specifi c multicultural needs ANDREA C. KEENAN, ROBERT F. ANTRIM, and TERRI POWELL, The Dow Chemical Company, 727 Norristown Rd, Spring House PA 19477. Synopsis The ethnic hair care market is large and diverse, with many unmet needs, especially when the defi nition of ethnic varies as much as the hair does. By examining the variety of hair care raw materials now available, we designed hair styling formulations for targeted benefi ts such as anti-frizz, conditioning, style control, humid- ity resistance, UV protection and color loss protection. We have characterized three distinctive hair styling formulations targeted to specifi c multicultural needs. This has been completed by using standard personal care laboratory evaluations including the Diastron Limited TM Miniature Tensile Tester for stiffness, the Bossa Nova Technologies TM Shine Instrument, high-humidity curl control, UV exposure, and expert panel evalua- tions the results were substantiated using current state-of-the-art analytical tools, including atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Results demonstrate that a varied product portfolio is required for such a diverse market segment. Styling products ranging from alcoholic sprays, leave on styling creams or gels and styling curl activators offer performance attributes that can be utilized on a variety of hair types such as Asian, African, Caucasian and Brazilian. INTRODUCTION Film forming polymers and cationic conditioning agents offer improved luster, style/ humidity control, anti frizz and conditioned feel on many types of multicultural hair, including: African, Asian, Caucasian, and Brazilian hair. African hair is most diffi cult to control because the hair shaft is shaped like a fl attened oval and will self-curl or coil on itself. Brazilian hair is a mixture of hair types that is wavy in nature and refl ects the di- verse ethnicity of much of the population in the Americas. Asian hair is cylindrical and the most challenging to curl. See Figures 1a, b, c, and d. Not only are there variations of hair based on ethnicity, but other hair variations exist such as, along a single strand, from strand to strand ,and the hair experience: UV exposure, color dyeing, bleaching, perming, relaxing, heat tools, and mechanical damage. Formulating for a variety of enhanced attributes on a variety of ethnic hair types can be achieved by the use of acrylates/hydroxyesters acrylates copolymer for enhanced shine, fl aking resistance, humidity and style control zinc oxide and simmondsia chinensis (jojoba) seed oil and glyceryl stearate and polyhydroxystearic acid (to be referred to as zinc oxide and jojoba oil) for color protection, feel and anti-frizz control polyquaternium-10