Ashland launches the Style Advantage program for manufacturers of hairspray

Ashland launches the Style Advantage program for manufacturers of hairspray

BRIDGEWATER, NJ - Representing more than $3 billion in annual sales, hairspray is the world's most popular styling format. Since its inception as a commercial product in the late 1940's, however, hairspray products have changed, undergoing updates in both form and function to meet consumer requirements for different levels of hold, along with other needs, such as longevity of hair style, humidity resistivity, shine and touchable hold. To better support manufacturers working on new or reformulated products, Ashland (NYSE: ASH) today announced the Style Advantage program, a service offering that includes a combination of technical and market-based solutions modules that companies may utilize to produce market-leading aerosol hairsprays.

"As a long-time producer of hair fixative and styling polymers, Ashland has studied the behavior of these technologies in finished formulations for decades and, in doing so, developed an extensive toolbox of technical solutions that may be used to create new, more consumer-desirable formulas," said Linda Foltis, vice president of research and development, Care Specialties, Ashland Specialty Ingredients. "Supporting consumer performance needs from ingredient technologies to hairspray formulation concepts, Ashland's aerosol technologists, formulation, materials and consumer science teams are better able to support our customers in delivering novel consumer benefits from modern hairsprays across the world."

Ashland's Style Advantage offering is based on three modules: a consumer science laboratory team with expertise in hair optics and an in-house salon and stylist with expertise in the latest hair styles; an aerosol applications group with expertise in designing optimized high- and low-VOC formulas based on customer needs and consumer trends; and a polymer synthesis and materials group with expertise in designing and evaluating the structure-property relationship of hair fixative, styling and conditioning polymers.

Consumer-focused solutions in the salon
During a demonstration today for select trade media, Wendy Gutkin, cosmetologist for Ashland Specialty Ingredients, demonstrated how the company's hairspray formulation concepts performed on models with hair styles commonly seen in Europe, the Americas and Japan, including an updo, an Asian sleek ponytail, a long layers look with multi-color tones, and for men, a pompadour.

All of the formulation concepts contained the Advantage^™ 4910 polymer, a popular hair fixative now commercially available from Ashland, and one or more polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) based copolymers, Aquaflex^™ polymers or Gantrez^™ PVM/MA copolymers that bring additional styling and hold benefits to finished formulations. Depending on the style supported, polymers within Ashland's hair care portfolio were blended with Advantage 4910 hair fixative in concept spray formulas to optimize benefits such as stiffness, shine, climate control, touchable hold, style longevity or improved curl memory.

Adapting consumer benefits in the aerosol laboratory
David Streuli, principal scientist, Ashland Specialty Ingredients, who oversees the company's in-house aerosol laboratory, explained that delivering consumer benefits from a finished aerosol hairspray involves both the art of formulating and the science of copolymer mixtures, solubilizing agents and propellants.

"Controlling particle size distribution and spray aesthetics while assuring overall formulation compatibility with propellants and packaging is only part of the story," he said. "It's vital to know how various polymers behave at different use levels and how combinations of polymers affect consumer benefits in a finished formulation. Beyond that, it's vital to know how the formulation performs on various hair types and how consumers will use the product to obtain today's preferred hair styles.

"In the aerosol laboratory, we develop hairsprays and styling mousses as a complete system, designing the concentrate and understanding the interaction with the propellant(s) and packaging. We run corrosion screening, spray characteristics evaluation, propellant tolerance, clogging and product evacuation studies. We work closely with valve and can manufacturers to keep up to date on new packaging developments. Ashland looks at all of these factors in the aerosol laboratory and in consumer science evaluations to find the best formulation concepts for our customers," Streuli said.

Assuring performance in the materials testing and synthesis laboratories
A hair fixative such as the Advantage 4910 polymer is often included as the primary ingredient in aerosol sprays. Prior to adding the legacy technology as a commercial offering, Ashland tested the polymer using Dynamic Hairspray Analysis (DHSA). A custom tool developed by the company measures the impact of mechanical and environmental stress applied to treated hair fiber assemblies. Hair is configured into an omega loop, treated with the polymer solution, dried and subjected to multiple deformations with a probe at a defined distance.

Roger McMullen, principal scientist, Ashland Specialty Ingredients, who manages the materials testing laboratory, explained that style longevity as a function of film durability can be demonstrated through this method.

"Conducting tests such as the DHSA enable us to make recommendations on how to best use this ingredient alone or in combination with other fixatives to achieve desired performance in areas such as hold longevity, high-humidity curl resistivity and style flexibility," he said.

"In the last several years, our materials testing laboratory team has developed a number of innovative techniques for monitoring style behavior, including dynamic mechanical analysis, LAOS (large amplitude oscillatory shear) torsional analysis, acoustic analysis and nanoindentometry. These advanced rheological tests enable scientists to carefully monitor key hair fixative properties that contribute to the overall physical properties of a style."

Ashland's polymer team, in addition to synthesizing the Advantage 4910 fixative polymer, synthesized the n-t-octylacrylamide monomer, a key component of the polymer, adding another monomer capability to its toolbox. Analytical, physical and performance characteristics are equivalent to the commercial technology.

Resiliency in hairspray
More than 60 years after the launch of the first commercial aerosol hairspray, consumers around the world prefer this format to maintain hair in a certain style. Today, hairspray formulations represent approximately 36 percent of the global consumer hair styling market.

"As consumers seek benefits from hairsprays that go beyond the traditional parameters of hair hold and humidity resistivity, Ashland offers its customers solutions to deliver those benefits while meeting regulatory mandates across the globe. Holding a palette of hair fixative, styling and conditioning polymers in our portfolio and broad competency in polymer synthesis, Ashland invites the hair care industry to consider the Style Advantage program," said Foltis.

About Ashland Specialty Ingredients
Ashland Specialty Ingredients is the #1 global producer of cellulose ethers and a global leader in vinyl pyrrolidones. It offers industry-leading products, technologies and resources for solving formulation and product-performance challenges. Using natural, synthetic and semisynthetic polymers derived from plant and seed extract, cellulose ethers and vinyl pyrrolidones, as well as acrylic and polyurethane-based adhesives, Ashland Specialty Ingredients offers comprehensive and innovative solutions for today's demanding consumer and industrial applications. Key customers include: pharmaceutical companies; makers of personal care products, food and beverage companies; manufacturers of paint, coatings and construction materials; packaging and converting companies; and oilfield service companies.

About Ashland
Ashland Inc. (NYSE: ASH) is a global leader in providing specialty chemical solutions to customers in a wide range of consumer and industrial markets, including architectural coatings, automotive, construction, energy, food and beverage, personal care and pharmaceutical. Through our three commercial units - Ashland Specialty Ingredients, Ashland Performance Materials and Valvoline - we use good chemistry to make great things happen for customers in more than 100 countries. Visit ashland.com to learn more.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
Ashland Contact
Carolmarie C. Brown
+1 302 995 3158
ccbrown@ashland.com

Media Relations
Thomas Nicolay
Resource Advantage Group
+1 973 882 1313
tnicolay@resourceadvantage.com