Veggie oil-based hair care products - Science Update - soapstock hair gels - Brief Article

Agricultural Research, Sept, 2003 by Myong Sam Kuk

Most of today's hair gels benefit from the holding power of synthetic polymers. When the gels are applied, the main ingredient--water--evaporates, leaving a thin film around the hair strands, helping to keep them in place. Research has shown that it's possible to get the same kind of hold with lipid compounds derived from soapstock, an underused byproduct of oilseed processing. These lipid compounds are usually hard to recover because they degenerate through oxidation and are wasted. Now there's a way to reclaim the valuable compounds and treat them so that they maintain their useful properties.

Gels have been created from safflower and soybean soapstocks. Lab tests show them to work well on a variety of hair types. They would be relatively inexpensive to produce, since soapstock costs only a fraction of the price of synthetic polymers. Efforts are under way to find a manufacturer interested in collaborating on this research.

Myong (Sam) Kuk, USDA-ARS Commodity Utilization Research Unit, New Orleans, Louisiana; phone (504) 286-4552, e-mail mskuk@srrc.ars.usda.gov.