Visible Light-Mediated Environmentally Friendly and Universally Applicable Green Chemistry for Hair Cross-Linking

Abstract

According to this study, visible light-mediatedcross-linkingtechnology can be used to create eco-friendly hair care products.,The cosmetics industry is experiencing a rise in thedemand foreco-friendly products due to growing environmental awareness. In response,eco-friendly forms of raw materials, production processes, and packaginghave been developed. For hair products, the research focus is on aharmless method of cross-linking hair using eco-friendly raw materials.In this regard, we have recently proposed clean and nontoxic one-stepprotein cross-linking using eco-friendly chemicals composed of riboflavinphosphate (RFP), citric acid (CA), and polyols. In this study, wefurther explored the optimal concentration that induced maximum haircross-linking by adjusting the ratio of CA, isopentyldiol (IPD), andsorbitol required for hair keratin protein cross-linking. Variouscombinations of CA in the range of 0.5-3% and IPD and sorbitolin the range of 1-5% were used to induce RFP-mediated photo-cross-linking.As a result, the combination of CA 3%, IPD 5%, and sorbitol 3% inducedoptimal cross-linking and increased tensile stress and Young'smodulus of hair by 41% and 44%, respectively. In addition, RFP treatmentwas applied to black, brown, and blond hair to confirm the variationin the photo-cross-linking reaction according to hair color. Photo-cross-linkingwas successfully induced in the hair of all colors, and the increasein mechanical properties and hair-setting effect were verified. Haircolor had no discernible impact on visible light-mediated cross-linking.Lastly, we demonstrated that the visible light-mediated cross-linkingmethod we developed can be used for any hair color, and it is expectedto be widely adopted as an environmentally friendly hair care product.,