ISP launches combined thickening and styling agent

UltraThix P 100 is one of the latest additions to the company's personal care ingredients portfolio, providing both functions from a single polymer aimed at crystal styling applications and other topical personal care products.

Polymers are often used in cosmetic and personal care to change their consistency in an effort to improve the texture and skin feel of the product.

An important aspect of any product, a desireable consistency is essential to the success of a range of products, a quality that proves particularly essential for skin care ranges.

The company says that its tests have shown that the ingredient is suitable for a number of specific hair care applications, including as a curl retention agent, as well as providing significant improvement on comb drag.

But as well as hair care styling, the ingredient has also proved effective for a variety of skin care applications, including creams and lotions, where it is said to make an effective thickening agent. In turn this function also improves texture, consistency and skin feel when applied.

As well as the addition of a range of other new ingredient, the company is also pushing its newly established Functional Systems package for cosmetics formulators. The system has been developed in conjunction with personal care formulators to offer manufacturers a range of multi-functional products that are easy to formulate.

"Each product in the range can be formulated into a number of high quality consumer end-products, in most cases with the addition of just water, preservatives, fragrance and coloring,"​ said Neil Thomas, business development director, ISP Europe.

The aim of the system is to provide formulators with a wide variety of products from a single system, thus cutting down on the seemingly endless choices that often cause such businesses to waste time and money.

Meanwhile, as part of the company's expansion plans in Europe, the group has recently completed the acquisition of the assets of the biocide business of Milker & Grüning.

M&G, located outside of Frankfurt, Germany, and is the leading European-based manufacturer of iodopropynyl butylcarbamate (IPBC), a highly effective and versatile preservative used in a variety of cosmetic and personal applications.