Rovi targets UV protection for hair care with new ingredient

By Katie Bird

- Last updated on GMT

Related tags Dna

Hair care products boasting sun protection claims have been tipped as an important growth sector, and ingredients company Rovi is attempting to tap into this growth with a new ingredient and delivery system combined.

The Germany-headquartered company launched Epiprotectyl UV at in-cosmetics in Paris last week, and claims it can deposit up to 8 times as much UV filter onto the hair shaft than the filter alone.

“It is made up of two organic UV filters encapsulated into a new delivery system,”​ explained marketing manager for the company Sarah Teichmüller.

With large amounts of UV filters in a nanoscaled, strongly cationic (positively charged) delivery system, Epiprotectyl UV can be distributed evenly onto the negatively charged hair surface at an optimum concentration, she said.

Improved adherence to hair shaft

In addition to an improved deposition of the UV filter, the company claims the delivery technology also helps it stick to the hair shaft.

Teichmüller said that company tests suggested that this improved adherence to the hair shaft - it is up to five times more resistant to washing than the filter alone - did not affect the feel of the hair in any way.

While adhering well to the hair shaft, Rovi claims that it has purposefully engineered the ingredient so that it does not penetrate the skin of the scalp, which it says is an undesired side effect of many attempts to protect the area from the sun.

Vivendin – anti-aging ingredient

Alongside Epiprotectyl UV, the company was also promoting Vivendin at the recent trade show.

Designed for anti-ageing skin care, Vivendin targets the sirtuins, the skin’s longevity genes.

Teichmüller explained that the active ingredient has been designed to mimic the effects of calorie restriction on the organism (CR). “Vivendin is a CR-mimic and thereby activates sirtuin 1 which lead to the DNA remaining in its protected chromatin structure and hence blocks the transcription of the genes.”

This, the company says, helps the cells to live longer.

The active is combined with the company’s Ineocell delivery system, which it claims combines good skin and cell penetrability.

Related topics Formulation & Science

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