L’Oréal Research explores the potential of silanes to repair damaged hair

Silanes are a family of molecules inspired by the French firm’s sol-gels technology. For around fifteen years, L’Oréal has been looking for an innovative solution for fine hair unlike the usual treatments such as gels or sprays, with the most recent work taking place at its hair research centre in St Ouen, Paris.

Having used the technology to develop actives for many of its hair brands, including Kerastase, Vich, and L’Oréal Professional, Aminosilane is the latest ingredient that is now being commercialised.

With a mineral part and an organic part, L’Oréal says this silicon compound crosses the cuticle and strengthens the hair structure, with a long-lasting effect and is even more efficient when hair is damaged.

Development​

The L’Oréal Professionnel brand is the chosen one to benefit from this discovery, as Aminosilane is one of the two key ingredients of the APTYL 100 molecular complex at the heart of the PRO FIBER first long-lasting hair repair treatment used by professionals in hair salons.

“L’Oréal Research has always been dedicated to developing an effective and long-lasting solution to treat damaged hair,” ​says Henri Samain, Head of department at L’Oréal Research & Innovation.

“We knew that part of the answer was finding a material capable of penetrating the hair, the big question was how. Following several years of research, the ideal solution came with sol-gels.” ​

The sol-gels technology was born of a glass industry technology transfer, and is a chemical process capable of transforming some materials from an aqueous to a solid gel-like state.

L’Oréal claims that thanks to its laboratories’ work, this process turned out to be an innovative answer to treat fine hair, cresting a supple yet resistant molecular network within the fibre to redensify and strengthen it.

Presented at Sol-Gel conference​

The L’Oréal Research team is the only one to have patented silane technology application in cosmetics, and was also invited to present its pioneer work and recent findings during the XVIII edition of the International Sol-Gel Conference held in Kyoto in September 2015.

The biennial conference, which gathers experts in this field of chemistry, is centred on its industrial applications. Given the novelty of this work, L’Oréal Research’s presentation is also published in the Conference review.