More specifically the product is said to add heat protection, shine, and ease in wet and dry combing when used in styling aid and fixative products, as well as rinse-off products such as shampoos and conditioners.
The product has been launched as part of the company's Beauty and Personal Care Solutions within its Life Sciences Industry group.
The ingredient carries the INCI designation Silicone Quaternium-16/Glycidoxy Dimethicone Crosspolymer and Trideceth-12. It has also been formulated as an all-in-one product that aims to provide soft feel and flexible hold when used in styling aid formulations.
Clinical tests have so far shown that it retains approximately 184 per cent more water on hair when compared to non-treated fiber, it also provides enhanced heat protection from harsh heat styling treatments. Additional benefits may also be observed when blended at various ratios to some resins such as PVP, Polyquaternium-55 and Acrylates-copolymers, the company claims.
"With one ingredient, formulators get the combined benefits of silicone amine emulsions and silicone elastomers," said Alvaro Gomes, senior technical service, Beauty and Personal Care, South America.
Dow Corning also owns the patent for this new product, which includes a range of personal care applications for formulators.
The launch of the ingredient falls in line with the industry's demand for increasingly multifunctional products that can be used in a broad range of hair care products. Importantly it also addresses the ongoing search for ingredients that can be used in heat protection products.
The product's launch is part of an increasing trend for the use of multiple types of silicones in one and the same formulation, a trend noted in US industry analysts Freedonia's recently published report on Specialty Silicas to 2008.
According to Freedonia: "Consumers are increasingly seeking hair care products that add body, shine, moisture and manageability or impart other properties without creating a heavy, weighted down feeling. Silicones are among the primary beneficiaries of this trend."
Dow Corning is not only innovative in terms of developing new products from pure research but also looking for alternative applications, and so the different divisions often benefit from research and product development carried out by colleagues in different industry sectors.
The company is also responsive to customer demands. As well as having a team of people looking at launching products across different industries, the company says that product development is a combination of both in-house research and development and responding to customers' suggestions or requirements.
Last year the company launched its Silicone Quat Microemulsion aimed at providing thermal protection, enhanced conditioning and volume as well as hair color protection.
Silicones in hair care products have been around since first used in a 2in1 shampoo in 1979, and they began to penetrate personal care products in the early 1980s (when INCI names were publicly used in the US on packaging); at that time, a quarter of all new products contained silicones.
By the early 1990s, that proportion had grown to one third, and by the end of the decade half of all new products contained silicones.