Low-stringiness thickener and cosmetic material admixed with said thickener

A method of increasing the viscosity of a cosmetic without increasing the stringiness of the cosmetic, comprising thickening said cosmetic by adding an effective viscosity-increasing amount of a polymer selected from the group consisting of polyacrylic acid and salts thereof, wherein:

• (a) ;
• (b) the polymer is selected from the group consisting of RAFT polymers having a weight average molecular weight between 500 thousand and 8 million;
• (c) not more than 10% by mass of said RAFT polymer consists of molecules having a molecular weight that is more than three times the weight average molecular weight of said RAFT polymer;
• (d) the measured stringiness of a 1% w/w aqueous solution of the RAFT polymer is 10 mm or less;
• and
• (e) the amount of RAFT polymer is between 0.05 and 2.5 mass % relative to the mass of the cosmetic.