Process for reducing hair damage upon exposure to heat

A process for reducing hair damage upon exposure of the hair to heat, comprising:

• providing a cosmetically acceptable aqueous carrier;
• selecting a heat protectant, wherein the heat protectant is selected based on its ability to impart thermal protection to hair from exposure to heat, wherein the heat protectant is selected to be a modified carbohydrate polymer, comprising a cellulose ether base material functionalized with
• (i) trialkyl ammonium moieties of formula (I)
• wherein each R1 is independently selected from the group consisting of a C1-7 alkyl group and wherein the modified carbohydrate polymer has a Kjeldahl nitrogen content, TKN, corrected for ash and volatiles, of 0.75 to 2.5 wt %;
• and
• (ii) hydrophobic substituents each having 16 carbon atoms;
• wherein the modified carbohydrate polymer comprises 0.005 to 1.5 wt %, based on weight of the cellulose ether base material, of the hydrophobic substituents;
• wherein the hydrophobic substituents are randomly distributed across the backbone of the cellulose ether base material;
• wherein the cellulose ether base material has a weight average molecular weight, MW, of >1,000,000 Daltons;
• and wherein the modified carbohydrate polymer comprises <0.001 wt %, based on weight of modified carbohydrate polymer, of crosslinking units;
• providing the selected heat protectant;
• combining the cosmetically acceptable aqueous carrier and the heat protectant to form an aqueous thermal protectant formulation;
• wherein the aqueous thermal protectant formulation contains 0.1 to 5 wt %, based on weight of the aqueous thermal protectant formulation, of the heat protectant;
• providing a hair;
• applying the aqueous thermal protectant formulation to the hair;
• providing a heat generating hair care appliance;
• and
• exposing the hair to heat at a temperature of 50 to 300° C. using the heat generating hair care appliance for 1 to 30 minutes.