Hair relaxer and post-relaxer hair brightener system
AssigneeJohnson Products Co., Inc.
InventorsAdu G. Darkwa, Apolonio Villanueva, III
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A hair relaxer and post-relaxer hair brightener system and method is disclosed which overcomes the undesirable alteration of the natural tone of hair, especially of naturally gray hair, by highly-alkaline hair-relaxing systems. The natural tone of such alkali-relaxed hair is desirably brightened, enhanced and restored in a hair brightening step by certain disclosed post-relaxer aqueous hair brightener compositions which contain an active hair brightening agent. In a particularly preferred embodiment, the hair brightening agent comprises a relatively low active concentration of hydrogen peroxide.
Claims42
A method for the alkali-type relaxing of naturally curly hair and the post-relaxing brightening of said resulting alkali-relaxed hair whose tone is in need of brightening, the method comprising the steps of sequentially:
- a) applying to said curly hair a highly-alkaline hair relaxer composition having a pH above about 12 and containing an effective hair-relaxing amount of strong base;
- b) smoothing said applied composition physically through said hair periodically to facilitate relaxing and leaving said so-applied composition in contact with said hair until at least some of the natural curl in said hair is relaxed wherein said contact further visibly alters the tone of said hair, thereby to provide alkali-relaxed hair;
- c) removing substantially all of said so-applied composition from said alkali-relaxed hair by rinsing said hair at least once with water;
- d) applying to and distributing through said so-rinsed hair an effective amount of a non-alkaline, base-neutralizing composition to substantially neutralize and complete the removal of substantially all residual alkalinity therefrom in at least one application, and terminally rinsing the resulting hair at least once with water, thereby to provide substantially neutral alkali-relaxed hair whose tone is in need of brightening;
- e) contacting said neutral alkali-relaxed hair with an aqueous post-relaxer, hair brightener composition comprising water having dissolved therein an effective amount of at least one active hair brightening agent and having a physiologically acceptable pH, and leaving said hair brightener in said hair contact for a time period at least sufficient to visibly brighten the tone of said neutral alkali-relaxed hair;
- and
- f) removing said hair brightener composition from the so-brightened hair by rinsing said hair with water, thereby to provide alkali-relaxed and brightened hair,
- whereby the tone of said alkali-relaxed and brightened hair is substantially enhanced or restored.
An article of manufacture for relaxing naturally curly hair under highly alkaline conditions and post-relaxing brightening of the tone of said resulting relaxed hair comprising a hair relaxer and post-relaxer hair brightener system comprising at least three separate compositions, each composition being usable in a single one of a programme series of steps that are sequentially followed in a single hair relaxing procedure with at least one intervening rinsing with water to substantially remove each of said previously so-applied composition, wherein each composition individually comprises:
- i) a first highly-alkaline hair relaxer cream having a pH of above about 12 and containing an effective hair-relaxing amount of strong base;
- ii) a second aqueous, non-alkaline, base-neutralizing shampoo composition having a pH of less than about 8;
- and
- iii) a third aqueous post-relaxer hair brightener composition comprising water, having dissolved therein an effective amount of an active hair brightening agent and having a physiologically acceptable pH
- said compositions each being hair applicable and being usable in the numerical sequence stated.
A kit containing a plurality of packages each one comprising a composition to be employed in a process for alkali-type relaxing and post relaxing brightening of said resulting alkali-relaxed hair, said kit comprising at least three separate compositions supplied in
The kit of 29, wherein the hair brightening agent is hydrogen peroxide.
A composition for brightening the tone of substantially neutral alkali-relaxed hair, the composition comprising water having an effective hair brightening amount of active hair brightening agent dissolved therein, wherein the hair brightening agent is selected from the group consisting of water-soluble aliphatic organic acids having less than about 7 carbon atoms per molecule and one or more hydroxyl or mercapto substituent groups and salts thereof present at a concentration of about 1 weight percent and less than about 6 weight percent and having a pH of less than about pH 6.
In a method for relaxing naturally curly gray hair, in which the hair is relaxed at a pH above about 12 with an aqueous hair relaxer composition containing a strong base, wherein the hair so-relaxed is subsequently rinsed free of excess strong base with water and thereafter is substantially neutralized of residual alkalinity with a non-alkaline, base-neutralizing composition and the hair so-neutralized is then rinsed with water and wherein the natural tone of the relaxed hair is altered by said relaxing method, the improvement comprising the steps of brightening said relaxed hair to enhance and restore a natural tone to the relaxed hair by (i) applying a post-relaxer hair brightener composition to the substantially neutral, relaxed hair, wile it is still substantially wet from said water rinsing, said hair brightener composition comprising water, an effective amount of an active hair brightening agent and a sufficient amount of pH adjusting material selected from the group consisting of acidifying agents and alkalizing agents to provide a physiologically acceptable pH of about 2 to about 9, (ii) leaving said composition in contact with the hair for about 0.5 minutes to less than about 15 minutes and (iii) thereafter rinsing the so-brightened hair with water.
An oil-in-water emulsion for the post-relaxer brightening and restoring of the tone of substantially neutral alkali-relaxed hair, the oil-in-water emulsion comprising an active hair brightening agent which is a source of about 0.2 to about 3 weight percent hydrogen peroxide equivalent;
- at least one nonionic emulsifying agent;
- and effective hair-conditioning amount of Polyquaternium-22, a sufficient amount of acidifying agent to provide a pH of about 3 to less than about 7 and water.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.