Cosmetic agent containing at least one copolymer having N-vinyllactam units

A cosmetic or pharmaceutical composition comprising, in a cosmetically acceptable carrier, at least one water-soluble or water-dispersible copolymer A), which does not comprise any groups comprising a silicon atom and which is obtained by two-stage free-radical copolymerization of a monomer mixture of component

• a) 20 to 99.9% by weight of at least one N-vinyllactam,
• b) 0.1 to 30% by weight of at least one compound with a free-radically polymerizable, α,β-ethylenically unsaturated double bond and at least one anionogenic group per molecule,
• c) 0.1 to 65% by weight of at least one free-radically polymerizable compound selected from component
• c1) open-chain, α,β-ethylenically unsaturated compounds of the formula I
• wherein
• one of the radicals R1 or R2 is a group of the formula CH2═CR3— wherein R3═H or C1-C4-alkyl and
• the other radical is H, alkyl, hydroxyalkyl, aminoalkyl, the N-alkyl and N,N-dialkyl derivatives thereof or a polyether radical comprising at least 5 alkylene oxide units, and
• X is O or NR4, wherein R4 is hydrogen, C1-C7-alkyl or a polyether radical comprising at least 5 alkylene oxide units,
• c2) compounds with a free-radically polymerizable, α,β-ethylenically unsaturated double bond and at least one anionic or cationic group per molecule,
• d) 0 to 15% by weight of at least one copolymerizable monomer which is different from a) to c)
• wherein the weight percentage of components a), b), c) and d) are based on the total weight of components a) to d), and wherein components b) and c) are different,
• in the presence of at least one water-soluble component e) which does not contain any carbon-carbon double bonds and which comprises at least one polyether urethane,
• wherein said two-stage free-radical copolymerization comprises:
• i) polymerizing all of component a) and an amount of from 0 up to and including all of component c) in the presence of at least a portion of one of component e) to give a first polymer A1), and
• ii) adding and polymerizing, to polymer A1) obtained in i), all of component b) and component d) and if remaining from i) the component c) and component e) to give the copolymer A).