Quaternary compounds/polymers, hair

A more popular, type of hair conditioning is achieved by treating hair with substantive quaternary compounds or quaternary polymers. Quaternaries are sorbed by hair, retained despite rinsing with water, and removed only by shampooing. Quaternaries that are not easily removed cannot be used, because they tend to build up on the hair, making it overconditioned and Ump. The most widely used quaternary is stearalkonium chloride [122-19-0], which has been used at 3—5% concentration in cream rinses for many years. More recently, many useful quaternaries have become available some are listed in Table 1.13. Table 1.13 also includes some quaternary polymers that are not only substantive to hair but also possess hair-fixative properties. Despite the commercial success of many conditioning quaternaries, efforts to synthesize better performing derivatives continue. 

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