Science, Design, and Application

The ethnic hair market is one that is growing exponentially almost strictly on the demand of consumers, as opposed to the usual run of what business’s determine to be “necessary” new product launches. For that reason alone, hair relaxers, a large segment of the ethnic hair market, are big business in and of themselves. This segment is demanding better, more usable products, ones that have fewer harsh side-effects and better long-term results, including improved conditioning properties, hair strength retention, and ease of use.

Drawing on his more than two decades of hands-on experience in hair relaxer technology and formulative development, Patrick Obukowho has crafted a well-defined, comprehensive, and quite readable guide to understanding and applying the chemistry of hair relaxers to practical and dynamic formulating. Hair Relaxers: Science, Design, and Application investigates the history of relaxer technology and its present development and application in the following topics:

• Hair, Ethnic Hair, and Hair Relaxer Chemistry

• History and Evolution of Hair Relaxers

• Emulsion Design and Perfecting Emulsions

• Ingredients and Their Role in Relaxer Formulations

• Post-treatment Products and Alternative Straightening Methods

• And more!

About the Author

Patrick Obukowho is president and principal consulting chemist of Advantage Research Lab (ARL), which he founded in 2005 to further his expertise in relaxer technology and explore the science of formulating and designing new ingredients for the ethnic market. Obukowho earned his BS in Chemistry from Chicago State University, and has since garnered more than twenty years of experience in ethnic product formulation and raw material evaluation. He is a member of the “ASK THE EXPERT” panel with the Society of Cosmetic Chemist (SCC), for which he has also conducted courses on Ethnic Product Formulation and Chemistry. He is also a co-holder of several US patents and has numerous publications to his credit.