Assessment of a new hair pigmentation recovery active

S3D is Givaudan’s range of concepts allowing the company to showcase its latest actives as well as suggesting potential finished products to visiting customers. The awarded S3D Colourblack features the latest active ingredient from Givaudan Active Beauty: Darkenyl™, an exclusive hair care molecule reactivating the entire pigmentation process in the hair follicle to get rid of grey hair. This article illustrates Darkenyl’s genesis as well as what helped Givaudan Active Beauty win a new award as a recognition of their innovativeness.

Hair greying is one of the most obvious sign of ageing, with 74% of the worldwide population being affected by greying hair1 between the ages of 45 and 65.2 It can be explained by age-related functional changes in the stimulation and migration of the stem cells from the bulb, but environmental factors also play a role. Indeed, the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) into melanocytes upon ageing causes many downfalls. It leads to mutations, decrease of antioxidant protection system, inflammation, hair falling and greying3 through a twofold action: the decrease of both the melanogenesis (lower melanin production by melanocytes) and of the melanocytes number (fewer melanocytes to produce melanin).

Three types of hair can thus be identified when pigmentation loss starts to occur: coloured hair (high content in melanin), grey hair (low melanocytes number and diluted content of melanin), and white hair (lacking melanocytes).