Copolymers and build-up - talk to me about this ingredient!

[pariate]

One of the Tresemme Naturals conditioners (Moisturising with aloe and avocado) contains the ingredient brassica campestris/aleurites fordi oil copolymer. I know these conditioners contain no silicones and (one would assume) are therefore unlikely to cause build-up problems, but "copolymer" could mean all sorts of things! Cyclopentasiloxane is a polymer.... Polyquats are polymers....

I've googled but not had much luck. Can one of our resident scientists shed some light on this for me please? I suppose that this conditioner has been designed to work with the shampoo from the same range and, consequently, the conditioner will not cause build-up if used with that shampoo, but what about those of us who aren't using the Tresemme shampoo? I am currently using Naked Detox shampoo (ingredients listed below) and wonder if the surfactants contained therein would be able to remove the build-up (if any) that may be caused by this copolymer.

Help! My brain hurts.... :confused:

Naked Detox ingredients:
Aqua, Cocamidopropyl betaine, Sodium lauroyl sarcosinate, Sodium cocoamphoacetate, Lauryl glucoside, Glycerin, Parfum, Mentha piperita (peppermint) leaf extract, Rumex acetosella (sorrel) leaf extract, Guar hydroxypropyltrimonium chloride, Sodium hydroxymethylglycinate, Limonene, Linalool.

[Firefox7275]

I am a biologist but it's a looooong time since I studied any molecular biochemistry, and I know very little about hair products! Google says that ingredient is hydrogenated/ a water-insoluble wax, sounds like it's a large molecule which might be awkward to remove. Presumably build up depends on quantity in the product and how much you use tho ...

There's some stuff on polymers and lo-poo on NC that might be worth skimming through? http://www.naturallycurly.com/search_results?q=polymer&sa.x=0&sa.y=0
You could find out if that conditioner is 'curly girl' compliant, if so it should be removable without harsh surfactants? Or check out which surfactant is in the matching shampoo (sulphate or no)? From a quick glance looks like Tresemme Naturals has been used for co-washing so it may be worth reading a few threads on the Curltalk forum.

Sorry that is rambling rather than the answer you hoped for, but at least I have bumped the thread! :p

[pariate]

I am a biologist but it's a looooong time since I studied any molecular biochemistry, and I know very little about hair products! Google says that ingredient is hydrogenated/ a water-insoluble wax, sounds like it's a large molecule which might be awkward to remove. Presumably build up depends on quantity in the product and how much you use tho ...

There's some stuff on polymers and lo-poo on NC that might be worth skimming through? http://www.naturallycurly.com/search_results?q=polymer&sa.x=0&sa.y=0
You could find out if that conditioner is 'curly girl' compliant, if so it should be removable without harsh surfactants? Or check out which surfactant is in the matching shampoo (sulphate or no)? From a quick glance looks like Tresemme Naturals has been used for co-washing so it may be worth reading a few threads on the Curltalk forum.

Sorry that is rambling rather than the answer you hoped for, but at least I have bumped the thread! :p

No apologies needed - thank you so much for your reply!

[lapushka]

Isn't this stuff they use in lots of gels as well?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hair_gel

[haibane]

It does sound like an ingredient that could possibly create buildup, but it would depend on how much of it there is the conditioner, and how it works in combination with the other ingredients.
And it's probably impossible to say if some combo of products will cause/remove buildup just by looking at ingredients. There are people on LHC who CO with coney conditioners and never get buildup, while for others it would be a disaster. It probably depends on what kind of water you have too.

So long story short... if you like the conditioner, maybe just try it for a while and see if you get buildup problems? If you do, it still might be possible to use it only every few washes, that way it washes out without building up, that's what I do with cone heavy conditioners.