Lignin from wood can revolutionize hair care

Can the Scandinavian forest solve the environmentally harmful emissions from the hair industry? A research team at Stockholm University shows that lignin from wood pulp may revolutionize hair care.

A Swedish research team at Stockholm University has found a way to circulate residual products from the forest and make hair conditioner from them. The conditioner, which is entirely based on natural substances, mainly lignin from trees, is a sustainable and environmentally friendly alternative to ordinary hair care products. A mixture of 6 percent coconut oil has made damaged hair easier to comb by covering the hair surface with a thin layer of lignin and oil. According to the researchers, this innovation paves the way for more sustainable hair care solutions that are in line with consumers’ growing demand for sustainable products.

Thoughts about the lignins’ softening properties, for the hair, are something that has emerged at Mika Sipponen, associate professor of material chemistry. When he, as a child, swam in a lake in Finland, he clearly remembers that his hair became super soft.

Realized early the potential of the forest material

– This aroused my interest on what it could be in the water that made the hair so soft, but we found no research that lignin could be softening. We only found studies that it can be helpful in sun protection so we quickly realized that this is a overlooked topic that we need to study more closely, says Sipponen, senior lecturer and associate professor of material chemistry at the chemistry, Stockholm University. Mika Sipponen has been studying the properties of the lignins since 2008 and realized the potential early in the Nordic forest. Lignin, is a complex polymer found in the plant’s cell walls and provides structural strength to plants. They are an important component of wood and other plant fibers.

In a new study published in Science Advances Shows his research team that water -based leagues can effectively stabilize mixtures with natural oils. Lignin reduces the need for synthetic substances and complex stabilizers commonly used in commercial products.

– Our results show lignin’s potential as a stabilizer in mixtures between natural oil and water, which benefits a more sustainable hair care. By using leagues without any chemical modifications, we do not only reduce the number of ingredients but also eliminate the need for organic solvents. This makes the process more environmentally friendly, says Mika Sipponen, who has not yet tested the solution to her own hair.

May come to revolutionize the hair care

Common hair conditioners often consist of 20-30 ingredients where many of the substances come from the fossil industry or which originate in vegetable and animal fats instead of crude oil. Many of the ingredients are environmentally harmful and have a long degradation time in nature and raise questions about sustainability and environmental impact.

– We have tested on hair samples that we bought, but testing people is the next step in the research that we need to do to take this further, but lignins consist of large molecules and there are usually small molecular sizes that cause reactions, therefore we believe we believe Not that these are irritating to the skin, but more studies are needed, says Mika Sipponen.

He believes that lignin in hair products can see the light of day on the market, at best, within two years. In nature, lignin is not broken down as quickly as cellulose in paper, but when used in households it will probably be captured as a side stream in water purification plants and then become compost. The circle is closed. And not completely unspoken, several stakeholders have already heard of a circular handling of wood pulp.

– It is better to use residual products from the forest to something good than just fire up the biomass, as you do now. Doing something good of waste is almost a philosophical issue that is satisfactory to solve, he says.