Hair conditioning shampoo containing long chain alcohol component

Abstract

A fiber conditioning composition, which is preferably a shampoo for human hair, in stable and pearlescent liquid or semi-liquid or gel condition, is an emulsion or dispersion which includes a surfactant, a water insoluble fiber conditioning agent, a long chain saturated primary alcohol or derivative thereof, which stabilizes the emulsion or suspension and makes it pearlescent, and an aqueous medium, which may also contain other components of such fiber conditioning and shampoo compositions. In the preferred shampoos an anionic detergent is present, which is preferably a mixture of higher fatty alcohol sulfate and higher fatty alcohol ethoxylate sulfate, the long chain saturated primary alcohol (or derivative) is of an average of 30 to 40 carbon atoms (ethoxylated such alcohols may also be employed, at least in part) and the water insoluble conditioning agent is a silicone (very preferably a certain type of aminosilicone), a polyethylene, a paraffin, an isoparaffin, a microcrystalline wax, a C.sub.18-36 (mixed) fatty acid or triglyceride, a higher fatty alcohol ester of a higher fatty acid (such as stearyl stearate), beeswax, or any mixture thereof, with the more preferred shampoos containing conditioning agents which include the aminosilicone in mixture with one or more of the polyethylene, microcrystalline wax, petrolatum, paraffin and isoparaffin, plus a cationic hair conditioning agent, which is preferably a quaternary ammonium salt. The disclosed invention also includes processes in which the compositions are used to condition or to clean and condition fibrous materials, such as human hair on the head.