The skinification of hair care remains a strong trend and is expected to grow as consumers seek to treat their hair with the same level of care as their skin.
This has led to the increased awareness of scalp health and its importance to the overall look and condition of hair is more prevalent than ever.
Part of this involves using similar ingredients, such as ceramides, which have becoming synonymous with skin soothing, hydration and skin barrier protection.
This has led to the development of Sphingo HAIR Drypure, a bio-fermentation derived ceramide NP, by Croda.
“We used to see ceramides has the hero ingredient for skin barrier. While that is still true, after conducting our research, we found that it has potential to be a multifunctional active,” said Dean Nie, business development manager, Croda China.
The ingredient was designed to reinforce scalp health by increasing scalp hydration, reducing flaking, and soothing inflammation. At the same time, the ingredient claims smooth hair and enhance hair shine and manageability.
“It’s a natural fermentation-derived ceramide, so it’s a little bit different from the common ceramide because it has a longer chain,” explained Nie.
“This unique structure gives it some unique benefits. It has anti-irritation benefits, just like normal ceramide, but we also find it has some benefits on scalp. So, it can soothe the scalp, repair the skin barrier, scalp barrier, and it also has benefits for hair fibres.”
Just like in skin care, there has been an increased demand for high performance in actives for hair care products, Nie told CosmeticsDesign-Asia.
“This is a significant trend, and we see that hair care products also need to be differentiated, and they need to go premium.”
Sphingo HAIR Drypure was one of the global launches unveiled at the 2025 Personal Care & Homecare Ingredients (PCHi) show held in Guangzhou, China from February 19 to 21.
This is the first time Croda as unveiled a new product globally at PCHi.
“There’s an increasingly demand in the Chinese market for hair care especially there’s a demand for high performance actives. This is the reason why it is a key market, one of the very most important markets,” said Nie.
While ceramides are known to be hydrophobic and difficult to incorporate into formulas, Croda has used micro emulsifying techniques to make it easier to work with.
According to Nie, it has successfully used the ingredient in multiple formula applications, including a clear shampoo, hair conditioner, and hair serum.
“It basically can be incorporated into any formulation,” said Nie.
CosmeticsDesign-Asia previously reported that Croda aimed to expand the potential of ceramides.
Its research into ceramides and development of Sphingo HAIR Drypure comes on the back of Croda’s acquisition of Solus Biotech, a leading supplier of ceramides based in South Korea in 2023.
Moving forward, the company says the industry can expect more ceramide innovations
“You can expect more functionality because if you look at the ceramide structure, there’s a lot of space for us to innovate,” said Nie.
