A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science, School of Environment, Resources and Development

Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2001

Carboxymethyl-chitin (CMCh) is an anionic polysaccharide and a chemical modification of chitin that provides an alternative to improve the biopolymer's water solubility. The CMchitin was prepared from chitin of shrimp shell. The application of derivatives produced for hair cosmetics was studied. CM-chitin was unable to form stable mixture in clear shampoo formulation, whereas in non-clear shampoo formulation, the mixture was observed stable throughout the period of study. The shampoo was comprised anionic and amphoteric surfactants. The effect of CM-chitin on hairs was evaluated by both instrumental and noninstrumental techniques. For instrumental technique, instron machine that was used for dry combability method, gave scientific or quantitative results. The results showed that in-house and commercial shampoos containing 0.2% - 0.5% CM-chitin greatly reduced combing forces of hair. These formula also help to improve the conditioning, smoothness and manageability of hair Noninstrumental technique was further used to evaluate shampoos with 0.2% - 0.5% CMchitin in order to distinguish significant different among control shampoo and shampoos with 0.2% and 0.5% CM-chitin by sensory test. First, In vitro test for smoothness and dry combability evaluations gave the effective result at 0.2% and 0.5% CM-chitin shampoos more than control shampoo, however, there is no significantly difference between 0.2% CM-chitin and 0.5% CM-chitin shampoo. Therefore, the proper concentration of CM-chitin at 0.2% was selected for consumer test on forty women panelists for comparing with control shampoo. The result of consumer test showed that the hair treated 0.2% CM-chitin shampoo providing more smoother and manageable effect of the hair was more acceptable than shampoo without CMchitin.