K18 Granted Patent for Hair Fiber-penetrating Peptides

Focused on biomimetic hair science, San Francisco-based indie brand K18 has been awarded a patent for a peptide composition distinguished by its ability to penetrate inside the human hair fiber to improve strength and hydrophobicity, and its greater affinity to hair keratin than previously developed peptides.

Per the patent disclosure, a study by researchers at the University of Minho in March 2017 — a doctoral thesis from Celia Freitas Da Cruz, “Unravelling and modulating human hair morphology features” — brought to light a mechanistic understanding of how peptides could interact and fortify endogenous hair proteins. In their investigations, the researchers examined the influence of isoelectric point, charge and amino acid side chain functionality on the binding interactions of the screened peptides with hair proteins.