Acrylates/Octylacrylamide Copolymer

What it is

Acrylates/Octylacrylamide Copolymer is a synthetic polymer, that is a large molecule made up of many similar building blocks. In styling products it settles around the hair as a thin, flexible film as it dries and holds the style in shape. Its origin is synthetic. That is factual information, not an assessment.

Molecular size is the key point for the classification: polymers of this kind are too large to penetrate the stratum corneum to any meaningful degree. They stay on the surface and are removed again with the next wash. A film former therefore works physically, not by being taken up into the body.

Why

• Skin contact: because of the molecular size, uptake through the skin is very unlikely. Exposure stays superficial and the film is washed out. That is the reason for the low risk classification.
• The real point with this substance is not the skin but the form of application. When the product is sprayed, fine droplets are created that can be inhaled. That concerns spraying as such more than this single constituent, and in a salon it mainly affects the people working there who handle it daily.
• The practical consequence: ventilation and spraying distance are more effective here than the question of which polymer is in the product. That is a pointer about working practice, not a statement that the substance is dangerous.
• Separating hazard and risk: that a substance can be inhaled is a statement about the route of exposure. Whether a risk follows depends on quantity, frequency, room size and ventilation. That information is not available here.
• Without a use level this remains a statement about a substance property and not a risk statement for a specific product.

When the assessment differs

• Spray application versus applying by hand: with a gel or cream, aerosol formation does not occur at all. The classification above relates to the documented example, a hairspray.
• Occupational users: daily, repeated spray application in enclosed rooms. Occupational protection, particularly ventilation, is what counts here.
• People with sensitive airways, for instance with asthma: for them the spray application as such is relevant, irrespective of the individual ingredient.
• Eye contact: possible while spraying and as a rule transiently irritating. This applies to hairsprays generally.

Open questions

• Regulatory status: not examined. The entry in the EU CosIng database must be checked, with its date.
• Data on inhalability: droplet size when spraying, and the resulting ability to reach the lungs, depend on product and device and are not available here. The point above is therefore a pointer about the application form, not a quantitative statement.
• Environment: synthetic polymers in rinse-off products are considered separately in the discussion about poorly degradable constituents. Whether and how that applies to this polymer was not examined here and must not be assumed. It belongs in a separate environmental assessment.
• Concentration in a specific product: not available.

Related substances

Applies to: Film formers and setting polymers

• PVP — Film-forming binder

Further substances from the same group for which a long-form assessment already exists.