Gattefossé Adds Protecticire MB as Ingredient Suppliers Chase the Hair Longevity Category

Gattefossé used in-cosmetics Asia, held November 3 to 5, to launch Protecticire MB, a 100 percent natural-origin active built to protect hair fiber over repeated styling and chemical treatments. The ingredient won the Bronze 2026 Innovation Zone Best Ingredient Award in the Functional Ingredient category, a signal that formulators at the show saw it as more than a marketing claim.

The launch points to where personal care ingredient suppliers are placing their bets. Scalp care has dominated hair innovation briefs for several years. Gattefossé is now building a second product line around the fiber itself, the part of the strand that shows breakage, split ends and color fade first after months of heat, bleach and sun exposure.

Protecticire MB is the formal follow-up to Definicire, the active texturizing ingredient Gattefossé brought to market in 2018 to rebuild the hair's lipid layer. Lysiane Teyssier, Product Marketing Leader for PC Textures & Applications at Gattefossé, framed the new launch as a continuation of that lipid chemistry work: "Protecticire® MB directly addresses these expectations while strengthening our portfolio of innovative natural ingredients."

The ingredient runs on Gattefossé's patented wax butter technology, which combines carnauba, rice bran and jojoba waxes into a single structural system. Solid waxes supply strength. Jojoba esters supply flexibility. Together they form a thin film on the hair surface meant to resist mechanical stress from brushing, thermal stress from styling tools, chemical stress from coloring and bleaching, and environmental stress from UV light, pollution and chlorinated water.

Camille Viseux, Evaluation Laboratory Manager for Personal Care at Gattefossé, described the internal testing results behind the award: "Protecticire® MB consistently protected the hair fiber against multiple stress factors while helping maintain its structural integrity." She added that the results confirm the wax-based approach and the value of a rigorous evaluation strategy in translating science into benefits consumers can see and feel.

For formulators, the commercial case rests on format flexibility as much as efficacy claims. Protecticire MB ships as pellets that drop into rinse-off and leave-in formats, including sprays, serums, conditioners, masks and solid bars. Gattefossé also points to selected color cosmetics applications beyond haircare, a detail that widens the addressable market for a single SKU.

Hair longevity, as a positioning term, now has to compete with scalp microbiome claims and bond-repair chemistry for brand attention and shelf space. Gattefossé's bet is that a 100 percent natural-origin ingredient with a visible award and a documented predecessor product gives brand teams a lower-risk way to enter that category without building a new actives platform from scratch. Gattefossé is showing Protecticire MB at Booth A30 through the close of in-cosmetics Asia on November 5.