NYSCC Suppliers’ Day 2026: Syensqo recovers curls with biodegradable polymers

Syensqo showcased its biodegradable bio-based polymers for scalp care applications at NYSCC Suppliers’ Day 2026 in New York City, US (May 19–20). The company highlighted its ingredients’ eco-responsible benefits, efficacies, and appeal for the North American beauty market.

On the show floor, Personal Care Insights spoke to Thomas Brophy, business development manager at Syensqo, and Jennifer Zientek, regional market director, Home and Personal Care/Amines at the company, about its sustainable guar ingredients, flagship brands Naternal and Jaguar, and AI in scalp care.

The duo also told us about Naternal’s sustainability orientation enabling deeper engagement with formulators and consumers.

“It’s just simplified development for formulators, knowing what fits where, not only with biodegradability, but what’s suitable for different formulation requirements helps guide that more efficiently,” said Brophy.

Jaguar and Naternal

Jaguar comprises a range of “native, nonionic, cationic, and hydroxypropyl-modified natural guar polymers” procured from renewable streams. The solutions have applications in hair and body care formulators with an expansive selection of conditioning and texturizing features. The series leverages bio-based technology to align with market sustainability demands.

Naternal places sustainability at the forefront of its marketing. Emphasizing its biodegradable solutions and natural feedstocks, Syensqo offers a range of bio-based, biodegradable polymers for thickening and conditioning in hair care applications.

The Naternal line, while much younger than the Jaguar line, is said to deliver the same performance by honing the renewably sourced content of the guars offered in the latter. 

Zientek explained how Naternal rebranded Jaguar’s guars into its main brand, focusing on actives with higher bio-based content. “The performance has not changed, the branding around the guar has, but they still deliver the same performance as our Jaguar line, which is known in the industry,” she said.

Brophy underlined the launch of Naternal Care Xtra, which debuted at In-cosmetics Global 2025 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, as a driver of sustainable performance. Naternal Care Xtra is a fenugreek-powered, biodegradable, and biobased conditioning polymer that touts conditioning efficacy for damaged hair.

“Our launch of Naternal Care Xtra was our first departure from guar as a polysaccharide to fenugreek. By moving to fenugreek, we enable a high level of conditioning and maintain a high level of biodegradability,” he explained.

“This is because the more you modify the glue, the less biodegradable it is. By virtue of the switch to fenugreek, we’ve been able to achieve high conditioning while maintaining high bio data.”

AI for scalp care

Fenugreek-powered polymer delivers high conditioning and eco benefits.

Earlier this year, the company launched its AI-designed Re2 Coffea Arabica Peptide for scalp care. The peptide leverages upcycled coffee grounds sourced from a coffee plantation in Pu’er, Yunnan, China, and aims to meet growing consumer demands for scalp hydration and soothing.

Alongside its regenerative sourcing, the peptide was developed leveraging AI R&D as part of Syensqo’s partnership with Bota Biosciences, a Physical AI-driven biomanufacturing company.

Brophy told us that the use of AI in development is fast-tracking discovery.

“Upcycled coffee grounds are abundant in certain proteins, but the question is how to turn the proteins into something functionalized and delivering benefit,” he said, illustrating where the AI comes in.

“In this case, it’s a combination of eight polypeptides that AI helped find in the larger, more abundant protein sequences, and then, more importantly, the AI identified the enzymes that could cut the protein in the right places to obtain those peptides, which are delivering anti-inflammatory soothing benefits for scalp care.”

Zientek added that from a formulation point of view, to aim to do this manually would have taken a long time. “AI is accelerating the process,” she said.

Recovering curls

Scalp care is gaining momentum in the discourse on hair care, especially for those endowed with textured hair. The “skinification” trend has been extending to scalp care as more consumers consider their hair care alongside their scalp skin health.

“Consumers are paying more attention to everything that goes on their body,” said Zientek. “Scalp is a key part of that skinification. Addressing the scalp helps address many variables regarding hair health, vitality, and sensitivity.”

North American consumers are embracing tailored scalp care.

Brophy added that consumers are embracing “hair in transition.” Describing the trend as “anybody moving to their natural hair pattern from highly damaged hair, whether they were using relaxers or other treatments to have straight hair.”

“The reality is there are two hair type populations at the same time, so it’s sort of a one size fits none,” he said, underlining the necessity for highly tailored approaches to hair care, especially for “hair in transition.”

The North American consumer

According to Brophy, premiumized scalp care is being demanded in North America “more than anywhere in the world.”

He attributes this demand to the large textured hair population in North America. “We have a huge textured hair population; the needs of textured hair mandate a scalp-conscious approach,” he said, referring back to the care required to nurture “hair in transition” or damaged hair.

Syensqo is also observing sustainability demands, particularly from the North American consumer.

“In North America, specifically, sustainability has always been a topic of conversation,” Zientek told us. She explained that Syensqo’s customers “love to see Naternal as a value add as they create the new products in their portfolio, and look to drive the bio-based content home.”

With live reporting by Sabine Waldeck at NYSCC Suppliers’ Day 2026 in New York City, US.