Cosmetic agent containing at least one copolymer having N-vinyllactam units

1. A cosmetic or pharmaceutical composition comprising, in a cosmetically acceptable carrier, at least one water-soluble or water-dispersible copolymer A), which does not comprise any groups comprising a silicon atom and which is obtained by two-stage free-radical copolymerization of a monomer mixture of component

a) 20 to 99.9% by weight of at least one N-vinyllactam,

b) 0.1 to 30% by weight of at least one compound with a free-radically polymerizable, α,β-ethylenically unsaturated double bond and at least one anionogenic group per molecule,

c) 0.1 to 65% by weight of at least one free-radically polymerizable compound selected from component

c1) open-chain, α,β-ethylenically unsaturated compounds of the formula I

wherein

one of the radicals R 1 or R 2 is a group of the formula CH 2 ═CR 3 — wherein R 3 ═H or C 1 -C 4 -alkyl and

the other radical is H, alkyl, hydroxyalkyl, aminoalkyl, the N-alkyl and N,N-dialkyl derivatives thereof or a polyether radical comprising at least 5 alkylene oxide units, and

X is O or NR 4 , wherein R 4 is hydrogen, C 1 -C 7 -alkyl or a polyether radical comprising at least 5 alkylene oxide units,

c2) compounds with a free-radically polymerizable, α,β-ethylenically unsaturated double bond and at least one anionic or cationic group per molecule,

d) 0 to 15% by weight of at least one copolymerizable monomer which is different from a) to c)

wherein the weight percentage of components a), b), c) and d) are based on the total weight of components a) to d), and wherein components b) and c) are different,

in the presence of at least one water-soluble component e) which does not contain any carbon-carbon double bonds and which comprises at least one polyether urethane,

wherein said two-stage free-radical copolymerization comprises:

i) polymerizing all of component a) and an amount of from 0 up to and including all of component c) in the presence of at least a portion of one of component e) to give a first polymer A1), and

ii) adding and polymerizing, to polymer A1) obtained in i), all of component b) and component d) and if remaining from i) the component c) and component e) to give the copolymer A).

2. A composition as claimed in claim 1 , wherein component c) comprises at least one compound selected from the group consisting of N-vinylamides of saturated monocarboxylic acids, amides of α,β-ethylenically unsaturated monocarboxylic acids and their N-alkyl, N-polyalkylene glycol, N,N-dialkyl, aminoalkyl, (N-alkylamino)alkyl, (N,N-dialkylamino)alkyl and N,N-di(polyalkenylene glycol) derivatives, alkyl(meth)acrylates, polyether acrylates and mixtures thereof.

3. A composition as claimed in claim 1 wherein the copolymer A) is obtained by free-radical copolymerization of

20 to 90% by weight of at least one N-vinyllactam of component a),

1 to 20% by weight of at least one component b) and

5 to 65% by weight of at least one component c)

in the presence of at least one component e).

4. A composition as claimed in claim 3 , wherein

component a) is N-vinylpyrrolidone and/or N-vinylcaprolactam,

component b) is (meth)acrylic acid, and

component c) is selected from the group consisting of N-vinylamides of saturated monocarboxylic acids, amides of α,β-ethylenically unsaturated monocarboxylic acids, N, N-dialkylaminoalkyl (meth)acrylates, C 1 -C 3 -alkyl (meth)acrylates, polyalkylene glycol (meth)acrylates and mixtures thereof.

5. A composition as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the cosmetically acceptable carrier is selected from the group consisting of

i) water,

ii) water-miscible organic solvents,

iii) propellant gases,

iv) oils, fats, waxes,

v) esters of C 6 -C 30 -monocarboxylic acids with mono-, di- or trihydric alcohols which are different from iv),

vi) saturated acyclic and cyclic hydrocarbons,

vii) fatty acids,

viii) fatty alcohols

and mixtures thereof.

6. A composition as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said composition is in the form of a gel, foam, spray, an ointment, cream, emulsion, suspension, lotion, milk or paste.

7. A composition as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the polymerization in step i) takes place in water and the polymerization in step ii) takes place in a water/C 1 -C 4 -alkanol mixture.

8. A composition as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the polymerization in step i) takes place at a pH of ≧6.5 and the polymerization in step ii) takes place at a pH of <6.5.

9. A copolymer A) as claimed in claim 1 .

10. A method of cleansing, caring and/or protecting skin which comprises:

preparing a skin cleansing composition, skin care composition, and/or skin protecting composition comprising the composition as claimed in claim 1 , and

applying the skin cleansing composition, skin care composition, and/or skin protecting composition to the skin.

11. A method of treating hair, which comprises

preparing a hair treatment composition comprising the composition as claimed in claim 1 , and

applying the hair treatment composition to hair.

12. The method of treating hair as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the hair treatment composition is applied to the hair as setting agents and/or as conditioners.

13. The method of treating hair as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the hair treatment composition is in the form of a hair gel, shampoo, setting foam, hair tonic, hairspray or hair foam.

14. A finger or toe nail treatment method, which comprises:

preparing a nail care composition comprising the composition as claimed in claim 1 , and

applying the nail care composition to at least one finger or toe nail.

15. A method of applying preparations for decorative cosmetics which comprises,

preparing a decorative cosmetic preparation comprising the composition as claimed in claim 1 , and

applying the decorative cosmetic preparation to areas to be cosmetically decorated.

16. A copolymer A) as claimed in claim 4 .

17. The composition as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the carrier comprises a water-miscible organic solvent, which is a C 1 -C 4 -alkanol.