in which the other two bonds on each nitrogen atom form additional attachments as for example those found in the illustrations and examples herein the urea and hydroxyl functionalities may be separated from each other in the compound by one carbon atom preferably they are separated by at least two carbon atoms the hydroxy amide useful in the invention is one containing at least one amide functionality and at least one hydroxyl functionality preferably the hydroxy compound should not be a formaldehyde emitter the preferred compounds of the invention are either a hydroxyalkyl urea or a u03b2 hydroxyalkyl amide or a mixture thereof preferred hydroxy urea compounds are derived from urea and comprise only a single urea group at least one hydroxyl group at least two carbon atoms disposed between the urea group and each of the hydroxyl groups the two carbons disposed between the hydroxyl and urea groups may be in linear branched or substituted configuration the hydroxy urea compound is represented by structure i as follows r 2 is h or r 5 r 3 is h or r 5 and r 4 is h r 1 or r 5 wherein wherein r 8 is h methyl or ethyl r 9 is h methyl or ethyl and r 10 is h methyl or ethyl preferred hyroxy urea compounds are n 2 hydroxyethyl urea n n bis 2 hydroxyethyl urea tetrakis 2 hydroxyethyl urea tris 2 hydroxyethyl urea n n u2032 bis 2 hydroxyethyl urea n n u2032 bis 3 hydroxypropyl urea n n u2032 bis 4 hydroxybutyl urea n methyl d glucourea and 2 urea 2 ethyl 1 3 propanediol most preferably the hydroxy urea compound is n.