Hair is an extension of our individuality, reflecting personal style and defining our entire look. Maintaining a more natural and healthy hair style is a trend that is growing with the movement to embrace all hair types and textures at the root. Whether treating wavy, curly or straight hair, conditioning is an essential part of our personal care routine to protect, revitalize and nourish the biomaterial that helps define us.

Shampoo is one of the most widely used beauty products worldwide. It is the largest segment in the haircare category, comprising 42% of category sales, with 84% of consumers reporting usage of regular shampoo or dry shampoo (Source Mintel report Hair care 2020)

The Science behind the Experience

Washing hair is no longer just about cleansing the hair. It has also become another stage of treatment, offering diverse functions and benefits. Consumers are seeking shampoos to meet their specific needs and desires. Today we see products that are both pearlescent and transparent and offer a variety of claims including: salt-free, sulfate-free, moisturising, colour protection, and more.

The choice of surfactants, conditioning agents, and texturisers is ultimately what gives products their inherent sensorial and performance benefits.

AKYPO® FOAM LM 25 by KAO Chemicals Europe was designed to achieve a luxurious foam, with a very small bubble size and high foam consistency. It is mild for skin and eyes. When used as a secondary surfactant, it reduces irritation and improves the foam quality of the formulation.

BETADET® S-20 by Kao Chemicals Europe is recommended as secondary surfactant for very mild and high foaming products, achieving higher foam volumes than alkyl betaines or alkyl amidopropyl betaines even in presence of sebum.

Cola®Teric BBS by Colonial Chemical is a mild surfactant from Babassu Oil, a sustainably grown and harvested oil from Brazil. It offers enhanced foaming and viscosity building properties compared to traditional Coconut or Palm Kernel products. Cola®Teric BBS has a high active content and is supplied preservative-free.

UCARE™ Extreme Polymer by Dow is a polymeric, quaternary ammonium salt of hydroxyethylcellulose. The cellulosic polymer is derived from non-GMO and PEFC (Programme for Endorsement of Forest Certification) certified wood pulp. UCARE™ Extreme Polymer is bio-derived and biodegradable* cationic cellulosic polymer that can be used as principal conditioning agent or in  combination with other conditioning ingredients in conditioners, leave-on products and shampoos.

HydroxySHIELD™ Polymer by Dow is a novel hydroxy functional amino polymer that can create next generation formulations to meet consumers’ cleansing and conditioning needs, providing a SHIELD of multi-functional benefits for hair from heat and color protection to hair breakage reduction, delivering healthy hair that is improved with each step of your hair care routine.

DOWSIL™ CE-1874 Microemulsion by Dow is a transparent, water-dispersible emulsion. It can be used to formulate standard, sulfate-free and clear shampoo to provide multiple benefits to hair like enhanced volume, increased shine and combing force reduction, while keeping the transparency.

Actigum™ CS 11 QD by Cargill Beauty is a COSMOS approved sclerotium gum produced by aerobic fermentation of sugar with the fungus sclerotium rolfsii. It is composed of non-ionic sugar monomers in solution, the sclerotium forms a triple helix. Cold soluble, it is an ideal naturally derived and readily biodegradable thickener and stabilizer with smooth and soft texture. Actigum™ range provides consistent viscosity and suspension efficiency in a broad pH range (2-12) and temperature (RT to 45°C). It is compatible with anionic and amphoteric surfactants.

A synergy was observed between cationic surfactants and Actigum™ CS 11QD: it leads to an increase of the stability and final viscosity of the formula:

• Can be useful to achieve desired viscosity without the need to increase thickener concentration: cost effective solution
• Can help to stabilize a formula and suspend oil
• Further tests need to be done in this direction to assess the synergy

StarDesign™ Ultra is Aluminium free version of StarDesign™ 05340. Both are polysaccharide extracted from corn with an ISO 16128 up to 90%. Its modification with n-octenylsuccinyl (n-OSA) group through an esterification transforms it into sensory enhancers as they become more hydrophobic and oil-absorbing.

In dry shampoos, n-OSA starches absorb sebum on the hair and are easy to remove with a brush.

In solid shampoo formulations, n-OSA starches are used as binder to enhance pressability and final texture.

Tea Tree Oil from Down Under's farms in Australia. When formulating for results, purity is essential. Be secure in your choice of Down Under with EcoVadis Platinum and COSMOS Natural certifications.  

A prospective randomized, single-blinded parallel-group study by Satchell et al. (2004) found that a 5% Tea Tree Oil shampoo exhibited good overall effectiveness in inhibiting the growth of M.furfur. The study consisted of one hundred and twenty-six male and female patients (n=126), aged 14 and older, randomized to receive either a 5% Tea Tree Oil shampoo or placebo, used daily for four weeks. It was found the 5% Tea Tree Oil shampoo group showed a 41% improvement compared with 11% in the placebo group, a statistically significant (p<0.001) improvement.