Home Cosmetic Science Talk Formulating Volume Shampoo

Tagged: 

  • Volume Shampoo

    Posted by Syl on September 30, 2021 at 8:35 pm

    Hi, I could use your help. Personally, I never found volume shampoos very effective, but many people are requesting volume shampoo. What ingredients are used in the formulation below to create a volume shampoo?

    Pro V Pantene Sheer Volume.

    Water, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Sodium Citrate, Sodium Xylenesulfonate, Fragrance, Sodium Chloride, Citric Acid, Sodium Benzoate, Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose, Tetrasodium EDTA, Trisodium Ethylenediamine Disuccinate, Panthenol, Panthenyl Ethyl Ether, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone.

    Thanks,

    Syl replied 2 years, 7 months ago 4 Members · 10 Replies
  • 10 Replies
  • ketchito

    Member
    October 1, 2021 at 12:58 pm

    @Syl Since silicones weight down hair and reduce its water uptake, the easiest way is to remove them. That’s what that Pantene did (if you compare it with conditioning versions, they are heavily charged with silicones and fatty alcohols). Having just surfactants is one way to do the job. I also found some light polymers used for the same purpose.

  • Syl

    Member
    October 1, 2021 at 3:38 pm

    Thank you Ketchito

  • OldPerry

    Member
    October 1, 2021 at 4:20 pm

    Yep, to make a “volumizing” shampoo you can…

    1. Increase the level of surfactant
    2. Decrease the level of conditioning ingredients
    3. Include a film forming polymer

    Another thing that works is just put “volumizing shampoo” on your regular formula. Consumers are really swayed by marketing like this.

    Short anecdote.  I was involved in a market research project trying to find the best moisturizing and best volumizing shampoos on the market. We looked at all the top 10 best selling brands. Pantene was one as were brands like Fructis, Dove, etc. 

    To keep things consistent we used the same SKU of each brand. We blind coded all the samples, transferred them to white bottles with a flip cap & generic labeling on the front. Then we sent them to different groups of 100 consumers. It was about 2000 people.

    The winner for best moisturizing shampoo was Pantene.
    The winner for best volumizing shampoo was…Pantene. 

    These were exactly the same products/formulas. 

    The lesson I learned: for most people fragrance and marketing can convince them a product works like they want.

  • Syl

    Member
    October 1, 2021 at 9:18 pm

    @Perry Can Guar hydroxypropyltrimonium chloride be considered film-forming? I know it is also a light conditioner.
    Can increasing the PH from 5 to 6 augment the perception of volume?
    I noticed a difference when changing the PH, but maybe I am just like the people in your blind study!  :-) 

  • OldPerry

    Member
    October 4, 2021 at 1:55 pm

    @Syl  - we always assumed that it was film forming but I don’t really know.
    I don’t know if increase the pH would change the perception of volume. I doubt it.

  • Abdullah

    Member
    October 4, 2021 at 3:57 pm

    @Perry can you name some film formers that increase the volume. Also by what mechanism do they increase the volume? 

  • OldPerry

    Member
    October 4, 2021 at 4:03 pm

    @Abdullah - I do not believe film formers increase volume in any significant way. It is simply an interesting marketing story.

    But ingredients that are used in the industry are cationic polymers like Polyquaternium 7, Polyquaternium 10, and the Guar polymers.

  • Abdullah

    Member
    October 4, 2021 at 4:05 pm

    @syl cationic guar reduces the volume. 

    Interesting when i was making shampoo with non-ionic surfactant and without conditioner, the foam was bad, the scalp was not cleaning enough and i had to wash it with anionic shampoo now and then but the hair volume was very high. Maybe because it was solubilizing too much oil from hair and that made the hair lighter but i am not sure why. 

  • Abdullah

    Member
    October 4, 2021 at 4:09 pm

    @Perry thanks

  • Syl

    Member
    October 4, 2021 at 10:25 pm

    Thank you, Perry and Abdullah

Log in to reply.