Shampoos are roughly divided into opaque and transparent series in terms of appearance. Opaque pearlescent shampoos, which usually contain silicone conditioning agents to impart a soft and silky feel, are more common in the market.
With the concept trend of natural and pure beauty makeup, transparent beauty makeup products are easy to associate with purity, nature, and simplicity, attracting consumers’ interest. Most silicone-free shampoos have a clear and transparent appearance, promoting the concept of scalp care, which is a hot topic one.
However, the repairing and conditioning performance of silicone-free shampoo systems is still one of the difficulties in formulating, especially for damaged hair.

This study explores a third possibility to formulate shampoos with a transparent appearance and excellent hair care benefits by adding innovative silicone microemulsions.

The project was jointly researched by Dr. Li Qinghua, a senior application engineer, and Dr. Yang Jianzhong from Japan. Two silicone microemulsions named aminopolydimethylsiloxane and polysiloxane quaternary ammonium-18 were selected and added to the shampoo for evaluation. It quantitatively evaluates typical physical properties such as transparent appearance and foam, dry and wet combing force, anti-flying, hair fiber fracture resistance and tensile strength, and surface cuticle repair. The results show that the two silicone oil microemulsions can efficiently deposit on the hair and exert excellent hair care effects without affecting the transparency of the shampoo at all, providing an optional core technology and experiment for silicone oil-containing high-conditioning transparent shampoo data support.
The research data of this project was compiled by Dr. Li Qinghua of Momentum in the paper "Silicone to Reduce Combing Force, Control Flyaway, Repair Damage in Transparent Shampoo" and submitted to the Journal of Cosmetic Science, one of the top journals in the international cosmetics industry (JCS, Journal of Cosmetic Science) , successfully included in the journal Page 345-Page 361, VOLUME 73 NO.6 YEAR 2022. At the same time, I would like to thank Susan Zou, a Momentive analysis scientist, Linda Wei, a senior application engineer, and Ms. Lin Xianting and Ms. Nakamura Mizu of Japan Meiken Innovation Co., Ltd. for participating in the research work.

Experimental Studies and Conclusions
In this thesis, the amino polydimethylsiloxane microemulsion and the polysiloxane quaternary ammonium salt-18 microemulsion with an effective substance content of 0.18%-0.42% were added to transparent shampoo, and their effects in shampoo efficacy performance. The experimental evaluation results show that:

Compared with the basic formula without silicone oil, its appearance clarity and shampoo foam performance are hardly affected;
Aminopolydimethylsiloxane microemulsion improves wet and dry combing of damaged hair, and polysiloxane quaternary ammonium salt-18 microemulsion improves dry combing of damaged hair;
Both microemulsions improve the flyaway of damaged hair, anti-static and anti-frizz;


Compared with the basic formula without silicone, the shampoo with silicone oil microemulsion can improve hair breakage by more than 80%, and its tensile strength is enhanced at the same time, which proves that the strength and toughness of damaged hair are significantly improved after repair;
According to the microscopic observation of the hair surface, compared with the hair treated by the blank control sample, the hair cuticle on the hair surface treated with the silicone microemulsion shampoo has obtained an obvious repair effect;

The ICP-OES silicone deposition test showed that even at low addition levels, the two silicone microemulsions deposited effectively on the hair, giving the clear shampoo the aforementioned excellent conditioning and repairing properties. Our sensory tests showed that no negative sensory impact due to silicone deposition was observed.

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