Tag: dandruff

No-Drandruff Shampoo

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No-dandruff Shampoo 8

Lab Note: My “No Dandruff” Scalp-Calming Shampoo

Hello Hello! 😀 Today I am tackling something that is usually so annoying to deal with: dandruff! I got tired of the shampoos from the supermarket because they are so aggressive—they might kill the fungus, but they leave the scalp red and the hair feeling like straw. No thanks! 😛

I wanted to make a “Smart Shampoo.” Something that uses a real antifungal active but surrounds it with ingredients that actually soothe the skin and protect the hair.

The “Clear Scalp” Strategy:

The hero of my formula is Piroctone Olamine. Unlike the “Zinc” stuff you find in cheap shampoos, Piroctone Olamine is much more elegant—it’s very effective against the Malassezia fungus but it’s gentle. I also added Salicylic Acid to help “sweep away” the dead skin cells so the scalp can breathe again!

The Formula for my Experiment:

Phase A:

  • Water to 100

  • Glycerin 2

  • Polyquaternium-10 – 0.3 (This is a “conditioning” polymer—it helps the hair stay smooth even in a treatment shampoo!)

Phase B (The Cleansing Base):

  • Sodium Lauroyl Sarcosinate – 15 (My favorite “soft” surfactant!)

  • Cocamidopropyl Betaine – 10

  • Coco-Glucoside – 5

  • Piroctone Olamine – 0.5 (The antifungal powerhouse!)

Phase C (The Calming Touch):

  • Salicylic Acid – 0.5 (I pre-dissolved this in the surfactants to make sure it didn’t stay “gritty”!)

  • Panthenol – 1 (To soothe the itchy scalp)

  • Preservative (According to my lab’s type)

  • Fragrance (I used Tea Tree and Lavender—Tea Tree helps the “No Dandruff” mission, and Lavender makes it smell like a spa! :D)

  • Lactic Acid (To reach pH 5.5)

Notes from my Beaker:

  1. The Dissolving Trick: Piroctone Olamine and Salicylic Acid can be a bit stubborn. I found that if I mix them into the surfactant blend (Phase B) before adding the water, they dissolve much more easily. No one wants “grains” in their shampoo!

  2. The pH is Critical: For Piroctone Olamine to be happy and stable, the pH needs to be around 5.5. If you go too low or too high, it might not work as well.

  3. The Color: I left this one clear because I love how clean it looks. Without all the “fake blue” dyes of commercial shampoos, it looks so much more professional.

  4. How I used it: Since this has an active medicine in it, I don’t just rinse it off immediately. I leave it on my scalp for about 3 minutes while I sing a song, then rinse! yeheee! 😀

Final Verdict: I don’t suffer of dandruff much but of itchiness sometimes I do, and this helped a lot 🙂

No-dandruff Shampoo 6