Guar Gum Powder - Cationic

Product Benefits

• Excellent hair conditioning agent for leave-in and rinse-off formulations

• Adds slip and ease of combing to wet or dry hair

• Provides antistatic properties, reducing static and frizz for smoother, more manageable hair

• Thickens water-based formulations without heaviness

• Ideal for shampoos, conditioners, body washes, and styling products

• Ideal for use in body washes, enhancing texture and performance

• Effective in various skin care products, providing conditioning and enhancing texture

• Biodegradable and environmentally responsible

• Vegan, cruelty-free, and non-GMO

• Easy to disperse and stable in a wide pH range

Product Description

Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride is a high-performance conditioning polymer derived from natural guar beans. Known as cationic guar gum, it is modified to carry a positive charge, which enhances its ability to bond with negatively charged hair strands. This results in smoother, shinier, and easier-to-manage hair. It is commonly used in cosmetics for its ability to condition skin and hair, and to help deposit active ingredients effectively.

This ingredient is widely used in personal care formulations, especially hair care, due to its film-forming and anti-static properties.

It adds a silky, soft feel to products and improves the conditioning effect of both rinse-off and leave-in applications. It also thickens water-based products, providing a pleasant, luxurious texture. As a synthetic cationic polymer, it functions to enhance the performance of various cosmetic formulations.

Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride is biodegradable, vegan-friendly, and not tested on animals. Its reliable performance and sustainable origins make it a go-to choice for formulators seeking both functionality and environmental responsibility.

How to Use

Use in formulations at 0.5% to 2%.It is water-soluble, so it cannot be used with oil-only products.

It starts to hydrate very readily with water, but can take up to 1 hour to become fully hydrated. You may find that it starts to hydrate so quickly that it forms lumps. These can be whisked out, but could also mix the guar gum with a little glycerine or a vegetable oil first. This slows down the hydration initially and helps to prevent lumps.

Once it is fully hydrated, the gel can be heated to 50°C but do ensure that it is quite fluid. Very thick gels may be prone to scorching. If the guar gum is added to cold water and then heated in a bain marie, it makes an exceptional gel that is very smooth and feels superb!

It is stable between pH 5 and 9. If used at pH 3, you can feel some “pilling” as it starts to break down. This can be modified by combining it with another thickening agent.

Skin Care

Guar gum attaches to the skin to form a conditioning and protective polymeric film, giving a very elegant skin feel to the finished product.

It can be used to stabilise creams and lotions that have a lot of actives that may be challenging to the emulsion. It will also add some thickness to the finished product.

It can hold a small amount of oil in suspension without settling, which is an ideal way to get Omega-3-rich oils into a product without heating them.

Hair Care

As it is cationic, Guar Gum attaches itself to the anionic hair shaft to form a conditioning and protective polymeric film, protecting the hair whilst keeping it hydrated and flexible.

Unlike many commercial conditioners, it leaves no polymer buildup.

It can be used in shampoos, hair conditioners, and hair packs where it not only provides thickness and texture to the product but also improves hair combing and brushing without tangling and reduces breakage.

Its film-forming ability also makes it substantive to the hair, giving it some greater volume.