Faced with the increasingly stringent demands of customers who are fond of natural cosmetics, your brand needs to stand out; innovate, and keep pace with this elitist market. Launching new products is therefore essential; reinventing a classic product can also be an interesting challenge for your brand: shampoos are the perfect example.

If your brand aims to launch new shampoos, Prodigia is there to reveal all the secrets to you. In this article, discover the advantages and disadvantages of liquid and solid shampoos, their uses for different types of hair, their compositions, and packaging.

A shampoo, whether solid or liquid, is a treatment for the hair, made up of various washing agents and ingredients. Its purpose is to dissolve the sebum and dirt, encrusted in the hair and on the scalp, as well as to treat the hair. Unlike a traditional soap, in a Shampoo, soap molecules are replaced by surfactants, their types and dosages are very important because the aggressiveness of a surfactant depends on its quantity.

1/ Liquid Shampoo

Liquid shampoo, which is mostly found in our bathrooms, is the most well-known and common form. Being the most common form of shampoo on the market, customers are more used to this form than to the solid form; which makes liquid shampoos more appealing in terms of customer perception.

Most of it is water, which acts as a solvent and liquefying agent. This type of shampoo usually consists of 15 to 25% surfactants.

Advantages: Thanks to the presence of water, the formulation of a liquid shampoo allows it to meet various skin tolerance and efficacy requirements. The main advantage of liquid shampoo is that it will contain a mixture of different types of surfactants in small amounts which makes the washing product both gentle and effective. In a solid shampoo, the primary surfactant (washing power) is concentrated and sometimes used alone. While in liquid shampoo, mixing surfactants in small doses will be more effective than using surfactant alone in large amounts, especially since brands generally use the mildest surfactants possible. The very nature of a liquid shampoo allows great freedom in its formulation with very varied effects: anti-dandruff, detangling, anti-greasy hair, anti-scale. Such a variety is more difficult to obtain with a solid shampoo.

Inconvenients: The liquid shampoo format requires the use of a bottle to contain it, less ecological, and heavier.

2/ Solid Shampoo

Solid shampoo is shampoo that does not contain water (or in very small quantities). The latter contains only active ingredients. It takes the form of soap and is used in two different ways. The first is to first wet your hair and the soap before rubbing the soap directly on the scalp. The other, gentler method is to lather the shampoo in your hands, then apply the lather to her hair, and work in the same way as a liquid shampoo. A solid shampoo is very rich in surfactants, it can contain 60 to 90%.

Advantages: The popularity of solid shampoo lies in its ecological and economical nature. Thanks to an ultra-concentrated formulation, a solid shampoo is the equivalent of several bottles of liquid shampoo and is consumed more slowly. Its compact size and solid nature prevent any risk of leakage and as it does not contain water. In theory, it is more environmentally friendly as it reduces packaging and eliminates the use of plastic bottles. A solid shampoo is usually sold in an eco-responsible package such as recycled paper or metal cans.

Inconvenients: Rich in surfactants, some solid soaps can dry out the scalp over the long term and be irritating. It is therefore not only advisable to choose your solid soap wisely and to pay attention to the ingredients used, but also not to use only solid shampoo during your daily hair routine. One-time use of a conditioner or liquid shampoo can be beneficial, especially if you have a hair problem.

Although a solid shampoo will always contain more surfactants than a liquid shampoo, these days brands carefully select surfactants and their dosage to create products that are respectful of our hair and suitable for all hair problems.

The two types of shampoo have undeniable advantages and are even complementary. More ecological and economical, solid shampoo will be preferred by those who wish to limit their impact on the environment while opting for an effective product. While liquid shampoo will be an essential ally for those looking for softness.

Whatever the clientele you are targeting, the two forms of shampoo are customizable and adaptable according to the type of hair targeted.

A natural shampoo; liquid or solid, must contain the right surfactants and the right active ingredients, without containing sulfates, and without being aggressive.

Surfactants

The mixture of different surfactants is necessary to combine detergent and foaming properties : 

• Mild detergent surfactants (Foaming Base Consistency, Foaming Base Softness, Sweetness of Coconut)
• Soft foaming surfactants (Sugar Foam, Babassu Foam for good performance and comfort of use)

Active ingredients

They are used to give the shampoo a “care” component with additional properties:

– detangling and smoothing (silk proteins, broccoli vegetable oil, …)

– fortifying and protective (rice proteins, vegetable ceramides, provitamin B5, …)

– restorative and soothing (phytokeratin, provitamin B5, bisabolol, Peony powder …)

– anti-hair loss (essential oils of Cade and Bay St Thomas, Nettle powder, Burdock extract, …)

– anti-dandruff (Eucalyptus, Burdock, Peony, Bisabolol and Allantoin)

The compositions of solid shampoos offer a greater margin of freedom to add the active ingredients of your choice according to your targets, whether they are Vegetable Oils (VO), Essential Oils (EO), or clays.

• Oily Hair: VO Jojoba + EO Tea tree + Rhassoul
• Dry Hair: VO Coco + EO Ylang Ylang
• Hair loss: VO avocado + EO peppermint
• Curly Hair: VO Broccoli
• Curly / Frizzy Hair: VO Sapote
• Fine Hair: VO Grape Seeds + EO Lemongrass
• Dull Hair: VH Borage + EO ylang ylang
• Damaged Hair: VH Borage + EO sandalwood
• Anti-dandruff: VH chaulmoogra + EO cade
• Eczema-psoriasis: VH chaulmoogra + EO of rosewood

Liquid Shampoo: First, it needs to be practical and easy to use. It is usually wrapped in plastic for reasons of cost, convenience, transportation and storage. Prefer pump bottles for better use.

Solid shampoo: Consumers are pushing brands to adopt an eco-conscious approach through the use of biodegradable packaging or even better: no packaging. Opting for a solid shampoo also means reducing your carbon footprint because the production and transport of this type of shampoo requires fewer resources. A real plus in a zero waste approach: most often in cardboard, recyclable paper, or organic cotton fabric, the choice is vast. -, this is a “naked” product.

Need help launching new shampoos? Prodigia is here to help you select the best ingredients, to supply you with premium quality raw materials for sale in bulk, and to advise you. Discover our shampoos available for sale in white label: Argan Shampoo With Essential Oils; for Oily Hair and Normal Hair, as well as the rest of our services.