What Makes HPMC Essential for Home Care Products?

November 15, 2024
6:53 AM

In today’s marketplace, consumers expect both performance and safety in home and personal care products. The demand for safe, high-performance and environmentally friendly household and personal care products has driven innovation in ingredients such as hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC), a cellulose-derived compound that has become the ingredient of choice due to its multifunctionality and environmentally friendly properties. Its uses are now widespread, ranging from household cleaners to personal care products such as shampoos, conditioners and body washes.

I.HPMC Key Benefits in Home Care Products

1. Excellent thickening and stabilization

Whether in home care or personal care, a homogeneous and stable texture is important for the effectiveness of the product. Whether in detergents or conditioners, the thickening properties of TENESSY® HPMC ensure a fine, smooth texture that makes products easier to apply. In household products such as kitchen cleaners and laundry detergents, HPMC increases viscosity to prevent separation, ensuring that formulations remain balanced throughout their shelf life.

2. Enhance surface adhesion for effective cleaning

TENESSY® HPMC enhances product adhesion to surfaces, a benefit that improves cleaning performance. In glass cleaners, bathroom sprays and multi-surface cleaners, HPMC helps the product adhere to the surface for longer contact times, allowing the active ingredients to penetrate and dissolve dirt, grease and stains. This quality is particularly beneficial in cleaning solutions designed for vertical surfaces such as walls and shower tiles, preventing rapid loss. In shampoos and conditioners, HPMC ensures that the cleansing agents in the shampoo effectively reach each strand of hair, while the conditioner provides moisturization and smoothness from root to tip. For leave-in conditioners, HPMC’s adhesion prevents the product from feeling heavy on the hair and maintains a lightweight effect.

3. Foam Enhancement in Cleansers and Bath Products

Foam plays an important role in consumer satisfaction as it is often associated with effective cleaning and quality. HPMC contributes to the foaming and foam stabilization of many products, providing rich, long-lasting foam in a wide variety of products such as detergents and body washes.

In dishwashing detergents, HPMC contributes to a stable foam that effectively removes grease and food particles.

II. Advantages of HPMC over other thickeners

While there are other thickeners available, unlike synthetic thickeners, HPMC is derived from cellulose and has a number of advantages that make it the preferred choice for environmentally friendly product formulations.

1. Temperature and pH Stability

HPMC is stable at a wide range of temperatures and pH levels, ensuring consistent performance of products stored under a variety of conditions.

2. Safe and non-toxic

HPMC is biodegradable and contains no harmful chemicals, making it safe for contact with skin and surfaces in cleansers and baby products, and its biodegradable nature is consistent with sustainable development goals.

III.HPMC Multiple Applications: From Household Cleaning to Personal Care Essentials

HPMC Model	Viscosity (2% aqueous solution, 20°C, Brookfield/mpa.s, RV type viscometer)	Recommended Application
NS100PC	42000-55000	Daily chemical products, shower gel, facial cleanser
NS150PC	55000-70000	Daily chemical products, lotion, gel, toner, conditioner
NS200PC	≥75000	Daily chemical products, styling products and other liquid products such as construction glue

Note: Viscosity (2% aqueous solution, 20°C, measured by n DJ-1 type viscometer) 10-200000mpa.s

1.Thickening agent

In liquid daily chemical products such as shampoos and shower gels, HPMC as a thickener is characterized by strong stability and precise viscosity adjustment. It makes it easier to control fluidity by increasing the viscosity of the product, thus facilitating use and preventing product waste. At the same time, the thickening effect of HPMC also brings a rich foam experience, so that the cleaning products are both gentle and have better cleaning power during use.

2. Film-forming agent

HPMC has good film-forming properties and can form a transparent, even protective film on the skin or hair surface. This protective film can not only help to lock the water, reduce the loss of water from the skin and hair, enhance the moisturizing effect, but also has a protective effect to avoid external stimuli on the skin and hair damage. Therefore, HPMC is widely used in creams, lotions, conditioners and other products to increase the moisturizing and water-locking effect and make skin and hair softer and healthier.

3. Emulsion stabilizer

In emulsions, creams and other daily chemical products containing oil ingredients, the oil-water mixture needs to remain stable for a long time to prevent delamination, the addition of HPMC can increase the viscosity of the system, help the oil-water phase evenly dispersed in the formula, thus preventing the phenomenon of oil-water separation. This is especially important for skin and hair care products that contain a high percentage of oil, as the stability of the product has a direct impact on its efficacy and shelf life. the stabilizing effect of HPMC also allows the product to maintain a good condition under high or low temperature conditions.

4.Suspending agent

Some daily chemical products, such as facial scrubs, body scrubs, etc., usually contain insoluble particles, HPMC as a suspending agent can be evenly dispersed in the product, to prevent the particles from settling to the bottom of the bottle, to maintain a uniform consistency of the texture of the product. In addition, in detergents, HPMC can also help to disperse cleaning ingredients to ensure consistent cleaning results with each use, enhancing the experience and efficacy of use.

5. Lubrication

The lubricating properties of HPMC are particularly important in some shaving foams, shaving creams, conditioners and other products. It creates a silky feel and reduces friction during use, especially during shaving, and reduces the sensation of skin irritation from the razor blade. Meanwhile, in hair care products, the lubricating effect of HPMC can make hair smoother when wet, making it easier to comb and reducing pulling and breakage. This gentle lubricating effect allows the product to enhance the user experience while providing gentle care.

6. Humectants

In addition to being a film-forming and thickening agent, HPMC can also provide direct moisturizing effects. It has a certain degree of hygroscopicity and can help absorb moisture from the air, thus enhancing the hydration of the product. Particularly in dry environments, HPMC helps to improve the dryness of skin or hair, making the moisturizing effect last longer. This property makes it work well in skin creams, moisturizing masks and other products.

7. Stabilizers and antiprecipitants

In formulations, HPMC can also be used as a stabilizer to enhance the stability of products at different temperatures and humidity. Especially in systems where the water and oil phases are mixed, such as detergents and emulsions, HPMC can delay the precipitation of the ingredients in the formulation to a certain extent, so as to keep the appearance and performance of the product stable. In addition, it helps to maintain a uniform distribution of active ingredients in the formulation to avoid delamination and precipitation.

IV. Summary

The multifunctional benefits of HPMC, ranging from thickening and stabilization to foaming and adhesion enhancement, make it an integral part of modern household and personal care products. Its safety and sustainability align well with consumer expectations and market trends. With the growing demand for effective, safe and environmentally friendly products, HPMC will be an important additive ingredient in household detergents.