SAXS/WAXS measurements were performed on the Head & Shoulders Classic Clean Shampoo from Procter & Gamble and reveal its inner structure.

Introduction

Many personal care products are concentrated surfactant systems displaying a multi-phasic microstructure. To design new properties through innovative formulation and to control the latter during the production process, good knowledge of the associated structure is required. Besides, evolution during the use of the product (dilution in water) or stability during storage (which mainly means under temperature variation) need also to be studied to ensure the final product performance.
X-ray Scattering is a powerful technique, complementary to NMR and Cryo-TEM for instance, to elucidate the organization of the associated micellar formulation on a wide range of length scales, as a function of the environment.