Polyquaternium-39 ●
TL;DR. This ingredient is a cationic conditioning polymer used to reduce static, improve combability, add slip, and leave a light film on hair or skin. It can also support viscosity and sensory feel in shampoos, conditioners, and leave-on formulas.
What does Polyquaternium-39 do in a cosmetic formula?
This ingredient is a cationic conditioning polymer used to reduce static, improve combability, add slip, and leave a light film on hair or skin. It can also support viscosity and sensory feel in shampoos, conditioners, and leave-on formulas.
Is Polyquaternium-39 clean?
This ingredient is generally considered low-irritation in finished products because its large polymer size limits skin penetration. Clean-beauty friction comes from its synthetic quaternary polymer profile and the need for tight control of residual manufacturing monomers.
Is Polyquaternium-39 sustainable?
This material is typically made from petrochemical feedstocks and is not considered readily biodegradable. Its cationic charge can bind to sludge and sediments in wastewater systems, which raises persistence concerns.
Is Polyquaternium-39 COSMOS-approved?
It is not aligned with COSMOS-natural or COSMOS-organic standards because it is a synthetic polymer based on quaternary chemistry and is not on the permitted material pathway. From a Green Chemistry perspective, the main gaps are limited renewable sourcing and poor end-of-life biodegradability.
How does Polyquaternium-39 work chemically?
The molecule is a high-molecular-weight amphoteric polymer with both cationic and anionic groups, designed to deposit onto negatively charged hair and skin surfaces. It is commonly used at low percentages in rinse-off and leave-on products, and performance depends strongly on surfactant system, salt level, and pH.
Last updated 2026-05-13