Polyquaternium-70 ●
TL;DR. This ingredient is a cationic conditioning polymer used mainly to improve wet combing, reduce static, add slip, and leave a light film on hair. It can also support curl definition and deposition of other conditioning materials in shampoos and conditioners.
What does Polyquaternium-70 do in a cosmetic formula?
This ingredient is a cationic conditioning polymer used mainly to improve wet combing, reduce static, add slip, and leave a light film on hair. It can also support curl definition and deposition of other conditioning materials in shampoos and conditioners.
Is Polyquaternium-70 clean?
From a clean-beauty perspective, it has friction because it is a synthetic quaternary polymer rather than a simple, readily biodegradable cosmetic material. Sensory performance is usually the reason it appears in formulas, but restricted-list concern can arise around synthetic polymer status and residual monomers depending on supplier controls.
Is Polyquaternium-70 sustainable?
This material is typically petrochemical-derived and is not considered readily biodegradable. As a cationic polymer, it can bind strongly to solids in wastewater streams, so environmental assessment depends on persistence, charge density, and treatment-plant removal.
Is Polyquaternium-70 COSMOS-approved?
It is not aligned with COSMOS-natural or COSMOS-organic principles because it is a synthetic quaternized polymer. Its profile is weak on Green Chemistry measures compared with renewable, readily biodegradable conditioning agents.
How does Polyquaternium-70 work chemically?
The molecule is a high-molecular-weight cationic polymer with permanent positive charges that adsorb onto negatively charged hair surfaces, which explains its conditioning and anti-static behavior. It is typically used at low active levels in rinse-off and leave-on hair products, and compatibility is best managed by balancing it with anionic surfactants and salts to prevent haze, viscosity shifts, or complexing.
Last updated 2026-05-13