Silicone Quaternium-16/Glycidoxy Dimethicone Crosspolymer ●
TL;DR. This ingredient is used as a conditioning polymer and film-former, mainly in hair care, where it improves slip, detangling, smooth feel, and wet-comb performance. Its cationic character helps it deposit onto negatively charged hair fibers.
What does Silicone Quaternium-16/Glycidoxy Dimethicone Crosspolymer do in a cosmetic formula?
This ingredient is used as a conditioning polymer and film-former, mainly in hair care, where it improves slip, detangling, smooth feel, and wet-comb performance. Its cationic character helps it deposit onto negatively charged hair fibers.
Is Silicone Quaternium-16/Glycidoxy Dimethicone Crosspolymer clean?
From a clean-beauty perspective, this material has friction because it is a highly synthetic, quaternized polymer rather than a simple, readily degradable cosmetic ingredient. It is not typically flagged for acute irritation at normal use levels, but it may appear on restricted or excluded lists focused on persistent synthetic polymers.
Is Silicone Quaternium-16/Glycidoxy Dimethicone Crosspolymer sustainable?
This compound is made from petrochemical and mineral-derived chemistry and is not expected to readily biodegrade. Its environmental profile is the main concern, especially for rinse-off formats where polymeric residues can enter wastewater streams.
Is Silicone Quaternium-16/Glycidoxy Dimethicone Crosspolymer COSMOS-approved?
It is not aligned with COSMOS-natural or COSMOS-organic standards because it is a synthetic cationic polymer outside the permitted natural-derived chemistry set. It fits Green Chemistry poorly due to limited biodegradability and reliance on complex synthetic processing.
How does Silicone Quaternium-16/Glycidoxy Dimethicone Crosspolymer work chemically?
The molecule is a crosslinked cationic polymer with silicon-oxygen backbone segments, organic side chains, and permanent positive charges that promote surface deposition. It is commonly used at low percentages in conditioning systems, is generally stable across typical cosmetic pH ranges, and is often paired with surfactants, fatty alcohols, or other deposition aids to tune feel and rinse performance.
Last updated 2026-05-13