Comparative Evaluation of Herbal and Commercial Anti-Dandruff Shampoos

Abstract

Dandruff is one of the most common scalp conditions, caused by overgrowth of Malassezia genus, which causes flaking, itching and irritation of the scalp. Synthetic antifungal shampoos are readily available and help control dandruff, but may cause problems like dryness, irritation and allergies when used for a long time. So the herbal anti-dandruff shampoos made using extracts of medicinal plants have attracted a great deal of interest as safer and environmentally-friendly alternatives. The purpose of the present study was to compare the properties of the prepared herbal anti-dandruff shampoos and commercially available anti-dandruff shampoos with regard to their physical characteristics, physicochemical properties, performance attributes, and safety profile. Six formulations of herbal shampoo using neem and tulsi, aloe vera, hibiscus, tea tree oil were prepared using a standardized shampoo base and marketed anti-dandruff shampoo formulations (five) were compared. Standard evaluation procedures were employed for the evaluation of formulations with regard to organoleptic characteristics, pH, solid content (%), density, viscosity, surface tension, wetting time, dirt dispersion, foaming ability, foam stability, cleansing effect, conditioning effect, ease of rinsing, wet combability and dry combability, as well as literature-based safety assessment. All the prepared herbal formulations showed acceptable physical appearance, pH that is compatible to scalp, satisfactory viscosity and good foaming property with cleansing efficiency similar to the commercial shampoos. The prepared formulations were evaluated for their physicochemical properties and performance characteristics. Among them, the polyherbal formulation exhibited the most balanced overall properties due to the combination of multiple medicinal plant extracts. The herbal anti-dandruff shampoos demonstrated comparable quality and performance, indicating their potential as alternatives to commercially available anti-dandruff shampoos.