Development and Evaluation of Natural Anti-dandruff Shampoo

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to develop a pure herbal anti-dandruff shampoo and assess its efficacy and safety. The herbal shampoo was prepared by mixing various amounts of the following extracts into a 10% aqueous solution: Neem (Azadirachta indica), Lemongrass (Cymbopogon citrates), Reetha (Sapindus mukorossi), Sheekakai (Sapindus indica), Amla (Indian gooseberries), Bhringaraj (Eclipta alba), and Brahmi (Bacopa monnieri). The pH was changed, and methylparaben was added as a preservative in very minute amounts. To ascertain the physicochemical characteristics of the prepared shampoos, several tests including visual inspection, pH, wetting time, percentage of solid contents, foam volume and stability, surface tension, detergency, dirt dispersion, etc. were carried out. By giving 20 student volunteers a blind test, the conditioning performance of the herbal shampoo formulation was also assessed. The herbal shampoo was presented simply and appealingly. It demonstrated high detergency, good cleaning, and low surface tension. After 5 minutes, the shampoo’s formulation provided good foam stability. It was discovered that the scores for the conditioning performance of the hair after using a herbal shampoo ranged from 1.75 to 3.4. The results revealed that the specifically formulated shampoo had outstanding conditioning performance, comparable to a shampoo that is easily found in markets. Malassezia furfur was used as a test subject for the efficiency of the multi-herbal anti-dandruff formulations. Formulation F4 demonstrated strong antifungal activity, as measured by the zone of inhibition and lowest inhibitory concentration. However, additional research and development are required to improve its quality and safety.