Measure the texture of personal care products

The measurement of texture properties in personal care products is a paramount scientific endeavour in today's fiercely competitive market. Leading brands must consistently deliver products of impeccable quality and introduce innovations that set them apart to maintain their consumer base.

Beyond the product itself, the performance of personal care packaging plays a pivotal role in ensuring both product quality and user-friendliness.

A vast spectrum of properties comes under scrutiny, from the hardness and stickiness of soap and deodorants to the spreadability of creams and the force required to peel back lids, actuate a hairspray, or dispense contents from sachets or tubes. Sensory properties and the overall product feel are integral to a product's appeal and ultimate success.

The scientific measurement of texture properties in personal care products is a foundational practice that underpins product development, quality assurance, and market competitiveness in this dynamic industry.

The use of a Texture Analyser in the personal care industry is integral for product development, quality assurance, and market positioning. The ability to quantify and understand the texture and physical properties of personal care products enhances their performance, user satisfaction, and regulatory compliance. Here's how a Texture Analyser can assist:

• Product consistency: Ensuring the consistency of creams, lotions, gels, and other formulations is key to user experience. Texture Analysers can measure product viscosity, spreadability, and overall texture, ensuring that they feel right when applied.
• Evaluating aging and stability: Over time, products can undergo changes in texture. Regularly testing with a Texture Analyser ensures that products remain stable throughout their shelf life, maintaining their efficacy and feel.
• Product dispensing: The ease with which a product is dispensed, whether from a pump, tube, or aerosol, can be assessed. This ensures the product comes out in the right amount and consistency, enhancing user experience.
• Claims substantiation: If a hair conditioner claims to make hair "10 times smoother" or a lotion promises "improved creaminess," a Texture Analyser can provide the empirical data to back up these claims, bolstering marketing efforts and consumer trust.
• R&D and product innovation: During product development, Texture Analysers can help formulators fine-tune textures, leading to innovative products that meet specific market or consumer needs.
• Quality control: By ensuring consistent texture and properties batch after batch, manufacturers can guarantee product reliability and performance.
• Regulatory compliance: Many personal care products must adhere to specific standards set by regulatory bodies. Texture Analysers provide the quantitative data necessary for ensuring products meet these standards and for any required regulatory submissions.
• Consumer feedback integration: Understanding consumer preferences regarding product texture and feel is vital. Texture Analysers can assist brands in refining their products to align with these preferences, enhancing overall satisfaction.
• Comparative analysis: Evaluate how a product stands in comparison to competitors, giving insights into market positioning and potential areas of improvement.

In conclusion, the use of a Texture Analyser in the personal care industry bridges the gap between product formulation and user experience. By providing quantifiable data on a product's physical properties, manufacturers can optimize formulations, validate claims, ensure quality, and ultimately deliver products that resonate with consumers' needs and preferences.

Texture analysers are critical tools for evaluating the performance and quality of personal care products. These products encompass a wide range of items, including lotions, creams, soaps, deodorants, shaving products, and many others. To address the broad spectrum of personal care products, here are some key texture and mechanical properties that can be measured:

By using a Texture Analyser, brands can ensure that their personal care products meet desired specifications and provide the expected benefits, ensuring customer satisfaction.

Whether its providing the solution for Beirsdork to measure shaving stick hardness, allowing Proctor & Gamble to measure deodorant stick hardness or offering a method for the University of Le Havre to measure skinfeel attributes, a Texture Analyser is adaptable and flexible in its application to measure the bespoke texture of your product and then enable its quality to be controlled in your manufacturing to guarantee consistency and customer satisfaction.

With deep expertise in personal care product texture analysis, we’re well equipped to support innovation in this sector – just ask our customers.

A wide range of probes and attachments can be integrated with our instruments, enabling precise testing tailored to the specific product or material under evaluation. Applications include back extrusion tests to compare cream consistency, adhesive peel tests to assess the peel force of hair removal waxes or penetration tests employed to measure and control soap hardness.

Over the years, we have collaborated with leading scientists and organisations in the field to design and refine attachments such as the Spreadability Rig. When a suitable test solution did not already exist, we developed one – examples include the Sachet/Tube Extrusion Rig, all of which are registered within our growing portfolio of Community Registered Designs.

A selection of special attachments and typical measurements which are commonly used in this application area are shown, although this does not necessarily include the complete range available for the testing of personal care products. Any of the Texture Analyser range can be used for the product tests listed. 

Exponent Connect software includes a comprehensive range of test methods for personal care products, all instantly accessible at the click of a button. We streamline your texture testing process, ensuring faster access to methods and ready-to-use analysis files for your product properties.

The personal care industry has witnessed a surge in innovations, largely driven by consumer demands for natural, sustainable ingredients, and personalised experiences. Here are some of the newer ingredient and product ideas in personal care product research, development, and production and a typical academic reference to show how the Texture Analyser has already being applied: