FILM FORMER
Biosaccharide Gum-1
- film former
A fermented sugar polymer that holds water and leaves a soft film. Used for a soothing, hydrated feel.
- products in our library
- 3
- of researched products
- 0.1%
- on the label, in our conditioners
- usually #6
- most common in
- Conditioner
- in water
- Water-soluble
At a glance
Four named levels, read from this ingredient’s chemical class, its charge, its solubility, or where it sits on the labels we have. More dots means more of the property named — never “better”.
How much of it is left on hair between washes.
What it takes to get it off the hair again.
What the polymer class can do, not what any bottle claims.
How well the film survives damp air, as a class.
| Property | Level | Out of |
|---|---|---|
| Buildup risk | Low | 1 of 5 |
| Rinse-out behaviour | Rinses clean | 5 of 5 |
| Hold | Soft | 3 of 5 |
| Humidity resistance | Low | 1 of 5 |
What it does for a formula
What Biosaccharide Gum-1 does
The general function first, then how the role changes by product type where we have researched it.
Gives a gel its body and keeps heavier ingredients from sinking.
A plant-derived film that bends rather than cracking.
The film is what holds a shape once the water has gone.
How firmly depends on the polymer class and how much of it is used.
Charge
Charge is not recorded for this ingredient.
Solubility
Rinses out with water alone — it does not accumulate on hair between washes.
Where it appears
Where it appears
One row per product category in our library: how many products list it, what share of that category that is, and where it typically sits on the label.
| Product type | How common | Typical position on label ? |
|---|---|---|
Conditioner
1 product
|
supporting · #6 | |
Heat protectant
1 product
|
secondary · #38 | |
Shampoo
1 product
|
secondary · #31 |
| Product type | Products | Share of category | Median position | Earliest position | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conditioner | 1 | 0% | 6 | 6 | supporting |
| Heat protectant | 1 | 1% | 38 | 38 | secondary |
| Shampoo | 1 | 0% | 31 | 31 | secondary |
No product-type differences have been researched yet — the reading below is computed from where it sits on the labels in our library.
Position footprint
Every listing in our library, by position on the label.
| Positions | Zone | Listings |
|---|---|---|
| 1-3 | Leading | 0 |
| 4-8 | Supporting | 1 |
| 9-15 | Secondary | 0 |
| 16-25 | Lower | 0 |
| 26+ | Trace | 2 |
How to read this
US labelling rules put ingredients above 1% in descending order of amount; below 1% they may be listed in any order.
So position tells you about relative amount only above that line, and we never convert a position into a percentage.
Who should pay attention
Conditional formulation guidance, scoped to a hair condition and to the positions where it is meaningful. It is not a conclusion about any finished product, and not a conclusion about you.
A polysaccharide film stays softer than a synthetic one as it dries, which is what leaves a curl defined but still able to move.
A soft film binds neighbouring strands together, which is most of what keeps flyaways lying down without stiffness.
Humectants bind water into the strand, and water — not oil — is what makes dry hair flexible instead of brittle.
A humectant follows the air: it holds water in humid conditions and can give it up in very dry ones. Climate decides what it does more than the label does.
Gum films stay soft. A style that needs firm fixation usually wants a synthetic polymer doing the holding.
Read from this ingredient’s chemical class. Where we have researched the ingredient itself, that reading replaces the class one.
Why it matters to shoppers
What this ingredient is evidence of, what it is not evidence of, and what our own method can and cannot tell you.
- soft, touchable hold
- a gel texture from a plant-derived thickener
- a style that holds
- hydration rather than oil
- an exact safety score — we do not publish one, for any ingredient
- how a finished product performs by itself — that is the whole formula, not one line of it
- the exact percentage in a bottle — label position never converts into a number
- a supporting thickener alongside the main ingredients in our conditioners
- it was on the label of every product we counted — we read printed ingredient lists, not marketing copy
- that a product is right or wrong for you
We do not publish safety scores or hazard grades. Where a regulator has published a restriction or a use condition, we state it and cite it; otherwise we describe what the ingredient does and stop.
Commonly paired with
Ingredients that appear alongside this one most often in our library. Near-universal ingredients are excluded — they pair with everything and tell you nothing.
- Disodium EDTA · 3
- Divinyldimethicone/Dimethicone Copolymer · 2
- Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate · 2
- Sodium PCA · 2
- Hydrolyzed Verbascum Thapsus Flower · 1
- Plukenetia Volubilis Seed Oil · 1
- Ceteareth-7 · 1
- Isostearamidopropyl Morpholine Lactate · 1
- Cetyl Triethylmonium Dimethicone Peg-8 Succinate · 1
- Cetyl Ethylhexanoate · 1
The number beside a name is how many products in our library list both.
These ingredients tend to appear together to keep the formula stable, smooth the surface, and deliver a stated effect.
Found in these products
The most prominent placements first. The badge is the position on that product’s own ingredient list.
Identity
What this entry is, and what our references call it.
No public-domain structure depiction is available for this entry.
Biosaccharide Gum-1
- gum
- humectant
- biosaccharide gum-1
For your hair?
Whether Biosaccharide Gum-1 matters for your hair depends on your hair.
3 products in our library list itWhat this ingredient does, and where it sits on the labels we have researched.
A verdict on any product that contains it, and never a safety grade.
We do not physically test your hair. Everything above is read from the ingredient lists in our library and from published references — the consultation is what turns it into a plan.
References
Seed entry — sourcing in progress Written from our reference work; primary sourcing is still being attached.
No published source is attached to this entry yet.
How this page was made
- Every number above is counted from the ingredient lists in our own product library — 3 of 3889 researched products list this ingredient. Nothing on this page is written per ingredient.
- The dots are named levels read from an ingredient’s chemical class, charge, solubility, or where it sits on the labels we have — never a score.
- US labelling rules put ingredients above 1% in descending order of amount; below 1% they may be listed in any order. Position tells you about relative amount only above that line, and we never convert a position into a percentage.
- The prominence bands (leading, supporting, secondary) are the same ones the product pages use to read a single label, applied here to the median position across a category.
- We do not publish safety scores or hazard grades. Where a regulator has published a restriction or a use condition, we state it and cite it; otherwise we describe what the ingredient does and stop.
- Identifiers and references appear only when a published source is attached to this entry; where none is, the row is simply absent rather than filled in.
- This is cosmetic information, not medical advice, and nothing here diagnoses or treats a health condition.
- Entry last updated 2026-08-28. Product-page methodology: the product library.