POLYMER
Hydroxypropyl Guar
- polymer
A modified guar gum used to thicken and give a slippery, cushioned feel.
- products in our library
- 57
- of researched products
- 1%
- on the label, in our conditioners
- usually #14
- 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 Hydroxypropyl Guar 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.
A long-chain molecule that stays behind as the product dries.
Texture in the hand — it says nothing about what reaches the hair.
Charge
Carries no charge, so it neither clings to hair nor is pushed away by it. Nonionic ingredients are the mild, pH-tolerant workhorses of a formula.
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
14 products
|
secondary · #14 | |
Leave-in
11 products
|
secondary · #12 | |
Mask / treatment
10 products
|
secondary · #14 | |
Heat protectant
8 products
|
secondary · #11 | |
Styler: gel
3 products
|
supporting · #4 | |
Styler: smoothing cream
3 products
|
secondary · #18 | |
Finisher: serum
2 products
|
secondary · #11 | |
Shampoo
2 products
|
secondary · #14 | |
Styler: mousse
2 products
|
secondary · #20 | |
Styler: curl cream
1 product
|
supporting · #8 |
1 more product type
| Product type | How common | Typical position on label ? |
|---|---|---|
Styler: volumizer
1 product
|
supporting · #5 |
| Product type | Products | Share of category | Median position | Earliest position | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conditioner | 14 | 2% | 14 | 8 | secondary |
| Leave-in | 11 | 3% | 12 | 4 | secondary |
| Mask / treatment | 10 | 3% | 14 | 4 | secondary |
| Heat protectant | 8 | 6% | 11 | 6 | secondary |
| Styler: gel | 3 | 2% | 4 | 4 | supporting |
| Styler: smoothing cream | 3 | 5% | 18 | 5 | secondary |
| Finisher: serum | 2 | 3% | 11 | 10 | secondary |
| Shampoo | 2 | 0% | 14 | 13 | secondary |
| Styler: mousse | 2 | 1% | 20 | 12 | secondary |
| Styler: curl cream | 1 | 1% | 8 | 8 | supporting |
| Styler: volumizer | 1 | 2% | 5 | 5 | supporting |
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 | 1 |
| 4-8 | Supporting | 14 |
| 9-15 | Secondary | 33 |
| 16-25 | Lower | 16 |
| 26+ | Trace | 7 |
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.
Gums thicken and set soft, which gives definition that bends rather than a rigid cast.
A styling polymer dries into a film across the strands, which is what makes a shape hold instead of relax.
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.
- a gel texture from a plant-derived thickener
- a style that holds
- a thicker, easier-to-spread formula
- a rinse-clean feel
- 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 secondary thickener, listed below the main ingredients in our conditioners
- it was on the label of every product we counted — we read printed ingredient lists, not marketing copy
- anything about what the product does on hair
- 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.
- Behentrimonium Chloride · 38
- Benzyl Alcohol · 34
- Cetrimonium Chloride · 33
- Citronellol · 28
- Amodimethicone · 27
- Isopropyl Alcohol · 27
- Hexyl Cinnamal · 21
- Trideceth-6 · 20
- Cetyl Esters · 19
- Dimethicone · 18
The number beside a name is how many products in our library list both.
These ingredients tend to appear together to improve feel after rinsing, carry the formula and let it dry, and give it a scent.
Found in these products
The most prominent placements first. The badge is the position on that product’s own ingredient list.
Design Essentials · Scalp treatment
Peppermint & Aloe Soothing Scalp Tonic
#2 on the label · $2.75/oz
Carol's Daughter · Styler
Coco Crème Curl Shaping Cream Gel with Coconut Oil
#4 on the label · $0.75/oz
Garnier Fructis · Leave-in
Curl Restoring Hair Treat 3 in 1 Leave in Cream
#4 on the label · $1.49/oz
Kinky-Curly · Mask / treatment
Stellar Strands
#4 on the label
Matrix · Styler
A Curl Can Dream Light Hold Gel
#4 on the label · $3.82/oz
Carol's Daughter · Leave-in
Born To Repair Defining Leave-In Cream with Shea Butter
#5 on the label · $2.06/oz
Kerastase · Leave-in
Curl Manifesto Creme De Jour Fondamentale
#5 on the label · $8.68/oz
Kérastase · Styler
Curl Manifesto Gelée Curl Contour Gel-Cream
#5 on the label · $9.80/oz
L'Oréal · Styler
Elnett Anti-Frizz Slick Back Styling Cream for Flexible Hold
#5 on the label · $3.14/oz
Nick Stenson Beauty · Styler
Volume Créme
#5 on the label · $6.00/oz
Kerastase · Heat protectant
Chronologiste Thermique Régénérant
#6 on the label · $8.63/oz
Kristin Ess · Scalp treatment
Mineral Detox Pre-Shampoo Rinse
#7 on the label · $2.50/oz
See all 57 products in the library that list Hydroxypropyl Guar
Identity
What this entry is, and what our references call it.
No public-domain structure depiction is available for this entry.
Hydroxypropyl Guar
- gum
- thickener
- hydroxypropyl guar
For your hair?
Whether Hydroxypropyl Guar matters for your hair depends on your hair.
57 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 — 57 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.