CONDITIONING AGENT
Polyquaternium-39
- conditioning agent
A hold-and-condition polymer used in styling products for a soft set.
- products in our library
- 25
- of researched products
- 0.6%
- on the label, in our shampoos
- usually #13
- most common in
- Shampoo
- 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.
Whether hair pulls it in or pushes it away — read from charge.
How much easier it makes a comb pass.
| Property | Level | Out of |
|---|---|---|
| Buildup risk | Low | 1 of 5 |
| Rinse-out behaviour | Stays where hair is damaged | 2 of 5 |
| Adhesion | Clings to damage | 5 of 5 |
| Slip | Moderate | 3 of 5 |
What it does for a formula
What Polyquaternium-39 does
The general function first, then how the role changes by product type where we have researched it.
Positive charge is drawn to the negatively charged, worn patches of a strand.
The measurable part of conditioning: less force to pull a comb through.
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
Positively charged, so it is drawn to the negatively charged, damaged areas of hair and stays behind after rinsing. That is why conditioning happens where the wear is.
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 ? |
|---|---|---|
Shampoo
17 products
|
secondary · #13 | |
Conditioner
3 products
|
secondary · #14 | |
Leave-in
2 products
|
secondary · #13 | |
Co-wash
1 product
|
secondary · #13 | |
Mask / treatment
1 product
|
secondary · #18 | |
Styler: curl cream
1 product
|
secondary · #39 |
| Product type | Products | Share of category | Median position | Earliest position | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shampoo | 17 | 2% | 13 | 8 | secondary |
| Conditioner | 3 | 0% | 14 | 12 | secondary |
| Leave-in | 2 | 0% | 13 | 10 | secondary |
| Co-wash | 1 | 1% | 13 | 13 | secondary |
| Mask / treatment | 1 | 0% | 18 | 18 | secondary |
| Styler: curl cream | 1 | 1% | 39 | 39 | 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 | 19 |
| 16-25 | Lower | 8 |
| 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.
Cationic polymers hold a curl loosely and stay soft, which is why they turn up in definition products rather than firm-hold ones.
A cationic polymer stays on the hair through rinsing, which is what keeps static and combing friction down after the wash.
Film formers are what hold a style: they dry into a connected film across the strands so the shape resists movement.
The class that does the detangling in a conditioner. It deposits lubrication where the cuticle is worn.
Cationic polymers are substantive by design — they are meant to survive rinsing — so repeated use without a detergent wash can leave a coated feel.
Detangling and weight come from the same deposit; how much of each depends on the chain length of the specific conditioner.
Read where it is listed in the first three ingredients or positions 4–8.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.
- detangling and less breakage from combing
- a style that holds
- a rinse-clean feel
- definition that still moves
- 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 conditioner, listed below the main ingredients in our shampoos
- it was on the label of every product we counted — we read printed ingredient lists, not marketing copy
- it is meant to stay on the hair rather than rinse away
- 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.
- Cocamidopropyl Betaine · 16
- Sodium Hydroxide · 14
- Sodium C14-16 Olefin Sulfonate · 12
- Glycol Distearate · 11
- Propylene Glycol · 10
- Peg-7 Amodimethicone · 9
- PPG-2 Hydroxyethyl Cocamide · 9
- Polyquaternium-22 · 9
- Linoleamidopropyl PG-Dimonium Chloride Phosphate · 9
- PEG-150 Pentaerythrityl Tetrastearate · 9
The number beside a name is how many products in our library list both.
These ingredients tend to appear together to clean and build foam, keep the formula stable, and soften the strand.
Found in these products
The most prominent placements first. The badge is the position on that product’s own ingredient list.
Neutrogena · Shampoo
Healthy Scalp Clarify & Shine Shampoo With Pink Grapefruit
#8 on the label · $1.15/oz
Aveeno · Shampoo
Apple Cider Vinegar Blend Shampoo
#9 on the label · $1.60/oz
Neutrogena · Shampoo
Healthy Scalp Hydro Boost With Hyaluronic Acid Shampoo
#9 on the label · $1.15/oz
Aveeno · Shampoo
Fresh Greens Blend Refresh and Thicken Shampoo for Thin/Fine Hair
#10 on the label · $1.41/oz
Aveeno · Shampoo
Oat Milk Blend Daily Moisture Shampoo
#10 on the label · $2.43/oz
Eden BodyWorks · Leave-in
Lavender Aloe Moisturizing Leave In
#10 on the label · $1.25/oz
OGX · Shampoo
Blonde Enhance + Purple Toning Shampoo
#10 on the label · $0.82/oz
OGX · Shampoo
Quenching+ Coconut Curls Shampoo
#11 on the label · $0.58/oz
OGX · Shampoo
Extra Strength Damage Remedy + Coconut Miracle Oil Shampoo
#12 on the label · $0.58/oz
Sexy Hair · Conditioner
Big Boost Up Volumizing Conditioner with Collagen
#12 on the label · $1.98/oz
DevaCurl · Co-wash
No-Poo Blue Anti-Brass Zero Lather Toning Cleanser
#13 on the label · $2.67/oz
Hask · Shampoo
Smooth + Keratin & Jojoba Oil Shampoo
#13 on the label · $0.62/oz
See all 25 products in the library that list Polyquaternium-39
Identity
What this entry is, and what our references call it.
No public-domain structure depiction is available for this entry.
Polyquaternium-39
- film former
- polymer
- polyquaternium-39
For your hair?
Whether Polyquaternium-39 matters for your hair depends on your hair.
25 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 — 25 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 2026-09-02. Product-page methodology: the product library.