FILM FORMER
Pullulan
- film former
A fermented sugar polymer that dries to a thin, flexible film — used for light hold and a temporary tightening feel.
- products in our library
- 8
- of researched products
- 0.2%
- on the label, in our styling curl creams
- usually #15
- most common in
- Styler: curl cream
- 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 Pullulan does
The general function first, then how the role changes by product type where we have researched it.
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.
Gives a gel its body and keeps heavier ingredients from sinking.
A plant-derived film that bends rather than cracking.
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 ? |
|---|---|---|
Styler: curl cream
2 products
|
secondary · #15 | |
Styler: mousse
2 products
|
supporting · #4 | |
Heat protectant
1 product
|
supporting · #7 | |
Styler: smoothing cream
1 product
|
secondary · #10 | |
Styler: texture spray
1 product
|
supporting · #7 | |
Styler: volumizer
1 product
|
supporting · #5 |
| Product type | Products | Share of category | Median position | Earliest position | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Styler: curl cream | 2 | 2% | 15 | 6 | secondary |
| Styler: mousse | 2 | 1% | 4 | 2 | supporting |
| Heat protectant | 1 | 1% | 7 | 7 | supporting |
| Styler: smoothing cream | 1 | 2% | 10 | 10 | secondary |
| Styler: texture spray | 1 | 2% | 7 | 7 | 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 | 5 |
| 9-15 | Secondary | 2 |
| 16-25 | Lower | 1 |
| 26+ | Trace | 1 |
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.
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 style that holds
- a gel texture from a plant-derived thickener
- 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 film former, listed below the main ingredients in our styling curl creams
- 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.
- Hydrolyzed Rice Protein · 3
- Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil · 3
- Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice · 3
- Cetrimonium Chloride · 3
- Hydrolyzed Jojoba Esters · 2
- Galactoarabinan · 2
- Sucrose · 2
- Caprylyl/Capryl Glucoside · 2
- Silica · 2
- Capryloyl Glycerin/Sebacic Acid Copolymer · 2
The number beside a name is how many products in our library list both.
These ingredients tend to appear together to firm up damaged areas, soften the strand, and give the formula body and hold.
Found in these products
The most prominent placements first. The badge is the position on that product’s own ingredient list.
18.21 Man Made · Styler
Sweet Tobacco Hair Styling Powder
#5 on the label · $85.71/oz
Briogeo · Styler
Style + Treat Yuzu + Plum Oil Hair Styling Texture Foam
#5 on the label · $5.20/oz
Bounce Curl · Styler
Hydra-Lite Styling Cream
#6 on the label · $2.69/oz
Aveda · Styler
Texture Tonic Texturizing Spray
#7 on the label · $7.62/oz
Innersense · Heat protectant
Hair Love Prep Spray
#7 on the label · $4.18/oz
Kitsch · Styler
Air Dry Cream - Sugared Amber
#10 on the label · $2.66/oz
Pacifica · Conditioner
Vanilla Oat Milk Volumizing Conditioner
#15 on the label · $1.38/oz
California Naturals · Styler
Curl Cream
#23 on the label · $1.50/oz
Curl Keeper · Mask / treatment
Rapid Bond Repair Treatment Mask
#45 on the label · $6.67/oz
Identity
What this entry is, and what our references call it.
No public-domain structure depiction is available for this entry.
Pullulan
- gum
- pullulan
For your hair?
Whether Pullulan matters for your hair depends on your hair.
8 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 — 8 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.