Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose (HPMC) is a chemically modified polymer derived from natural cellulose, known for its thickening, film-forming, emulsifying, and moisturizing properties. It is widely used in cosmetics, personal care, pharmaceuticals, and food industries.
Key advantages of HPMC in cosmetics include:
High Safety Profile: Plant-based origin, compliant with FDA and EU cosmetic regulations, vegan-friendly, and suitable for clean beauty formulations.
Mild and Non-Irritating: Does not react with skin proteins, has low sensitization potential, suitable for sensitive and baby skin products.
Multifunctionality: Provides desired viscosity and rheology while enhancing product feel and appearance.
Common applications:
Facial cleansers (foam cleansers, mousses, cleansing lotions)
Shampoos and conditioners
Creams, lotions, serums
Eye drops and contact lens lubricants (pharmaceutical grade)
In today's personal care market, competition in facial cleansers goes beyond cleansing efficacy and focuses on overall user experience. Consumers usually prioritize:
Rich and Fine Foam
Foam helps encapsulate dirt and excess oils, reducing direct friction and irritation on the skin.
Stable and Long-Lasting Foam
Foam stability during cleansing influences user satisfaction; rapid foam collapse may lead to insufficient cleansing or poor experience.
Mildness and Skin Barrier Protection
Especially for sensitive and dry skin, preference for formulations with gentle pH and minimal skin barrier disruption.
Smooth Skin Feel and Easy Rinsing
After cleansing, skin should not feel tight or greasy.
HPMC is a key ingredient that improves these essential indicators.
HPMC forms a three-dimensional network structure, increasing formulation viscosity and improving surfactant system rheology, resulting in finer, more uniform foam.
Inhibition of Bubble Coalescence: HPMC polymer chains adsorb on bubble liquid films, forming a stabilizing layer that prevents rapid foam rupture.
Delaying Liquid Drainage: Its viscoelastic properties slow water drainage from foam films, prolonging foam lifespan.
When combined with mild surfactants such as amino acid surfactants and betaines, HPMC further optimizes foam quality and skin feel.
HPMC forms a transparent moisturizing film on the skin surface, reducing water evaporation during cleansing and helping maintain skin softness.
HPMC can partially encapsulate surfactant molecules, reducing their direct contact with keratin proteins, thereby lowering defatting and irritation potential.
Inclusion of appropriate amounts of HPMC significantly improves skin feel by making the cleansing process smoother and reducing friction.
Formulation A: 0.5% HPMC
Formulation B: No HPMC
Comparison Results:
Parameter | Formulation A | Formulation B |
Foam Generation Time | 3 seconds | 3 seconds |
Foam Fineness | High | Medium |
Foam Stability (3 min retention) | 85% | 60% |
Skin Moisture Content Increase After Cleansing | +18% | +7% |
User Comfort Score | 9.2/10 | 7.5/10 |
Results show that formulations with HPMC outperform in foam stability, moisturization, and skin feel.
Growing Demand for Clean Beauty: Consumers prefer sulfate-free, plant-based formulations. HPMC’s natural origin aligns well with this trend.
Sustainability: HPMC is biodegradable, supporting environmentally friendly marketing strategies.
Multifunctional Formulations: Suitable for gentle cleansers with thickening, foam stabilization, moisturizing functions, reducing need for multiple additives.
Recommended Usage Levels:
Gentle foam cleansers: 0.3%–0.6%
High viscosity mousse-type products: 0.5%–1.0%
Selection Tips:
Low-viscosity HPMC: Suitable for light foam cleansers
Medium to high-viscosity HPMC: Suitable for mousse or high-foam formulation
Application
The most important property of hydroxyethyl cellulose powder is that it acts as a thickener, in creasing the viscosity of the liquid,and its thickening depends on its concentration. If you're searching for a versatile solution that enhances the performance of your products, look no further than Hydroxyethyl Cellulose (HEC) powder.
The gypsum special grade hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose HPMC has the characteristics of high water retention, dispersibility, good fineness, good workability and easy dissolution. widely used in gypsum products like gypsum plaster, adhesive plaster, embedded gypsum, tile adhesives etc.
Daily Chemical Products Additive
Daily Chemical HPMC has a variety of properties such as thickening, foam stabllization,emulifiation, and easy dispersion. Shampoo Additive HPMC has good compatibility with various additives of other daily chemical products. It is widely used in detergents, shower gels, shampoos, hand sanitizers, and laundry liquid and other products.
Tile Adhesive Additive HPMC can ensure the smooth construction on difterent base surtaces, even when the ambient temperalure is relalively harsh, the tile adhesive can be given a long enough open time and adjustable time.
In gypsum products, the focus is on water retention, retardation and lubrication. Different gypsum has different effects on product performance, so thickening, water retention, and retardation determine the quality of gypsum building materials.
Adding hydroxypropyl metylellulose can improve anti-sip performance, improve wetting performance, thicken, improve batch scraping and slipping, easy to level, improve surface performance and strength, and have very good compatibility with other additives.
Hydroxypropyl metylcellulose is a commonly used raw material in powdered building materials, which greatly improves the slip performance and anti-sag performance of the construction, improves the wettability, improves the anti-slip performance of the putty, improves the leveling effect of the putty, and improves the construction eficlency.
Technical Guidelines for Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose (HPMC)
As a professional manufacturer of architectural-grade HPMC, we provide you with comprehensive technical guidance and problem-solving support throughout the production and application processes.
How much do you know about Hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose(HPMC)?
Hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose (HPMC) is a non-ionic cellulose ether obtained by cellulose alkalization, etherification, neutralization and washing. HPMC has good thickening, dispersing, emulsifying, film-forming properties, etc.It is the first choice for production of high quality building materials additives.
We have both Chemical Lab and Application Lab to ensure each order's best satisfaction
How to improve the adhesion of putty
When encountering the projects that have been constructed, it is found that the adhesion of putty on the exterior wall is poor, the following methods can be adopted to improve the adhesion of putty:
Take the required amount of hot water into the container and heat to above 85., stir slowly and add the product gradually The cellulose initially floats on the water, but gradually disperses in water and forms homogeneous slurry. Goon stirring until it cools down and becomes clear
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