Does Head & Shoulders Use Microplastics?
The short answer
Nearly every Head & Shoulders product we could analyse listed at least one flagged synthetic polymer. Of the 60 Head & Shoulders products on Open Beauty Facts with a readable ingredient list, 58 listed at least one flagged synthetic polymer — 97%. The one that came up most was Dimethicone, in 57 of them.
60
analysed
58
with a flag
97%
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What this is. Ingredient-label data from Open Beauty Facts (snapshot 2026-07-31), not laboratory testing. Coverage is crowdsourced, partial and Europe-weighted, so this is 60 of the 121 Head & Shoulders entries in that database, and US formulations often differ. A flagged ingredient is not automatically harmful — a gel thickener and a solid microbead are both synthetic polymers and are not the same risk.
What comes up most in Head & Shoulders ingredient lists
| Ingredient | Products | Why it's flagged |
|---|---|---|
| Dimethicone | 57 of 60 | Silicone |
| Amodimethicone | 19 of 60 | Silicone |
| Dimethiconol | 17 of 60 | Silicone |
| Polyquaternium-10 | 5 of 60 | Acrylate / vinyl polymer |
| Polyquaternium | 2 of 60 | Acrylate / vinyl polymer |
| Butylphenyl Methylpropional (Lilial) | 2 of 60 | Plasticiser / chemical of concern |
| DMDM Hydantoin | 1 of 60 | Plasticiser / chemical of concern |
Example products
Real entries from Open Beauty Facts, showing what the label lists.
head and shoulders classic
3 flagged ingredients
Anti-dandruff shampoo repair & care
3 flagged ingredients
Classic Clean
3 flagged ingredients
Product images from Open Beauty Facts contributors, licensed CC BY-SA. Ingredient data under ODbL.
Check your actual Head & Shoulders product
Brand averages hide a lot — formulations differ by product and by market. Paste your label into the free ingredient checker, or scan the bottle in the app for a 0–100 score that also weighs the packaging.
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