A study of the distribution of polymer/surfactant coacervate between solution and foam in archetypal shampoo systems.

The research reported here attempted to answer the question, "is the foam important in delivering coacervates from shampoos." In order to answer this question, we have measured the amount of polymer in the foam and in the liquid phases of several cationic polymer/anionic surfactant systems by gravimetry and by FTIR techniques. In all cases studied, we discovered that the concentration of solids and, especially the polymer, in the liquid phase and in the foam phase were essentially the same. We conclude that the foam is unlikely to be an important factor in the topical delivery of polymer/surfactant coacervates.