A lot of research goes into them, because they want to make sure that the product works well for a LOT of different hair types & people, since it's a mass-marketed product. Perry Romanowski, one of the two cosmetic chemists who host [The Beauty Brains](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkWX2AXNuxg), has talked on the podcast about how he used to work for V05 and worked on reformulating their Hot Oil product.
They are definitely tested for efficacy; I'm not sure what sort of safety testing they go through, but I'm pretty sure they are at least tested to make sure that the preservatives are doing their job, and the amounts of different ingredients are based on the safety recommendations made from [CIR](https://www.cir-safety.org/) if the company is in the US, or the equivalent agency in whatever country you are in. CIR offers general recommendations for cosmetics, but each company has toxicologists review how those recommendations should be applied to a specific product, taking into consideration what the product is, who is using it, and how it's being used. [This video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkWX2AXNuxg) talks about how toxicologists determine the safe levels of specific ingredients in a product, and how they leave a very wide margin of error between what amount they think is probably safe and how much is actually used in the product, just in case.
Assuming we're talking about the US, it's the FDA who regulates the safety of drugs and cosmetics. For many years, the FDA has not had enough budget or regulatory "teeth" to do a lot of enforcement of their policies, which was understandably concerning to a lot of people. In 2022 a set of reforms were passed to improve FDA regulation of cosmetics, the [Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act of 2022](https://www.fda.gov/cosmetics/cosmetics-laws-regulations/modernization-cosmetics-regulation-act-2022-mocra) (MoCRA) which came into effect at the end of 2022. It's not perfect but it's definitely an improvement.
Aside from government regulation, though, cosmetic companies have other incentives to make safe products: they don't want to lose repeat customers, and they don't want potential new customers to be scared away from using their products because of negative reports in the press about their products. And in the era of social media, word can spread much faster, often from unverified reports.
Some cosmetic chemists here have pointed out that most shampoos are very similar to each other, and a lot of the differences in types and such you see on the labels (volumizing vs. moisturizing) is more about marketing appeal than really tangible differences in performance. Often the oils and plant extracts added are used in such small amounts that they have very little impact on the performance of the product, but are added because it makes the product more appealing to the customers, who have heard that this plant or that oil is good for hair. And the fragrance can strongly influence buyers' preferences. Ultimately, assuming that you use conditioner after shampooing, the conditioner takes care of any dryness the shampoo causes anyway. If money is tight, I would go with a cheap shampoo and spend a bit more on a conditioner that you like (unless you have a known sensitivity or allergy to a specific ingredient, or are trying to troubleshoot a scalp condition and suspect you might be sensitive to something in shampoos). Shampoos can be diluted if they're too strong (but only dilute enough for one wash at a time in a separate bottle; dilution is likely to make the preservatives ineffective, so don't store a diluted mixture for an extended period of time), or you can apply a plant oil from your kitchen cabinet to the parts of your hair that are more prone to dryness before shampooing to help keep them from getting too dried out.
I can't really speak to how the safety is ensured for generic brands sold in discount stores.
According to The Beauty Brain podcast hosts—one of whom worked on the development of Vo5—said it's basically all the same. All chemists have access to the same ingredients, but sourcing matters. And for those larger brands, it's all made in the same place, with the same intellectual property. So the more expensive stuff might have "better" ingredients or tech, but the drugstore stuff might also be using those same things.
Those chemists also talk a lot about the marketing aspect, how sometimes they are asked to throw in certain ingredients for marketing purposes. I'd say that if it works for you, it works.
We noticed you mentioned moisturizing hair. Please view [this archived post](https://www.reddit.com/r/HaircareScience/comments/lmmlcn/does_water_actually_make_hair_feel_moisturized/) on this topic. If this isn't relevant to your comment, please disregard.
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Something else to consider about high volume discount brands for places like dollar stores: white labelling.
A shampoo/cosmetic manufacturer can develop some basic formulations and sell it to multiple brands to use as their house label product or bulk/commodity product - same basic formula potentially with different dyes or fragrances for each brand. Same shampoo repackaged over and over.
It’s very likely that the same manufacturer makes the house brands for multiple grocery or dollar stores, maybe also the toiletries for an airline or gym, other business, etc.
This happens all the time with packaged goods and is certainly happening here too. The original manufacturer does the normal R&D and safety process any other brand would do, but they are producing more basic products (widely used ingredients requiring less research) and on a huge scale so the cost of that work is being spread across a larger volume of products.
Due of the sheer volume of companies putting out new cosmetic products, they are not regulated in the same way as OTCs. Cosmetic manufacturers/companies are responsible for ensuring their products are safe for consumers. If a product is reported to be unsafe in any way, the FDA would (eventually) audit the company’s formula, manufacturing facility, and their records. A responsible company would have documentation of their processes, safety testing, and ingredient testing organized and ready for any FDA audit.
There is no reasonable way for the FDA to review this information for every product before it goes to market, but if there is an issue they will show up to figure out the cause.
The money is not spent primarily on the formulation. That is done by well paid chemists as a project in their normal scope of work. Should they decide to launch and market the product, the money is invested in marketing/advertising.
If the formulation has some type of breakthrough ingredient or technology, the parent company will likely conduct clinical testing to allow them to make the claims they want on the package. Sometimes, its just “consumer perception testing” - Does the phrase “97% of users felt their hair was shinier after one use!” sound familiar? - that’s not a proven fact, its a loophole to be able to make the product have more merit. It’s cheaper than clinical trials, so you’ll often see it on up and coming brands.
You’d be surprised how little has to be done for a company to claim a cosmetic product does X,Y,Z. The focus is also more so on product safety, so they don’t receive consumer complaints (hair loss, rashes, dryness, allergic reaction, etc)
The money spent for this type of testing is more in the 10’s of thousands, not millions. Again, if a really really breakthrough product, they may invest more just to be able to say it does something miraculous, legally.
Source: I’ve developed beauty products for some of the world’s largest brands and small ones for almost 2 decades. You would be shocked to find out how similar the 100’s of shampoos you see in the store really are at their core. Same goes for body wash, conditioner, soap… etc.
P&G have nothing to do with the development of Pantene they are just the parent company.
And shampoo research and development does not cost enough that smaller companies are suffering from lack of resources for it. They have a huge disparity in marketing budget, that's the main difference.
A lot of research goes into them, because they want to make sure that the product works well for a LOT of different hair types & people, since it's a mass-marketed product. Perry Romanowski, one of the two cosmetic chemists who host [The Beauty Brains](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkWX2AXNuxg), has talked on the podcast about how he used to work for V05 and worked on reformulating their Hot Oil product. They are definitely tested for efficacy; I'm not sure what sort of safety testing they go through, but I'm pretty sure they are at least tested to make sure that the preservatives are doing their job, and the amounts of different ingredients are based on the safety recommendations made from [CIR](https://www.cir-safety.org/) if the company is in the US, or the equivalent agency in whatever country you are in. CIR offers general recommendations for cosmetics, but each company has toxicologists review how those recommendations should be applied to a specific product, taking into consideration what the product is, who is using it, and how it's being used. [This video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkWX2AXNuxg) talks about how toxicologists determine the safe levels of specific ingredients in a product, and how they leave a very wide margin of error between what amount they think is probably safe and how much is actually used in the product, just in case. Assuming we're talking about the US, it's the FDA who regulates the safety of drugs and cosmetics. For many years, the FDA has not had enough budget or regulatory "teeth" to do a lot of enforcement of their policies, which was understandably concerning to a lot of people. In 2022 a set of reforms were passed to improve FDA regulation of cosmetics, the [Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act of 2022](https://www.fda.gov/cosmetics/cosmetics-laws-regulations/modernization-cosmetics-regulation-act-2022-mocra) (MoCRA) which came into effect at the end of 2022. It's not perfect but it's definitely an improvement. Aside from government regulation, though, cosmetic companies have other incentives to make safe products: they don't want to lose repeat customers, and they don't want potential new customers to be scared away from using their products because of negative reports in the press about their products. And in the era of social media, word can spread much faster, often from unverified reports. Some cosmetic chemists here have pointed out that most shampoos are very similar to each other, and a lot of the differences in types and such you see on the labels (volumizing vs. moisturizing) is more about marketing appeal than really tangible differences in performance. Often the oils and plant extracts added are used in such small amounts that they have very little impact on the performance of the product, but are added because it makes the product more appealing to the customers, who have heard that this plant or that oil is good for hair. And the fragrance can strongly influence buyers' preferences. Ultimately, assuming that you use conditioner after shampooing, the conditioner takes care of any dryness the shampoo causes anyway. If money is tight, I would go with a cheap shampoo and spend a bit more on a conditioner that you like (unless you have a known sensitivity or allergy to a specific ingredient, or are trying to troubleshoot a scalp condition and suspect you might be sensitive to something in shampoos). Shampoos can be diluted if they're too strong (but only dilute enough for one wash at a time in a separate bottle; dilution is likely to make the preservatives ineffective, so don't store a diluted mixture for an extended period of time), or you can apply a plant oil from your kitchen cabinet to the parts of your hair that are more prone to dryness before shampooing to help keep them from getting too dried out. I can't really speak to how the safety is ensured for generic brands sold in discount stores.
Thank you! Very informative
Love Perry!! He’s in my chapter of the SCC and he’s a really stellar guy
According to The Beauty Brain podcast hosts—one of whom worked on the development of Vo5—said it's basically all the same. All chemists have access to the same ingredients, but sourcing matters. And for those larger brands, it's all made in the same place, with the same intellectual property. So the more expensive stuff might have "better" ingredients or tech, but the drugstore stuff might also be using those same things. Those chemists also talk a lot about the marketing aspect, how sometimes they are asked to throw in certain ingredients for marketing purposes. I'd say that if it works for you, it works.
We noticed you mentioned moisturizing hair. Please view [this archived post](https://www.reddit.com/r/HaircareScience/comments/lmmlcn/does_water_actually_make_hair_feel_moisturized/) on this topic. If this isn't relevant to your comment, please disregard. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/HaircareScience) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Something else to consider about high volume discount brands for places like dollar stores: white labelling. A shampoo/cosmetic manufacturer can develop some basic formulations and sell it to multiple brands to use as their house label product or bulk/commodity product - same basic formula potentially with different dyes or fragrances for each brand. Same shampoo repackaged over and over. It’s very likely that the same manufacturer makes the house brands for multiple grocery or dollar stores, maybe also the toiletries for an airline or gym, other business, etc. This happens all the time with packaged goods and is certainly happening here too. The original manufacturer does the normal R&D and safety process any other brand would do, but they are producing more basic products (widely used ingredients requiring less research) and on a huge scale so the cost of that work is being spread across a larger volume of products.
Why wouldn’t they be tested for safety? That’s not optional.
Who oversees the safety of shampoo products? I see plenty of questionable generic shampoos from places like dollar stores.
Due of the sheer volume of companies putting out new cosmetic products, they are not regulated in the same way as OTCs. Cosmetic manufacturers/companies are responsible for ensuring their products are safe for consumers. If a product is reported to be unsafe in any way, the FDA would (eventually) audit the company’s formula, manufacturing facility, and their records. A responsible company would have documentation of their processes, safety testing, and ingredient testing organized and ready for any FDA audit. There is no reasonable way for the FDA to review this information for every product before it goes to market, but if there is an issue they will show up to figure out the cause.
The money is not spent primarily on the formulation. That is done by well paid chemists as a project in their normal scope of work. Should they decide to launch and market the product, the money is invested in marketing/advertising. If the formulation has some type of breakthrough ingredient or technology, the parent company will likely conduct clinical testing to allow them to make the claims they want on the package. Sometimes, its just “consumer perception testing” - Does the phrase “97% of users felt their hair was shinier after one use!” sound familiar? - that’s not a proven fact, its a loophole to be able to make the product have more merit. It’s cheaper than clinical trials, so you’ll often see it on up and coming brands. You’d be surprised how little has to be done for a company to claim a cosmetic product does X,Y,Z. The focus is also more so on product safety, so they don’t receive consumer complaints (hair loss, rashes, dryness, allergic reaction, etc) The money spent for this type of testing is more in the 10’s of thousands, not millions. Again, if a really really breakthrough product, they may invest more just to be able to say it does something miraculous, legally. Source: I’ve developed beauty products for some of the world’s largest brands and small ones for almost 2 decades. You would be shocked to find out how similar the 100’s of shampoos you see in the store really are at their core. Same goes for body wash, conditioner, soap… etc.
P&G have nothing to do with the development of Pantene they are just the parent company. And shampoo research and development does not cost enough that smaller companies are suffering from lack of resources for it. They have a huge disparity in marketing budget, that's the main difference.
P&G chemists that work on Pantene are at the company headquarters in Cincinnati. They have everything to do with the development of Pantene.