The egg in the shampoo or the shampoo in the egg

It seems ridiculous to write and talk about the egg shampoo when most of the brands are trying to reformulate their non-vegan products but since I have never claimed nor aspired to be the smartest and wisest person in the room, I allow myself to dedicate a few words to this topic.

A few months ago we prepared a lecithin shampoo with an amazing color that reminded me of the egg-yolk shampoo from my childhood. For a long period that shampoo (the photo on the right) was the one and only shampoo available on the market, it was like "the Nivea" in my country and they called it the "egg shampoo". I honestly don't know what they used in the shampoo (those days nobody declared the ingredients and even if they did nobody read them) but I assume it was just a colorant and the shampoo was mainly consisting of SLES, colorants, perfume. If anybody from old "Darugar" is reading these lines and can bestow some light to this topic I would be very grateful.

As I posted the photo of the shampoo we have made + the original traditional egg-yolk shampoo many of my compatriots joined me with their nostalgia and we discussed a while about the destiny of the shampoo and the brand.

So I went back and dug in my memory. Long before "SPA at home" was a buzzword, women applied egg-yolk mask to their hair and scalp to fortify the hair root, promote hair growth and improve the general health and shine of the hair. The mask recipes vary from family to family and generation to generation but the main ingredient of all of them is the beaten egg-yolk. This is a very messy and stinky ritual but it really works even and specifically after an illness, medication or treatment that had its toll on the hair and scalp.

As I went back to study about the roots of this ritual I realized that the egg-yolk mask/hair wash is common in many cultures around the world specially in the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East (if I am not mistaken, even gentlemen apply egg-yolk mask on their beard and mustache).

Even in Germany and before the first "modern" powder shampoo was on the market (1903, Schwarzkopf, powder shampoo), people used egg and beer or milk for a hair wash besides the "kernseife" for the lower class and the luxury aromatic soap for the upper class.

Today you can find different brands of egg-shampoo on the market. Most of them contain only the egg-protein powder derived from the egg-white if at all nevertheless they all have the tempting color of the egg-yolk.

There is next-to-no scientific backup for the efficacy of egg yolk in hair and scalp care(academics! you now have an inspiration for your next research projects), is it because of the phospholipids in the lecithin or the minerals or the egg oil no authority knows for sure but several scientific articles and books have pointed out the cultural roots of the egg yolk in hair care, all of them emphasizing that there is no scientific research performed in this department.

Apart from being used as a hair mask to fortify the hair and scalp, the egg yolk seems to be extremely popular as a DIY hair wash among the no-poo community. In all of these recipes the beaten egg-yolk is blended with other nourishing ingredients to a paste that is applied over the hair (from ashwagandha powder to saffron, from coconut water and olive oil to lemon juice and vinegar).

Why I prattled so much

This seems a very fascinating topic to tap into for those brands who still dare put something non-vegan on the market (specially in the Indian subcontinent or the Middle East)

Hair shampoo, hair conditioner, hair and scalp mask, shampoo bar and even a hair wash for the no-poo community are all possibilities to bring fresh (ancient) air to the hair care market,

AQiA, the Brazilian supplier has (at least) two commercial blends with egg-yolk extract for hair and scalp care that I am dying to test when their German distributor sends me the sample.

Disclaimer: Egg-yolk is not suitable for individuals with allergic reactions to proteins. There are a few brands that use the egg-oil (which is stripped from the protein) in their products for those group of individuals.

Further reading and references

Textbook of cosmeticdermatology

Baran, Robert, and Howard Maibach, eds. Textbook of cosmetic Dermatology. CRC Press, 2010.

Jung, Jina, and Ki Han Kwon. "Rethinking of positive effects of eggs on hair in East Asia." Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology 22.3 (2023): 737-743.

Takahashi, Tomoya, et al. "Phosphatidic acid has a potential to promote hair growth in vitro and in vivo, and activates mitogen-activated protein kinase/extracellular signal-regulated kinase kinase in hair epithelial cells." Journal of investigative dermatology 121.3 (2003): 448-456.

Kaushik, Rahul, D. Gupta, and R. Yadav. "Alopecia: herbal remedies." International Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research 2.7 (2011): 1631.