Science Fair Projects with Shampoo

Shampoo is a product that most people use on a daily or nearly daily basis. It is a hair care product that is design to cleanse hair by removing excess oil, dirt and dandruff from the hair shaft and the scalp.

The first science fair projects with shampoo that you can do look at how shampoo works. You can design experiments that explore what chemical properties or reactions make shampoo lather and what chemical properties or reactions help shampoo to get your hair clean. After you complete these basic chemistry science fair experiments you will be ready to move on to more advanced products.

Other science fair projects with shampoo that you can do deal with the chemical makeup of shampoo. For example, you can explore the pH level of different shampoos to see if that impacts the shampoo's ability to lather or clean your hair. You can also look at the specific ingredients that different shampoos contain and then examine the chemical properties of these ingredients to determine why they were selected, or to determine if they add any value to the shampoo product itself.

If you are interested in developing more advanced chemistry science fair projects then you can look at science experiments that use shampoo for non-conventional purposes. For example, shampoo can be used at disaster sites to purify water for drinking. This is done by applying a small amount of shampoo containing either cetrimide or polyquatermium-10 to a gallon of water. This water is swirled around to activate the shampoo. The water is then strained through newspaper that is two sheets thick.

When developing your shampoo sicence fair projects you need to take science project ideas, like the ones mentioned above and put your own twist on it. For example, you can take the water purification science project mentioned above and see if it is capable of removing different types of toxins like petroleum residues from water. You could also develop chemistry science fair projects that compare the water purification results from the previous experiment to high tech water purification processes to see which one is better.

Developing science fair projects that feature shampoo isn't difficult. However, they do require some work. To prepare yourself for the challenges of conducting a science fair project with this focus you will first want to research shampoo and the chemical properties of common ingredients. Also, when designing your experiment remember to create a control test that will give you base line data to compare your test results to. Water is a good control test subject for shampoo products.