Know Your Environment. Protect Your Health.
EWG Home EWG’s Guide to Healthy Cleaning EWG’s Food Scores Healthy Living App Open menu

EWG's Skin Deep®
Find products and ingredients Learn how Skin Deep® works Meet our experts Discover EWG VERIFIED™
GET UPDATES DONATE
Score legend
HOW WE DETERMINE SCORES Learn more About EWG VERIFIED™

Data: Limited

Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride

SEARCH PRODUCTS

Other Concerns

Non-reproductive organ system toxicity (moderate)

SYNONYMS

● 2-HYDROXY-3-(TRIMETHYLAMMONIO)PROPYL ETHER CHLORIDE GUAR GUM
● CHLORIDE GUAR GUM, 2-HYDROXY-3-(TRIMETHYLAMMONIO)PROPYL ETHER
● GUAR GUM, 2-HYDROXY-3-(TRIMETHYLAMMONIO)PROPYL ETHER, CHLORIDE
● GUAR GUM, 2HYDROXY3(TRIMETHYLAMMONIO)PROPYL ETHER, CHLORIDE
● GUAR GUM, ETHER WITH 3-CHLORO-2-HYDROXYPROPYLTRIMETHYLAMMONIUM CHLORIDE; GUAR, 2-HYDROXY-3-TRIMETHYLAMMONIOPROPYL ETHER, CHLORIDE
● GUAR HYDROPROPYLTRIMONIUM CHLORIDE
● GUAR HYDROXYPROPYLTRIMONIUM CHLORIDE
● O-[2-HYDROXY-3-(TRIMETHYLAMMONIO)PROPYL] GUAR GUM CHLORIDE

Restricted

Restricted: EWG VERIFIED products cannot contain this ingredient without adequate substantiation

Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride is a quaternary ammonium derivative of guar gum; used in hair conditioning products.

Common concerns

See how this product scores for common concerns.

  • LOW
    Cancer
  • LOW
    Allergies & Immunotoxicity
  • LOW
    Developmental and Reproductive Toxicity
  • LOW
    Use Restrictions

Ingredient concerns

  • CONCERNS
  • DATA SOURCES

Products with this Ingredient

Expand content Collapse content
shampoo841 products
conditioner429 products
body wash/cleanser315 products
hair treatment/serum97 products
hair color and bleaching67 products
liquid hand soap39 products
hair styling aide38 products
facial cleanser36 products
baby shampoo26 products
baby soap21 products
mask21 products
styling gel/lotion19 products
exfoliant/scrub19 products
moisturizer10 products
baby bubble bath10 products
detangler9 products
makeup remover8 products
beard cleanser7 products
beard care7 products
bubble bath6 products
shaving cream6 products
mascara6 products
styling mousse/foam5 products
facial moisturizer/treatment5 products
bar soap4 products
4 products
hair spray3 products
after sun product3 products
hair-loss treatment2 products
body firming lotion2 products
shaving cream (men's)2 products
sunless tanning2 products
anti-aging2 products
bath oil/salts/soak2 products
damaged skin treatment1 products
serums & essences1 products
glitter1 products
antiperspirant/deodorant (men's)1 products
concealer1 products
hair relaxer1 products
baby lotion1 products
baby wipes1 products

Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive)

Expand content Collapse content
CONCERN REFERENCE
Classified as medium human health priorityEnvironment Canada Domestic Substance List
Classified as not expected to be potentially toxic or harmfulEnvironment Canada Domestic Substance List

Data gaps

Expand content Collapse content
CONCERN REFERENCE
Risk assessment method deficiencies and data gaps - Maximum reported "as used" concentration is basis of safety assessment by industry safety panel (Cosmetic Ingredient Review, CIR) - implicit safe concentration limit in productCosmetic Ingredient Review Assessments
3 studies in PubMed science library may include information on the toxicity of this chemicalNLM PubMed

Ecotoxicology

Expand content Collapse content
CONCERN REFERENCE
Not suspected to be an environmental toxinEnvironment Canada Domestic Substance List

Informational

Expand content Collapse content
CONCERN REFERENCE
Industry or government recommendations for safe use: restrictions on concentration, impurities, product types, or manufacturing methods - anyCosmetic Ingredient Review Assessments
  • EC (Environment Canada). 2008. Domestic Substances List Categorization. Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) Environmental Registry.
  • CIR (Cosmetic Ingredient Review). 2006. CIR Compendium, containing abstracts, discussions, and conclusions of CIR cosmetic ingredient safety assessments. Washington DC.
  • NLM (National Library of Medicine). 2012. PubMed online scientific bibliography data. http://www.pubmed.gov.

Understanding scores

Cosmetics and personal care products are not required to be tested for safety before being allowed on the market. The Skin Deep® scoring system was designed to help the public understand whether a product is safe to use or whether it contains ingredients of concern.

Every product and ingredient in Skin Deep gets a two-part score – one for hazard and one for data availability. The safest products score well by both measures, with a low hazard rating and a fair or better data availability rating.

HOW WE DETERMINE SCORES

Hazard score

The Skin Deep ingredient hazard score, from 1 to 10, reflects known and suspected hazards linked to the ingredients. The EWG VERIFIED™ mark means a product meets EWG’s strictest criteria for transparency and health.

Score legend
WEIGHT-OF-EVIDENCE APPROACH

A product’s hazard score is not an average of the ingredients’ hazard scores. It is calculated using a weight-of-evidence approach that factors in all of the hazards or health impacts associated with the ingredients.

Data availability

The Skin Deep data availability rating reflects the number of scientific studies about the product or ingredient in the published scientific literature.

NONE LIMITED FAIR GOOD ROBUST
Low Availability
Moderate Availability
High Availability
NONE

Ingredients have not been assessed.

LIMITED-FAIR

There is only a modest volume of research.

GOOD-ROBUST

Ingredients have been studied extensively.

Can’t find your product?

Enter the ingredients in EWG’s Build Your Own Report tool to get an approximate score for that product.

BUILD YOUR OWN REPORT

News & updates

Big Market for Black Cosmetics, but Less-Hazardous Choices Limited
RESEARCH
Big Market for Black Cosmetics, but Less-Hazardous Choices Limited
K-Beauty Trends: Serums, Essences and EWG’s Best Bets
RESEARCH
K-Beauty Trends: Serums, Essences and EWG’s Best Bets
FDA Asks Women To Protect Themselves From Products The Agency Refused To Ban
NEWS RELEASE
FDA Asks Women To Protect Themselves From Products The Agency Refused To Ban
Study Highlights Importance of Cosmetics Ingredient Safety Tests
NEWS RELEASE
Study Highlights Importance of Cosmetics Ingredient Safety Tests
READ ALL ARTICLES
Skindeep Healthy Living App

EWG research
on the go

Find personal care, cleaning, and food products on the EWG Healthy Living app.

DOWNLOAD THE APP