Can a Different Shampoo Fragrance Change How It Feels?

Even with the same shampoo, changing its fragrance can change ratings of tactile qualities such as stickiness and thickness. A 2009 study asked people to use shampoos that differed only in fragrance at home, and investigated how they felt from the moment the product was poured into the hand until after the hair had dried.

The clearest differences appeared in the feel of the neat product and during washing. In particular, the stickiness of the neat shampoo in the hand differed both when widely contrasting fragrance types were compared and when relatively similar fragrances were compared.

First, developing rating attributes from users’ own words

The research had three stages. First, 75 women tried 10 products, including combinations of shampoo and conditioner, at home and described how they felt in their own words. Common expressions were collected from product-comparison interviews and diaries to develop the questionnaire for the subsequent studies.

Four stages of use were distinguished: the neat product in the hand before application, lathering and washing, wet hair after rinsing, and dry hair. Participants used seven-point scales to rate qualities appropriate to each stage, such as smoothness, stickiness, wateriness, and manageability.

An important aim was to enable consumers to express the differences they experienced, rather than restricting them to a small set of terms chosen by experts.

Comparing six widely different fragrances and ten similar ones

In the main trials, different fragrances were added to the same shampoo base containing conditioning ingredients. Viscosity and the height of foam produced by shaking the liquid were checked beforehand to determine whether fragrance addition had changed these physical properties.

In stage II, 162 women used all six shampoos. The fragrances spanned a broad range of types that might plausibly be used in shampoo, including citrus, leafy, camphoraceous, and rose–jasmine.

A different group of 272 participants took part in stage III, each using six of ten shampoos. These fragrances were relatively similar, such as fruity peach and apple notes and floral notes, representing potential candidates for actual product development. In both stages, the order of use varied among participants, and each product was used at least once over three days in place of their usual shampoo and related products.

Liking for the product overall, its appearance, smell, and feel was assessed separately. A trained panel also described the fragrances of the neat products, lathered hair switches, and dried hair switches in detail, allowing fragrance characteristics to be related to tactile ratings.

Leafy and citrus fragrances received different stickiness ratings

There were 55 tactile attributes across the four stages of use. After adjustment to limit chance findings from multiple tests, significant differences remained among the six broadly contrasting fragrances for richness, stickiness, and thickness of the neat product, and for runniness and two expressions of stickiness during use.

For example, the neat shampoo with the Leafy fragrance was rated stickier in the hand than the Citrus version. This was a difference between fragrance conditions using the same base. It provides a concrete example, in an everyday use setting, of fragrance contributing to judgments of touch.

Among the ten similar fragrances, stickiness of the neat product was the only tactile attribute that remained significant after adjustment. Here, the floral–violet fragrance was rated stickier than the floral–aldehydic and peach fragrances. Differences in some tactile ratings emerged even within a narrower range of fragrances.

For wet and dry hair, however, no clear differences among fragrances remained at the adjusted 5% significance level. Although the paper discusses broader possibilities, including how hair feels after washing, the statistically stronger findings in this study were concentrated in the neat product and during use.

Was it simply that liking a scent made everything seem better?

The six broadly contrasting fragrances also differed on all four liking measures. For overall product liking, Citrus and Rose–Jasmine were rated more highly than Leafy. Liking did not differ significantly in the trial of ten similar fragrances.

A fragrance that someone likes might lead them to rate other qualities more favorably too. This influence of an overall favorable impression is called a halo effect. The researchers considered that possibility.

Liking was indeed related to qualities such as smoothness. However, some attributes, such as thickness, differed with fragrance while showing only a weak relationship with liking. The authors interpreted this as suggesting that liking alone could not account for all the findings.

Exploratory analyses relating fragrance descriptions to tactile attributes also showed some inconsistencies between the two trials in the associations involving fruity and herbal fragrances. The study did not establish general rules based on fragrance labels alone, such as citrus always making a product feel less sticky or florals always making it feel more moisturising.

Fragrance is one of the cues that shape the experience of use

The authors emphasized that they had measured this interaction between senses during actual product use at home, rather than simply combining smell and touch in a laboratory. They argued that fragrance deserves consideration when designing how a product feels in use.

However, the trials did not separate associations with previously used products, expectations before use, mood, and interactions between the senses themselves. The measurements were participants’ reported sensations, not instrumental measurements of hair friction or improvements in damage.

The authors also described the work as exploratory research intended to generate hypotheses for further testing. It is important to distinguish differences seen only before statistical adjustment, or relationships that appear close together on a plot, from established effects.

Summary

Changing the fragrance of shampoos with the same base changed ratings of how the neat product felt and how it felt during washing. Stickiness of the neat product differed in both trials; for example, Leafy was rated stickier than Citrus.

Fragrance liking was related to some tactile qualities, but might not explain all the results. The experience of shampoo is shaped not only by information from the hands and hair, but also by information from the nose. This study investigated that contribution through consumers’ own words and home use.

The authors’ affiliations at the time included Givaudan and MMR Research Worldwide. No separate funding or conflict-of-interest declaration was identified in the publicly available author manuscript.

Reference

Churchill A, Meyners M, Griffiths L, Bailey P. The cross-modal effect of fragrance in shampoo: Modifying the perceived feel of both product and hair during and after washing. Food Quality and Preference. 2009;20(4):320–328. Original paper (Publicly available author manuscript).