Formulation and Evaluation of Herbal Shampoo from Seed Extract of Trigonella Foenum Graecum for Antifungal and Antibacterial Activity

Abstract

Shampoo is one of the most common components of hair treatment. The primary function of shampoo is aimed at cleansing of the hair necessitated due to accumulated sebum, dust, scalp debris etc. Various shampoo formulations are associated with hair quality, hair care habit and specific problems such as treatment of oily hairs, dandruff and for androgenic alopecia. Synthetic preservatives and detergents have sometimes been the cause of adverse effects among consumer. An alternative approach in reducing the adverse effects of synthetic ingredients uses herbal extracts whose functionality is comparable to that of synthetic ingredients. In this study shampoo was formulated with anionic surfactant enriched with different proportions of fenugreek seed extract and evaluated its physicochemical properties and Antimicrobial activity using Disc Diffusion method. Fenugreek extract containing trigonelline and trigonellic acid is used as a hair growth stimulant. The herb also a good source of lecithin which is a natural emollient helps to strengthen and moisturize hair and keeps the dandruff away. The pH of the formulated shampoos was in the standard range of 6 to 8. Evaluation of antibacterial activity revealed shampoo enriched with 5% and 10% ethanol extract showed promising activity against S. aureus, E. feacalis, P.aeroginosa, E. coli and shampoo enriched with water extract of Trigonella foenum showed promising activity against Staphylococcus aureus whereas shampoo enriched with 5,10 and 20% water and ethanol extracts of Trigonella foenum showed promising antifungal activity against Candida albicans. Further research is required to study herbal shampoo quality especially on the conditioning performance and to identify the constituents which are responsible for the performance, also to prove the safety, stability and efficacy of this formulation to make it suitable as a commercial product.