Blogging from A to Z challenge: X is for Xanthan gum

Okay, I am really reaching here, lol.
I spent days sweating about this entry!

Finally, I decided to just go with xanthum gum, which I've seen in a few hair products before. I figured, this would be a quick little entry and I would maybe write a few words about the Xanthum tree that produces Xanthum gum, or something like that.

But nope!

Instead it got interesting!

Xanthum gum is not made from any plant, but from a species of bacteria! Xanthomonas campestris. This bacteria forms a black rot on leafy vegetables.

Xanthum gum was discovered by chemical researcher Allene Rosalind Jeanes and brought into commercial production under the name Kelzan in the early 1960s. It has no adverse effects even in high doses in foods, so there are no safety concerns for its usage. It was approved for use in foods in 1968, and can be found as E-number E415.

For hair product use, it's perfectly soluble in water and also has some condition properties.

Products can use xanthum gum for it's ability to function as a thickener in hair masks. 

It can also be used because it stabilizes emulsions and keeps ingredients from separating. 

Although it does have the emulsion-stabilizing effect, it's not an emulsifier ingredient that can help clean hair for CO washes. 

So yea: This was way more interesting than I expected!