Home Cosmetic Science Talk Formulating Hair Precipitate and Separation

  • Precipitate and Separation

    Posted by allhair on July 19, 2016 at 1:42 am

    Hi, I have a background in research chemistry and chemical engineering, but my work is in environmental applications.  My cosmetic chemistry background is limited, so please bear with me if what I am saying comes off as very basic.  I’d like some guidance on what I might try to tackle this problem.  

    I’ve got a detangler that has been likely made by cold mix methods (guessing on this).  It actually works very well, it’s not greasy to feel, not a lot of slip, and seems to work by softening.  It’s milky and slightly lumpy when in solution.  It must be shaken and on sitting for a day or so will result in the solution to separate into it’s oil and aqueous layers, with a precipitate forming in the aqueous layer.  The ingredients are deionized water, dimethicone, Argan Oil, petroleum, mineral oil, cetearyl alcohol, pyrus malus extract, c12-15 alkylbenzoate, hydrolyzed silk and corn proteins.  I do not know % and I am personally not finding a base that was tweaked to create this.  I’d like to do a better job with these ingredients, and fix it to have emulsion properties.  Could someone shed some light on what may be going on with this solution?  Thank you!

    allhair replied 7 years, 8 months ago 4 Members · 8 Replies
  • 8 Replies
  • microformulation

    Member
    July 19, 2016 at 11:53 am

    Is the product yours? If so, you would need to post percentages so that helpful experts in here could weigh-in.

    If it isn’t yours, I would ditch it all (as it seems to be an unstable Formulation) and start from scratch.

  • bobzchemist

    Member
    July 19, 2016 at 1:46 pm

    You can make a pretty decent detangler quickly and simply from only three ingredients:

    Water………………….97%
    Croda Rejuvasoft……3%
    Preservative…………..1%

    I’m actually really surprised that the DIY websites haven’t picked up on Rejuvasoft yet. It’s essentially a pre-mixed, solid conditioner at 6% and a detangler at 2%.

  • bobzchemist

    Member
    July 19, 2016 at 1:47 pm
  • allhair

    Member
    July 19, 2016 at 3:19 pm

    I do not know the percentages in the mixture.  One guess is there is an imbalance with the cetearyl alcohol.  And Bob, thank you for the Croda tip.  Why I am asking about this mix is it works on major tangles, like in a horse mane.  

  • bill_toge

    Member
    July 19, 2016 at 6:07 pm

    there’s no (declared) emulsifier, it’s not surprising it separates

  • microformulation

    Member
    July 20, 2016 at 12:04 am

    I do agree. The lack of an emulsifier is what I was obliquely referring to when I said it wasn’t a stable Formulation. Scrap all that and try Bob’s formulation. It will be easier and require less knowledge of the raw materials.

  • allhair

    Member
    July 20, 2016 at 3:13 am

    Thank you so much for your input!  And I will try that if I can get over the ULProspector membership hurdle or will call Croda direct.

  • allhair

    Member
    July 20, 2016 at 5:48 am

    I do have a question still and I do understand and appreciate the simpler suggestion.  Can someone explain why this mixture would work so well?  It works better for detangling than any other product I have tried or other solutions I have experimented with.  

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