Home Cosmetic Science Talk Formulating Hair Hair Styling Emulsified-Gel

  • Hair Styling Emulsified-Gel

    Posted by CosChemFan on January 21, 2015 at 11:29 pm
    Hi Forum!

    I feel a little intimidated posting on here because I’m just an enthusiast getting my education towards becoming a Cosmetic Chemist. I do formulate (mainly for myself and a close friend) and have an OK inventory of raw materials. 

    I have curly hair and normally I use two separate products to do my hair: a carbomer based hair gel and a hair cream. I mix them together in my hand and apply it to my hair. It occurred to me today that I should formulate something that is both products in one, but I’m not sure where to begin for the gel part. 
    I know that Carbomer 940 doesn’t play well with salt or cationics. So I know for the cream I can’t use quat. ammonium salts (I was thinking of using BTMS or CTAB for the cream). The cream based product I use has ammonium salts.I have INCI: Acrylates C10-30 alkyl methacrylate copolymer
    I can get a hold of INCI: Sodium acrylate, acryloyldimethyl taurate copolymer, isohexadecane, polysorbate 80
    I can also get a hold of INCI: Carbopol Ultrez 20

    So my question, how would I be able to get the hold I get from the hair gel AND the moisture/softness from the cream product?


    Thank you for your time!
    CosChemFan

    CosChemFan replied 9 years, 2 months ago 2 Members · 2 Replies
  • 2 Replies
  • belassi

    Member
    January 24, 2015 at 5:34 pm

    There are conditioning agents such as Polyquart H81 that are pseudo-cationic and you might also try a water-dispersible silicone such as Silsense DW-18, to get the conditioning effects you want at the same time as not upsetting the ionic balance of the carbomer. Having said that, you might want to use Aqua SF-20 as the carbomer because it is able to tolerate a lower pH more suitable for the hair and scalp.

  • CosChemFan

    Member
    January 27, 2015 at 7:25 am
    Hello @Belassi!
    I must say that you have become one of my favorite members on this forum. Your post are always so insightful, thank you for responding. 
    I appreciate the material suggestions, but I can’t find a source for them (I would LOVE to try Polyquart H81) as I’m just a…hobbyist I guess you would call it. When I got no feedback I just went for it and made a test batch of the product using carbomer and PVP for hold with Glyceryl Stearate & PEG 100 Stearate as the emulsifier. I got the p.H. to 5.35 and everything is stable so far. I added some Peg-8 Dimethicone for slip and moisture and PPG-3 Benzyl Ether Myristate for shine and as an emollient.

    I tried some of it out on my hair and my hair looked great and had a lot of hold. Almost too much hold. My hair felt dry and crunchy which subsided after 3 days of letting it wear. But that wasn’t quite what I was going for. It also leaves a bit of a greasy residue, which could be from the 10% of oils I added. I’m going to tweak the formula and try another batch tomorrow with a different polymer and emulsifier. 
    Question, I know pH is important to hair care, but I’m aware that there are products on the market for hair that don’t have a p.H. between 4-5.5 (many hair gels) and are still popular. Do you have any thoughts on this?
    Sidenote: Sorry for my lengthy post. There so much information that I want to pick from the members of this forums brains haha.
    Regards,
    CosChemFan

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