Home Cosmetic Science Talk Formulating Chlorhexidine Gluconate 4% Skin Cleanser

  • Chlorhexidine Gluconate 4% Skin Cleanser

    Posted by MurtazaHakim on December 8, 2021 at 7:38 am

    Greetings to all.

    Kindly advise on the below formulation for Skin Cleanser with Chlorhexidine Gluconate as the active ingredient. The composition indicated is w/v basis.

    1. Chlorhexidine Gluconate 20% Solution - 20% (4% active)
    2. Ethanol Anhydrous - 4%
    3. Lauramine Oxide (Ammonyx LO) - 4%
    4. Alkyl Polyglucoside (Caprylyl Glucoside) - 2%
    5. Glycerol - 0.02%
    6. Hydroxyethyl Cellulose (100,000 grade) - 0.25%
    7. Fragrance - 0.1%
    8. Colorant (Carmoisine E122) - q.s

    Is the above formulation reasonable ??? Is Alkyl Polyglucoside compatible for such formulations ???

    Your valuable suggestions are requested.

    MurtazaHakim replied 2 years, 10 months ago 5 Members · 7 Replies
  • 7 Replies
  • gordof

    Member
    December 23, 2021 at 11:46 am

    hi . 

    The first question that came to my mind way did you use that high amount of Chlorhexidine Gluconate ? 4 % is way too much and it is not allowed in that high concentrations in Cosmetic Products ( at least in Europe maximum concentration is 0,3 % not sure if there is any other rule for Rinse of) 

    I guess the Alkyl Polyglucoside would work but not shure if that is even importanted. 

    Can you discripe what your goal is ? 

  • Mayday

    Member
    December 23, 2021 at 5:36 pm

    Please thoroughly read the Cosmetic Ingredient Review safety assessments for the ingredients you are using. PR92.pdf from 1993 has the toxicology and animal testing data. You are using two orders of magnitude more Chlorhexidine Digluconate than you should be for cosmetic purposes and one order of magnitude more than for medical antiseptic purposes.

    Also, keeping healthy skin sterile is not a good idea because you’re supposed to have some friendly microbes on your skin.

  • Mayday

    Member
    December 23, 2021 at 9:48 pm

    Mayday said:

    You are using two orders of magnitude more Chlorhexidine Digluconate than you should be for cosmetic purposes and one order of magnitude more than for medical antiseptic purposes.

    @MurtazaHakim Rereading your ingredients list, I see I misread your concentration: you’re using 20% of a 20% solution to give 4% final. Are you formulating an antiseptic handwash?

  • amitvedakar

    Member
    December 24, 2021 at 4:22 am

    I think it’s Surgical scrub. and fall UNDER medical category.

  • MurtazaHakim

    Member
    December 25, 2021 at 4:52 am

    Yes. It is a Surgical Scrub Formulation. It is a medical product and not a cosmetic product.

  • chemicalmatt

    Member
    December 28, 2021 at 6:42 pm

    Yup, 4.0% is the monograph level for surgical scrub, so what state of “reasonable” are you looking for? From start, I cannot fathom what utility glycerol does at 0.02% w/v.  DELETE it.  The concentration of primary surfactant is way low. Your builder Ammonyx LO is OK (1.33% solids there) but the APG (compatible) at only 1.0% solids (50%  solution correct) is not providing much in way of cleansing is it? Triple that material. 

  • MurtazaHakim

    Member
    December 30, 2021 at 5:18 am

    I studied a product Hydrex Surgical Scrub from Ecolab. It does not produce much foam and does not contain any surfactant other than dialkylamine oxide. I have tried formulating my product similarly but have added a bit of APG for better foaming and cleansing. Surgical scrubs are not expected to produce much foam. Active ingredient CHG in 4% w/v percentage is the most important component. This product must pass EN 1499 and EN 12791 in order to qualify for use in hospitals. What US standards are equivalent to EN 1499 and EN 12791 ???

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