Ideas to reduce Natural Hair Gel from flaking?

Tagged: hair-gel, hair-products, natural ingredients, natural product

Formulating

Ideas to reduce Natural Hair Gel from flaking?

Posted by briley57 on April 18, 2022 at 7:55 pm

Hello,

I have combed through this forum looking for other topics similar to mine that might have an answer to this problem, with no luck . I’m working on a natural hair gel, and I finally made a formula that I really really like. It has great hold, great definition, but the only thing is the flaking. This gel is perfect with exception to that. I have posted my formula. Is anyone able to tell me what I can add to reduce flakes, I’d like to keep things as natural as possible (in terms of plasticizer recommendations). Also, I am deliberately not using carbomer, pvp, or any other synthetic ingredients as my hair does not do well with those ingredients (I’ve tried).

Formula 3

100% Apple Fruit Water

1.6% HEC

1.6% Cationic Guar Gum

4% Agave Nectar

2% propanediol

1% sugar cane extract

1% agave extract

1% Irish Moss extract

1% amaranthus extract

1% preservative

1% panthenol

1% vegesilk
50% hot water

Farah replied 2 years, 5 months ago 8 Members · 16 Replies
16 Replies

OldPerry

Member
April 18, 2022 at 10:09 pm

I’d do a knock-out experiment to see what causes the flaking.
Also, the following ingredients could be significantly reduced as they likely have no significant effect.

1% Irish Moss extract

1% amaranthus extract

1% panthenol

1% vegesilk

Fewer ingredients should reduce the incidence of flaking.
Camel

Member
April 19, 2022 at 1:41 am

I agree with @Perry about reducing some of those ingredients that may not actually have an effect.

In my experience, HEC caused flaking in my hair gel. I swapped the HEC for sodium carbomer and kept everything else the same and the problem was solved. I’m not an expert and have no idea why this may be, but perhaps try swapping your HEC for another gelling agent and see if your problem remains.

I also suspect the sugar/nectar could be contributing to your flaking, but I’m not sure.

A knock-out experiment would be best.
briley57

Member
April 19, 2022 at 2:11 pm

@Camel thank you. When using the carbomer, did you use a neutralizer? I really just don’t want to use carbomer. It’s synthetic and has to be neutralized with a synthetic base.
Camel

Member
April 19, 2022 at 2:37 pm

briley57 said:

@Camel thank you. When using the carbomer, did you use a neutralizer? I really just don’t want to use carbomer. It’s synthetic and has to be neutralized with a synthetic base.

I used sodium carbomer, which is a preneutralized carbomer, meaning you do not have to add anything to neutralize it.

It may be synthetic, but it is practically harmless and even used in baby products. Also, you will only need around 0.5% of it. So, you can still make a 99.5% “natural” product. ????
evchem2

Member
April 19, 2022 at 2:44 pm

you could also try replacing the HEC with xanthan gum since that has synergy with guar and can create increased viscosity. I’d try a ratio of 1:3 xanthan: guar.
briley57

Member
April 20, 2022 at 2:07 am

@Camel @Perry @evchem2 Thank you to everyone that has helped with this! I did a knockout experiment and excluded the HEC, amaranthus extract, Irish moss extract, panthenol, vegesilk, and agave nectar. I increased the Propanediol, added citric acid, and also some broccoli seed oil. So far the gel performs nicely, but it still flakes, but not nearly as much as the previous formula. If I could just figure out what ingredients will prevent flaking entirely, I think I’d have a beautiful natural gel on my hands.
ketchito

Member
April 21, 2022 at 2:04 pm

@briley57 You still have quite some Cationic guar, which similarly to HEC, will form a film after drying. When you removed HEC, the flaking might have being reduced for the same reason, so removing also the Cationig guar should do the trick. 1.6% of Cationic guar is actually a lot.

Usually, film formers for hair styling gels form more flexible films (Cationic guar might be forming a less flexible and more brittle film).
chemicalmatt

Member
April 22, 2022 at 8:45 pm

@ketchito is spot on. Trust me, it’s the Guar HPTC all along, though I don’t know the nature of “vegesilk.” The cheaper grades of guar HPTC will always flake. Throw a better plasticizer in there, like…wait for it…glycerine. (I hate it when glycerin wins!)
briley57

Member
April 23, 2022 at 11:56 pm

@chemicalmatt so If I’m using sodium carbomer, I should just 86 the guarcat & HEC entirely? What would provide hold? Thank you
Camel

Member
April 24, 2022 at 1:26 am

briley57 said:

@chemicalmatt so If I’m using sodium carbomer, I should just 86 the guarcat & HEC entirely? What would provide hold? Thank you

You could. The carbomer would be all you need to form a gel (try it at 0.5% and make sure the pH is in the correct range).

As for hold, I use polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), which as far as I know is not considered natural. There are natural hair fixatives such as RevCare NE 100S (Sodium Polyitaconate) but I don’t believe it is for sale in small quantities and I have never worked with it before. I’m not sure if it is compatible with carbomer, either.

You could try your original formula, subbing the guarcat and hec for sodium carbomer, and see what kind of performance you get first.
briley57

Member
April 24, 2022 at 4:16 pm

Thank you for that. Just an update, I received some sodium carbomer and it’s just not look to good. I tried multiple formulations: carbomer w/guarcat, without, with Hec, without, tried w/xanthan gum. Nothing provided hold. It was very watery and didn’t have the consistency that guarcat, hec, or xanthan could provide. This is the hardest thing ever! lol
Camel

Member
April 24, 2022 at 8:41 pm

briley57 said:

Thank you for that. Just an update, I received some sodium carbomer and it’s just not look to good. I tried multiple formulations: carbomer w/guarcat, without, with Hec, without, tried w/xanthan gum. Nothing provided hold. It was very watery and didn’t have the consistency that guarcat, hec, or xanthan could provide. This is the hardest thing ever! lol

Did you make sure the pH was within the 5-10 range before adding sodium carbomer?
briley57

Member
April 24, 2022 at 9:04 pm

@Camel yes I did.
Camel

Member
April 25, 2022 at 1:41 am

@briley57 - I’m not an expert but it sounds like one of your ingredients may be incompatible with sodium carbomer. It should easily form a gel at 0.5% without any other gelling agents.

You could possibly try forming the gel first, with only water, and add your ingredients one by one to see which one breaks the gel network.
grapefruit22

Member
April 25, 2022 at 9:39 am

Have you tried pullulan? I see it often in the composition of natural eyebrow gels. Pullulan above 5% + glycerin + any gum, including xanthan gum.
Farah

Member
July 19, 2022 at 3:12 pm

You just have too high a percentage of film formers. The HEC, guar and sea moss. I’m not sure what amaranthus is, but that might be one too. I’d try to bring down their total % gradually until you see no more flaking. The hold in your gel is coming from your 4% agave anyway. Not sure this much thickening is actually required? Also not sure what the sugar cane extract is doing? Is it a humectant? Does it add hold?

Adding glycerin could help with the flaking some. I personally don’t love glycerin in my hair so I avoid it.

Let us know how you fix it?