Home Cosmetic Science Talk Formulating Cocamidopropyl hydroxysultaine vs CAPB

  • Cocamidopropyl hydroxysultaine vs CAPB

    Posted by GeorgeBenson on November 29, 2022 at 2:43 am

    Just wondering what differences you have noticed between these two as far as mildness, foam, etc…anything noticeable or are they as similar as they sound?

    I’ve only ever used CAPB but I am trying to find something even milder for my face cleanser, less “drying”, if that even makes sense…so im wondering if swapping out the CAPB for the sultaine would change anything in this formula of mine since I have some of it laying around. Of course there are many other things I could add for this effect but I like to have the surfactants do as much of the work as possible. 

    Abdullah replied 2 years ago 3 Members · 5 Replies
  • 5 Replies
  • ketchito

    Member
    November 29, 2022 at 11:15 am

    @GeorgeBenson Hydroxysultaines are very beautiful molecules: for the anionic part of the molecule, they have a sulfonate group (as any other high foaming anionic surfactant), but the hydroxyl group next to it can hydrogen bond with one of the oxygens, reducing charge density and making the molecule milder. Then you have the cationic nitrogen that changes how the molecule behaves when interacting with anionic surfactants (same as what CAPB does). 

    So, when used alone I’d say CAP Hydroxysultaine is almost as mild as CAPB but more foamy. This is more evident when you pair them with an anionic surfactant. The downside with CAP Hydroxysultaine is that it impairs coacervate formation (but for a shower gel, that wouldn’t be an issue).

  • Abdullah

    Member
    November 29, 2022 at 12:20 pm

    ketchito said:

    @GeorgeBenson Hydroxysultaines are very beautiful molecules: for the anionic part of the molecule, they have a sulfonate group (as any other high foaming anionic surfactant), but the hydroxyl group next to it can hydrogen bond with one of the oxygens, reducing charge density and making the molecule milder. Then you have the cationic nitrogen that changes how the molecule behaves when interacting with anionic surfactants (same as what CAPB does). 

    So, when used alone I’d say CAP Hydroxysultaine is almost as mild as CAPB but more foamy. This is more evident when you pair them with an anionic surfactant. The downside with CAP Hydroxysultaine is that it impairs coacervate formation (but for a shower gel, that wouldn’t be an issue).

    Why does it impair coacervate formation? 

    Will lauryl hydroxysultaine also impair coacervate formation? 

    In my experience if we replace CAPB with lauryl hydroxysultaine the conditioning effect on hair improves. 

  • GeorgeBenson

    Member
    November 29, 2022 at 8:46 pm

    Great thanks for the info on that

  • ketchito

    Member
    November 30, 2022 at 11:12 am

    Abdullah said:

    ketchito said:

    @GeorgeBenson Hydroxysultaines are very beautiful molecules: for the anionic part of the molecule, they have a sulfonate group (as any other high foaming anionic surfactant), but the hydroxyl group next to it can hydrogen bond with one of the oxygens, reducing charge density and making the molecule milder. Then you have the cationic nitrogen that changes how the molecule behaves when interacting with anionic surfactants (same as what CAPB does). 

    So, when used alone I’d say CAP Hydroxysultaine is almost as mild as CAPB but more foamy. This is more evident when you pair them with an anionic surfactant. The downside with CAP Hydroxysultaine is that it impairs coacervate formation (but for a shower gel, that wouldn’t be an issue).

    Why does it impair coacervate formation? 

    Will lauryl hydroxysultaine also impair coacervate formation? 

    In my experience if we replace CAPB with lauryl hydroxysultaine the conditioning effect on hair improves. 

    @Abdullah Our ability to “measure” things is always limited and biased (that’s why for example, there are blinded studies and even double blinded, to remove any bias also from the researcher). If you want to compare conditioning from a cleansing formula, you could start by doing a coacervation (dilution) test.

  • Abdullah

    Member
    November 30, 2022 at 11:31 am

    ketchito said:

    Abdullah said:

    ketchito said:

    @GeorgeBenson Hydroxysultaines are very beautiful molecules: for the anionic part of the molecule, they have a sulfonate group (as any other high foaming anionic surfactant), but the hydroxyl group next to it can hydrogen bond with one of the oxygens, reducing charge density and making the molecule milder. Then you have the cationic nitrogen that changes how the molecule behaves when interacting with anionic surfactants (same as what CAPB does). 

    So, when used alone I’d say CAP Hydroxysultaine is almost as mild as CAPB but more foamy. This is more evident when you pair them with an anionic surfactant. The downside with CAP Hydroxysultaine is that it impairs coacervate formation (but for a shower gel, that wouldn’t be an issue).

    Why does it impair coacervate formation? 

    Will lauryl hydroxysultaine also impair coacervate formation? 

    In my experience if we replace CAPB with lauryl hydroxysultaine the conditioning effect on hair improves. 

    @Abdullah Our ability to “measure” things is always limited and biased (that’s why for example, there are blinded studies and even double blinded, to remove any bias also from the researcher). If you want to compare conditioning from a cleansing formula, you could start by doing a coacervation (dilution) test.

    But I don’t know how to perform a coacervation test?

    Can you help? 

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