Home Cosmetic Science Talk Formulating Anionic/Amphoteric/Non-Ionic Ratios

  • Anionic/Amphoteric/Non-Ionic Ratios

    Posted by thebrain on January 15, 2017 at 4:16 pm

    I’ve been working on a sulfate-free shampoo formula, and I’ve settled on something with 15% active surfactants, half of those (7.5% ASM) being anionic, the other half amphoteric. It’s mild, foams well, and is easy to thicken with salt; however, I wonder if there is room for optimization. I could save money by substituting some non-ionic (say decyl glucoside) for my amphoteric, or just use more anionic surfactants.

    My question is this: Is there any generally recommended ratios for anionic vs. amphoteric vs. non-ionics? I’ve read some general guidelines for shampoo ASM, which is why I’ve targetted 15% total ASM. I have not seen any similar recommendation for anionic ratios. Any advice is appreciated.

    johnb replied 7 years, 2 months ago 2 Members · 1 Reply
  • 1 Reply
  • johnb

    Member
    January 16, 2017 at 9:46 am

    One of the interesting aspects of cosmetics formulation is the lack of hard and fast rules in what constitutes a standard formula thus there is no fixed ratio this to that. It may be you use twice as much of one material than usual and you have a world beater product (most likely you won’t but you see the idea).

    The thing to do is try it and see - you will learn a lot on the way.

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