Home Cosmetic Science Talk Formulating Color and makeup Clays and emulsion pH

  • Clays and emulsion pH

    Posted by ultraduy on April 10, 2018 at 9:30 pm

    Hello guys,

    I’ve been working on a clay pomade and I am planning to ditch guar gum as my water gelling agent because it is too sticky. I want to replace it with sodium carbomer. I read that sodium carbomer is not effective at a pH lower than 5,5. I am using only kaolin and Illite(green) clay, will these clays lower the pH of the product? And if so, can I increase the pH using bentonite?

    I am looking forward for your replies.

    bill_toge replied 5 years, 11 months ago 5 Members · 6 Replies
  • 6 Replies
  • das

    Member
    April 11, 2018 at 12:39 am

    You can use carbomers designed for low pH. The aqua or the smart lines from Lubrizol will work at that pH.

  • belassi

    Member
    April 11, 2018 at 12:45 am

    bentonite is alkaline, so possibly could be used.

  • ultraduy

    Member
    April 11, 2018 at 2:54 pm

    I find it really hard to believe that clays can influence pH levels without dissolving. But I give it a try with and without bentonite and see how I like the finish.

  • drbobverdient-biz

    Member
    April 11, 2018 at 9:07 pm

     @ultraduy  You are correct they cannot unless dissolved.Why don’t you use Veegum and/or xanthan gum?

  • ultraduy

    Member
    April 12, 2018 at 3:10 pm

    The gums were too sticky for me and made the application horrible. So I switched to carbomer. So we can say that kaolin and bentonite do not have influence on the pH of the emulsion, because they are water insoluble?

  • bill_toge

    Member
    April 12, 2018 at 6:48 pm

    @ultraduy they can’t be dissolved in water per se, but they are miscible with water; depending on where it comes from, bentonite is neutral to alkaline when mixed with water

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