Clay Pomade Mysteries

justa_pinch

I have two issues I'm seeking advice for based off the recipe listed below. 

A: Final product to soft/airy. How do I get it thicker/heavier.

B: Final product initially rubs together well within fingertips. But once more friction is applied using your palms it becomes dry and just rolls up like little eraser crumbles.

Recipe:

• water - 48%
• kaolin clay - 10%
• carnauba wax - 9%
• castor oil - 5%
• glycerin - 5%
• soy wax - 5%
• olive wax - 4%
• ozokerite wax - 4%
• grapeseed oil - 3%
• shea butter - 3%
• cetearyl alcohol - 2%
• cetearyl glucoside - 1%
• optiphen plus - 1%

Any help much appreciated!

KingRoland78

How are you mixing your product?  After you pour your final mixture into your jars, do you leave them un-capped overnight?  Or do you cover them with cheesecloth?

Will

@justa_pinch the crumbles might be due to too much kaolin clay.. try 7% rice silica instead, it does the matte effect job quite well, in my opinion better than kaolin clay.. and it disappears after rubbing, which I reckon to be the desired effect. If you think that you still need some extra matte effect you could add 1-2% kaolin clay, but first I would try without kaolin to see if you get rid of the crumbles. Don't forget to add those after emulsification, very slowly and with lots of mixing!

About the soft texture, First I would lower glycerin to a max 2%. I would also try lowering your oils in general, while increasing the percentage of heavy weight waxes like ozokerite, bees wax, carnauba. Olive and soy waxes are too margerine like feel 

Also I know that there are some heavier emulsifiers that will give you more of a pomade texture to your product, i.e. fatty acid ethoxylates in combination with the fatty alcohols or cetearyl glucoside you are using might get you the consistency you want.

As a last suggestion, I would try jojoba oil instead of castor oil.. jojoba has more that matte effect, whereas castor oil gives a bit of the greasy touch to it.