Home Cosmetic Science Talk Formulating General Big companies use less CAPB in Shampoo

  • Big companies use less CAPB in Shampoo

    Posted by Abdullah on October 20, 2020 at 4:24 am

    I did check the labels of some big companies like Head & shoulder and Pantene Shampoos and found an interesting thing. They have SLES as main surfactant but The placement of CAPB in there Shampoo is very low, 5th or 6th, below cocamide MEA and glycol distearate and in some Shampoos below NACL and Sodium Citrate. 
    I was thinking a good ratio for SLES and CAPB is 3:1 or 4:1. So why are they using less CAPB or using these other ingredients more than CAPB?

    Abdullah replied 4 years ago 2 Members · 6 Replies
  • 6 Replies
  • ketchito

    Member
    October 20, 2020 at 12:43 pm

    @Abdullah That’s a very interesting situation, and it all depends on what else is in your formulation. H&S and Pantene are what it’s called structured shampoos, meaning they are not just a mixture of SLES, CAPB, CDEA and NaCl, they also have cationic polymers, (anionic) polymeric rheology modifiers and silicones, which make the system very sensitive. High amounts of CAPB in those systems can push the formula to the limit, making the gel network prone to phase separation. So, again, it all depends on your formula. 

  • Abdullah

    Member
    October 23, 2020 at 10:42 am

    @ketchito so they use less CAPB only to reduce the chance of phase separation? 
    Is there any other benefit? 

  • ketchito

    Member
    October 23, 2020 at 1:20 pm

    @Abdullah The benefit would be given by using more CAPB, but as I mentioned, it depends on your system, and if your formula is that of a structured cleanser, then you should be very careful with the amount of CAPB.

  • Abdullah

    Member
    October 30, 2020 at 2:07 am

    @ketchito what is a structured Shampoo? 

    Is it the ingredients or the making process that makes Shampoo structured or not? 

  • ketchito

    Member
    October 30, 2020 at 1:02 pm

    @Abdullah It’s the ingredients. A non structured shampoo has mainly surfactants, like SLES, CAPB, CDEA and NaCl. A structured shampoo includes also cationic polymers, anionic rheology modifiers and some materials to suspend (like silicones).

  • Abdullah

    Member
    October 31, 2020 at 1:55 am

    @ketchito thanks a lot

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