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Cocamide MEA blend for cold process formulas
I’ve been working on a Cocamide MEA blend for the past few days from some samples I received from Taiwan to make a cold process MEA blend to use in lieu of DEA as a 1:1 alternative for simple hand soaps. DEA is being phased out, as it’s a carcinogen, so I want to get some of our clients switched over ASAP.
I was heating the Cocamide MEA flakes to 60C to get them to melt and mixing them with the following formula.
C-MEA 12%
CAPB 38%
Water 50%
My first few attempts at this turned out rather nicely, but suddenly everything I made started coming out like EGDS pearl. Instead of thickening and boosting/stabilizing foam, it just started making all my products pearly.
Do you think I got some bad MEA? Am I missing something? Any tips/hints?
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4 Replies
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No. It is a solubility issue with MEA. Highly dependent on temperature.
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It’s not separating in an aqueous solution, just making the entire thing look opalescent and pearl when disturbed. Is pearling common?
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cocamide DEA is not a carcinogen
it can form carcinogenic substances in the presence of a very specific type of preservative which is rarely if ever used in cosmetics these days, but it is not carcinogenic in itself
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I apologize for the miscommunication. However, they’re currently banning DEA where I live.
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