Hi everyone,
I have been trying to formula a cream shampoo for many months now and I am having a lot of trouble with seperation. I have finally found a combination of surfactants that foam really nicely but don't dry my hair out so ideally, I would like someone to tell me what is wrong with my formula so I am able to tweak it, rather than start from scratch. Here is is:
Phase A:
Distilled water - 37%
Cocoamidopropyl Betaine - 37%
Decyl Glucoside - 4%
Glycerine - 3%
Pro vitamin B5 - 1%
Phase B:
Btms 25 - 5%
Argan oil - 4%
Cetyl alcohol - 2.5%
Guar gum - 1.5%
Phase C:
Wheat protein - 1%
Benzyl alcohol & dehydroacetic acid - 1%
Vitamin E oil - 1%
Essential Oils (Lavender, Geranium, may chang, red mandarin, rosemary, lemon and Cypress) - 2%
I am heating phase A and B, adding phase A to B and then stick blending. Once cooled, I add phase C and stick blend once more. After 24 hours I start to get water sitting on the bottom of the formula.
Any help would be so very very much appreciated.
Comments
Ideally I don't want to substitute the Btms 25 due to it's conditioning effect it has on my hair. Is there anything else I can do to stabilise the formula?
Thanks so much for your help!
Cocamidopropyl betaine is amphoteric, which means its charge may be positive, negative, or both depending on the pH. As Bill mentioned, this is likely why your shampoo is separating.
If you want to keep the conditioning agents, the only way to make it stable is to remove CAPB and replace the preservatives like you mentioned.
You may wish to replace the CAPB with a compatible surfactant, such as lauryl glucoside.
I was trying to create a conditioning shampoo as ordinary shampoos leave my hair so dry.
OK understood re. the argan oil and I shall remove this then if it's totally pointless.
It's really annoying about the CAPB as the ASM % is quite low for this formula yet the foaming is brilliant! Do you think Lauryl Glucoside will be just as good in terms of foam and will I need to heat this in a seperate phase to the BTMS/cetyl alcohol and the water phases as I understand this is more like a paste?
Thanks again so much for your time, I really appreciate it.