Home Cosmetic Science Talk Formulating Fixing a cloudy body wash

  • Fixing a cloudy body wash

    Posted by Lucylu747 on November 17, 2016 at 5:20 pm

    Hi

    i have a body wash using this formulation:

    water-to 100 
    sles 70% - 11
    cocamidopropyl betaine - 10
    fragrance - 1
    argan oil - 0.05
    polysorbate 60 - 1.5
    MEthyisothiazolinone - 0.05
    salt - 2%

    the oil, fragrance and melted polysorbate are premixed before adding to the formula.  Today I made it and it’s as a clear product, however only after I added the salt to thicken it went cloudy.  This doesn’t usually happen.

    what has caused it and is there anything I can do to fix the cloudy bulk?

    if I add 15% PEG-7 glyceryl cocoate and mix for 10minutes it goes clear, but then the viscosity is too low and very difficult to thicken.  This is thus not an option.

    any suggestions on what went wrong and how to fix?

    ashish replied 8 years ago 6 Members · 7 Replies
  • 7 Replies
  • belassi

    Member
    November 17, 2016 at 7:29 pm

    It seems to me that your ratio of primary to secondary surfactant needs adjustment. The SLES content may be too low to properly emulsify the fragrance. If it were my formula I would take out the polysorbate and adjust the SLES and type of fragrance to get a clear result.

  • MarkBroussard

    Member
    November 17, 2016 at 8:16 pm

    ^^^ That, and it looks like your ratio of Polysorbate to Fragrance is on the low end.  I would boost that to a 3 to 1 or 4 to 1 ratio.

  • Lucylu747

    Member
    November 18, 2016 at 6:14 am

    Thanks for the help - any idea how to fix the bulk that is already cloudy?

  • belassi

    Member
    November 18, 2016 at 3:10 pm

    Add 3% cold process pearl and sell it as the luxury version.

  • chemicalmatt

    Member
    November 18, 2016 at 3:18 pm

    You might want to reconsider increasing the Polysorbate 60 here: that will kill your viscosity just as the PGC did.  Instead change the order of addition and use the fact that CAPB is a mighty fair hydrotrope.  Add fragrance & oil into the TWEEN 60 then into the CAPB.  Better yet, switch out the TWEEN 60 with PGC altogether.  The former does nothing for this formula, while the latter is a decent refatting agent. No chelating agent either, huh? Whassup with that? BTW I like Belassi’s idea - now that’s good critical thinking.

  • OldPerry

    Member
    November 22, 2016 at 2:02 pm

    One fix of the current batch is to blend it off with batches that aren’t cloudy. You just have to find the right mix ratio.

  • ashish

    Member
    December 1, 2016 at 8:02 am

    Why don’t you try other solubiliser like Croduret or Caprylyl glucoside or Heptyl glucoside and here, SLES and Salt ratio need to maintain which is one of the cause of clouding.  

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