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Hair Products
Hi Guys..
I’m so glad I found this place !! I just wanted to ask for a bit of advice.
I study holistic skin care and own a mens grooming company, selling mainly premium beard oils and balms at the minute. I am starting to make my own pomades and waxes, and have created some great stuff, but the issue I have is as the are oil based they stay in the hair to long !
The stuff I’ve made is by using grapeseed oil, beeswax, shea butter and 0.5% of essential oil. As you can see i’m trying to keep it all as natural as possible, as that’s what we are about.
Any advice in making this water based? I don’t know where to start.. is it as simple as swapping the oil for Aqua ? Any Recipies I can look at ?
Thanks again guys.. we are going through a bit of a re-brand at the minute.. and the site will be shut for a few weeks after tomorrow, but if you want to take a look and I offer you a discount when we are back up and running. http://www.beardofliverpool.com
Mark
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17 Replies
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There is lots of info on here already - just enter pomade into the search box (top, right)
My personal view about the “natural” aspect is that you are creating loads of easily soluble problems by avoiding just a modicum of man made material.
Be aware that the majority of emulsifiers and similar materials have a substantial natural component.
(A bit of pointless info: I have a full 6 inch long beard.)
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Thanks Johnb.. it just all becomes a little daunting when you see all the other ingredients.. especially when I’m not from a chemists background
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You don’t need to go all the way over into water-based products. You can just add some oil-compatible emulsifiers to your oil-based pomade, which will make it much more likely to be washed away by shampoo.
If, on the other hand, you’re trying to make the pomade basically wear off/flake off without washing, then you’re going to need to go to a water-based product, and pretty much give up the idea of making something “natural”.
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Thanks Bob.. yeah we want it to be able to wash out.. what emulsifiers would you recommend so I can do some research ? I just know my barber prefers water based due to this.
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I worked on a castor oil based beard product some time ago. It didn’t get to market, not because it was no good but because my client overstepped his fincancial capabilities.
Castor oil has the advantage that, although a triglyceride, it is highly resistant to oxidation (with resultant gumming up and rancidity problems). It is also soluble in alcohol if you require alcohol based products and is a good solvent for fragrances and essential oils. Best of all, it feels good in the beard and on skin, not being excessively greasy or oily to the touch.
There are a number of emulsifiers/detergents based on castor oil. You will have to forgo the “natural” aspect, but I think you will have to do that any way to achieve anything like your requirements.
Probably the most widely used castor oil emulsifier is known as PEG40 hydrogenated castor oil. It is quite safe - it is even used as an emulsifier for injectable drugs. It is also quite easily obtainable in small quantities rather than the tonne amounts which some materials limited to.
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Fantastic John.. My main carrier is grapeseed oil.. I love the stuff along with the right balance of Jojoba and Vit e, I’ve come up with an lovely product that softens and doesn’t feel greasy.. your welcome to drop me a DM and I can send you a sample 🙂
I’m a new, independent company and castor oil may be something for me to look at when I do the next range.. I’m just so glad I found you guys.. hope you don’t mind someone who doesn’t know the technical terminology joining in ! I’m studying Holistic skincare aswell and hop that will be advantageous.
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You can still add PEG40 hydrogenated castor oil to your current formulations to try out its effect.
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I second the PEG40 HCO recommendation - it should be the first thing you try.
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Is that not made through a petroleum process? I’m trying to stay natural you see.
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If you’re insisting on staying 100% all-natural, avoiding chemically-modified natural materials, then you will not be able to accomplish your goal.
Sorry we couldn’t help.
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Is that not made through a petroleum process? I’m trying to stay natural you see.
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Sorry Bob.. what I mean is my beard products have worked.. they are all 100% Natural and my customers and me want to keep that. But regards the hair products I know I need to use some chemically modified.. that’s why I’d like to ask you guys for advise whilst still keeping as close to natural I can.. to be honest I was close to gIving up on the whole idea till I come across this forum.. I work 2 jobs and have a young family and do this of a night.. I just want to borrow your guys expertise and merge it with my little knowledge or natural remedies. I’m sorry if I come across wrong.. and ask the wrong questions.
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I always urge people to spend some time and refine what the term “natural” means to them since it really lacks a universal definition. Treating it as a defined term will slow and confuse your R&D process.
I usually urge my clients to address this issue by using a natural standard (NSF, NPA, etc.) as a guiding tool. (Read here for some guidance). In general, the natural standards use two qualifiers;
- The initial feedstock (what goes into the start of the raw material manufacturing process) is of plant (or naturally occurring mineral) origin.
- The feedstock is only acted upon using chemical processes that occur in Nature. The COSMOS documents have a great discussion of these processes.
Not making this transition to a more mature definition will slow your R&D process and likely cause you to make decisions that will hamper the performance of your products.
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Good advice and I will have a read.. when some says “Well you said this was made from natural ingredients..?” I want to be able to answer them in the correct way.
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Uranium is a natural ingredient. Coal tar is a natural ingredient. What @Microformulation said.
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Gotcha.. People are hung up on plant based.. when infact most products are Naturally derived ! Cheers gents
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@beardofliverpool my mom was born in liverpool, i’m in USA now, but would like to help. A lot of advice you get here from chemists will suggest ingredients that make you go huh? I hired a chemist and said I want it clean as possible, and he kept coming at me with pegs, and lye, sodium bicarbonates …..very frustrating. Like trying to get a doctor to recommend juicing instead of sample pills…
You can play with beeswax and borax.. but will run into EU issues with the borax, it’s very technical. Avoid Boric Acid…
Get a nice vegetable emulsifying wax and figure out HLB of your oils and you should be good.
you can add lecithin to.
You don’t need peg-40 HCO. I played with it all January and you can make the same stuff without it.
Message me if you want to stay in touch.
Good luck!
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