Home Cosmetic Science Talk Formulating Herbal shampoo formulation

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  • Herbal shampoo formulation

    Posted by Hina_Alam on February 3, 2019 at 7:40 am

    hello
    I am working towards making a shampoo where I am using herbal infusion in place of water 
    The water is infused with dried rosemary , shikakai  , fenugreek and soapnuts .I will be using guar gum as thickener .I have SLMI , decyl glucoside and cocabetaine in hand .
    i made a trial batch using 15 gm of SLMI flakes and 5 ml of coca betaine in 300 ml of infusion it resulted in lots of lather with sufficient cleansing but my hair felt tangled .
    can I use almond oil as a conditioning agent along with lecithin .
    any suggestions .. I want to keep it as close to natural as possible without compromising much on lather and conditioning.
    i have not used decyl glucoside as yet 
    plz advise 

    belassi replied 5 years, 9 months ago 4 Members · 19 Replies
  • 19 Replies
  • ngarayeva001

    Member
    February 3, 2019 at 8:10 am

    You will need a very strong preservative system with such approch. Hydrosols and infusions are bug food. I would recommend skipping it and adding a tiny amount of some plant extract for claims, unless you are willing to use parabens or diazodilinyl urea. Your hair will feel tangled  without  conditioning ingredients. Oil isn’t a conditioning ingredient. You need cationic polymers (or cetrimonium chloride if the formula is non-ionic). I am not aware of the existence of natural conditioners. Also natural isn’t a defined term. Everything is natural for me.

  • Hina_Alam

    Member
    February 3, 2019 at 8:47 am

    You will need a very strong preservative system with such approch. Hydrosols and infusions are bug food. I would recommend skipping it and adding a tiny amount of some plant extract for claims, unless you are willing to use parabens or diazodilinyl urea. Your hair will feel tangled  without  conditioning ingredients. Oil isn’t a conditioning ingredient. You need cationic polymers (or cetrimonium chloride if the formula is non-ionic). I am not aware of the existence of natural conditioners. Also natural isn’t a defined term. Everything is natural for me.

    If I omit the herbal infusion completely and use distilled water  and use only SLMI and cocabetaine as primary and secondary surfactants and cetrimonium chloride as conditioner .will  the shampoo still work fine without many ingredients as want a Sulfate and silicon free product.

  • belassi

    Member
    February 3, 2019 at 2:59 pm

    Just try it and see.

  • ngarayeva001

    Member
    February 3, 2019 at 4:34 pm

    Is SLMI anionic? If so, don’t use cetrimonium. 2% of polyquat 7 should work. And don’t use more than 5% of decyl glucoside (you can skip it at all). Silicones are nice but you can make a good product without silicones if use cationics.

  • Hina_Alam

    Member
    February 3, 2019 at 5:11 pm

    Belassi said:

    Just try it and see.

    That’s what I am doing wanted an expert guidance about what can I expect 

  • Hina_Alam

    Member
    February 3, 2019 at 5:17 pm

    Is SLMI anionic? If so, don’t use cetrimonium. 2% of polyquat 7 should work. And don’t use more than 5% of decyl glucoside (you can skip it at all). Silicones are nice but you can make a good product without silicones if use cationics.

    I think it is anionic .. I will check again I will go for polyquat , can I try honeyquat in place of cetrimonium chloride .
    i again tried 10% of SLMI and 5% cocabetaine 
    there was plenty of lather and good cleansing 
    it seemed that even if I reduce the SLMI a little it will work but it was a disappointment for detangling 
    will adding 2% of Argan oil  with polysorbate 80 work 
    thanks for giving your time

  • belassi

    Member
    February 3, 2019 at 9:40 pm

    Well there you go - you now have physical knowledge of how that combo turned out. 
    I don’t think your idea of oil and ps80 will be any good, my guess is the foam would be inadequate.

  • ngarayeva001

    Member
    February 4, 2019 at 5:06 pm

    Again, it might be contrintuitive but oils in shampoos don’t do what people normally expect. They don’t make hair smoother but just supress lather and compromise stability. The feeling that you want is achieved by using right surfactants and conditioners. Add 2% of honeyquat and you will see the difference. And don’t add any glucosides they tangle hair.

  • ngarayeva001

    Member
    February 4, 2019 at 5:07 pm

    Analise commercial products with oils. You will notice that oils are very close to 1% line. It is just a marketing trick, because consumer thinks that oils are good for hair.

  • OldPerry

    Member
    February 4, 2019 at 5:18 pm

    The whole point of shampoos is to remove oil. Adding oil to a shampoo formula is not generally a good idea.

  • Hina_Alam

    Member
    February 5, 2019 at 8:32 am

    I am not getting much information about SLMI except from the companies which are promoting this 
    how can I know more about this as this surfectant is relatively new in the market

  • Hina_Alam

    Member
    February 5, 2019 at 8:47 am

    @001 Thanks a lot 5% SLMI with 5% coca betaine is working well for my hair except conditioning issue .
    will add polyquat and see .
    do you suggest adding keratin protein powder and panthenol 

  • OldPerry

    Member
    February 5, 2019 at 2:11 pm

    What information are you trying to find that you don’t have? Your question is too vague to give a good answer.  

    Here is the safety information about SMLI - https://www.dropbox.com/s/5irtrckvue5w90p/SMLI-safety.pdf?dl=0

    Keratin protein and Panthenol are water soluble and will simply be washed away during shampooing. They will not have any significant effect on your hair.  They are claims ingredients put into formulas for a good story. They don’t actually do anything (from a shampoo especially).

  • Hina_Alam

    Member
    February 6, 2019 at 3:34 am

    Perry said:

    What information are you trying to find that you don’t have? Your question is too vague to give a good answer.  

    Here is the safety information about SMLI - https://www.dropbox.com/s/5irtrckvue5w90p/SMLI-safety.pdf?dl=0

    Keratin protein and Panthenol are water soluble and will simply be washed away during shampooing. They will not have any significant effect on your hair.  They are claims ingredients put into formulas for a good story. They don’t actually do anything (from a shampoo especially).

    Hi 
    I am not a chemist to have a good background knowledge 
    i am doing research and working on few  ingredients to formulate something suitable and safe  for me .
    My queries might be vague and not to the point but this is how we learn .
    plz don’t answer if it irritates you . I am still working on how to combine ingredients depending on their cationic and anionic nature .
    Thanks for bearing me ?

  • Hina_Alam

    Member
    February 6, 2019 at 3:58 am

    @Perry 
    The research paper is really helpful 
    thanks 

  • OldPerry

    Member
    February 6, 2019 at 1:41 pm

    Sorry if my response came off as sounding irritated. It wasn’t meant that way at all. I wanted you to get answers that are helpful but without a specific question, it’s hard to know what information would help.

  • Hina_Alam

    Member
    February 6, 2019 at 3:57 pm

    Perry said:

    Sorry if my response came off as sounding irritated. It wasn’t meant that way at all. I wanted you to get answers that are helpful but without a specific question, it’s hard to know what information would help.

    Thanks for being so understanding.
    I have Reached to this formulation after trying a lot 
    SMLI -5%
    cocabetaine -10%
    polyquat -2%
    guar gum 2%
    water to make it 100% 
    essential oil -1%
    This is Ok on hair …how can I improve it more in terms of conditioning without weighing my hair down 
    Can I use BTMS 50 
    and I have no idea about the cationic and anionic nature of ingredients … does this recipe looks balanced to you?

  • Hina_Alam

    Member
    March 19, 2019 at 4:24 pm

    Again, it might be contrintuitive but oils in shampoos don’t do what people normally expect. They don’t make hair smoother but just supress lather and compromise stability. The feeling that you want is achieved by using right surfactants and conditioners. Add 2% of honeyquat and you will see the difference. And don’t add any glucosides they tangle hair.

    I have BTMS50 can I try that in place of honeyquat

  • belassi

    Member
    March 19, 2019 at 6:03 pm

    I have BTMS50 can I try that in place of honeyquat
    - No, but try making a very small sample (100mL) to see why.

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