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Honey oil struggle
I’m attempting to create a leave-in hair conditioner based on honey, oil, and aloe vera juice.
Here’s where I’m at so far:
- Honey: 70%
- Olive Oil: 10%
- Castor Oil: 10%
- Aloe Vera Juice: 8%
- Fruit Acid Complex: 1%
- Optiphen: 1%
The problem is that this leave-in is not very moisturizing, but is rather sticky. Plus, it keeps bubbling after mixing. Attempting to add more oil or aloe vera juice accelerates the bubbling and then I can see the oil coating the top of the mixture. Please advise.
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12 Replies
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Oil and water don’t mix. Remind yourself of the solubility of honey and aloe.
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Right. I was under the impression that the optiphen would emulsify the mix, but it appears to do the exact opposite when added.
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Optiphen is ONLY a preservative. It has NO emulsifying properties. With this much bug food…. it will be severely challenged to meet its only purpose of preserving.
Honey is a poor humectant…and typically used in trace amounts for ‘claim’. Same with Aloe.
You are missing the fundamental pieces of conditioning…. Cationic ingredients and silicones.
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So, it’s likely that the original product has a cationic conditioner that isn’t listed. So I would need to test multiple cationic conditioners in this formula? I suppose that would make sense, being that the original product added caramel as a coloring agent. I thought that was odd since the honey is already brown.
I would need to find something that gives a very syrupy, but still oily, feel to the final product.
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I suspect…. they mislabeled one of their ingredients…. with something like this:
lotioncrafter.com
CAS No. 223705-79-1, 7732-18-5 Honeyquat PF (Paraben Free) is a naturally derived quaternized conditioning agent (polyquaternium) made from honey with excellent moisture binding capabilities (far more powerful than glycerin) for use on skin and hair in both leave-on and rinse-off … Continue reading
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There are several issues with your current formula. Here are my recommendations:
1. If this is supposed to be a hair conditioner, you are missing key conditioning agents. Oils can add shine to the hair, but only a small amount is needed. They do not condition the hair on their own. You want to look at cationic ingredients like BTMS (Behentrimonium Methosulfate) and cationic guar gum (Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride)
2. The high percentage of honey (70%) is making your mixture sticky. Honey is inherently sticky and not suitable for a hair conditioner in such a large amount. I recommend removing honey entirely and replacing it with water. Food grade ingredients aren’t suitable for cosmetics, and honey isn’t going to provide a benefit in your conditioner either.
3. Oils are not soluble in honey or aloe vera juice, which is causing the separation and bubbling issues you’re seeing. Adding more oil or aloe vera juice exacerbates this problem. To make the oil mix with the water phase, you need a robust emulsifier. For a conditioner, a cationic emulsifier like BTMS (Behentrimonium Methosulfate) is preferable, combined with fatty alcohols like cetearyl alcohol for improved stability and conditioning performance.
4. I would recommend reducing the olive oil, castor oil, and aloe vera to around 1% each. Only a little amount of oil is needed in a conditioner, otherwise it can become too heavy and weigh the hair down. Also, aloe vera does not provide much benefit either, it is mostly an ingredient used for claims and marketing stories. You might consider adding some silicones like dimethicone, too.
Good luck!
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Thanks a bunch. I’m basing this formula on a successful leave in conditioner that has now been reformulated.
This is the original ingredient list:
- Honey
- Olive Fruit Oil
- Castor Oil
- Aloe Leaf Juice
- Bilberry Fruit
- Sugar Cane
- Sugar Maple
- Sweet Orange Fruit
- Lemon Fruit Extract
- Caramel
- Optiphen
I’m just looking to recreate the original formula.
Perhaps they left out a few components when creating the original product.
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It is 100% likely that not all the ingredients were listed. This is commonplace (not typically legal) unfortunately. That INCI…is not plausible….if you are looking for a homogenized product.
May I suggest you look at a large number of similar type ‘professional’ products, and you will find an INCI theme. Great place to learn. Figure out why they included each ingredient. 🙂
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Just to help point the ship towards the goal…here is a sample formula:
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Here is another more simple one:
Most of your ingredients you listed were ‘claim’ ingredients…(don’t do anything…just for marketing). You can still hang those as ornaments on a basic framework like this. You simply add them at .1%….so they don’t get in the way of the ingredients that are actually doing the work.
Good luck.
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Wow, thanks again. I haven’t reviewed many breakdowns of leave-in formulas. I have googled individual ingredients and attempted to piece together my own rudimentary understanding.
Perhaps I could add caprylyl glycol or use PEG-40 Castor Oil. Or powdered honey and powdered aloe vera. I’ll have to report back.
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