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I feel like I’m loosing my mind over hair conditioner
So just to preface this, this is my first time ever experimenting with emulsions. Because of that, I decided I was going to follow Perry’s KISS approach, Keep It Stupid Simple, and create a hair conditioner that is literally just watter, fatty alcohols, cationic surfactant, silicone, ph adjusters and preservatives.
This is the formula for the last attempt I made:
Phase A
Deionized water………………………………………………..92.2%
Cetrimonium chloride 30% (Kao’s Quartamin60)…….3%Phase B
Cetearyl alcohol (C16-49%, C18-51%) …………………2.9%
Cetyl alcohol ……………………………………………………..0.1%
Dimethicone………………………………………………………1.0%Phase C
DMDM Hydantoin ……………………………………………….0.5%
Fragrance …………………………………………………………..0.3%
Citric acid (50% solution) …………………………… qs pH 4.5I heated phase A and B to 70°C in a hot plate (I put about 5% more water than I needed to make up for evaporation). I then added phase B to phase A while mixing with an immersion blender for about 5 minutes. I then switched over to an overhead mixer and a propeller blade and mixed there during cool down.
Once the mixture was down to around 40°C I added phase C and measured pH to adjust.
I should mention, the product was pretty liquidy even after cooling to the 40 degrees, and immidiately after adding the citric acid it thickened up quite nicely. I thought it would hold up so I let it sit undisturbed for 24 hours at room temperature, everything seemed ok. After that, I put it in the freezer for 24 hours and then took it out to thaw for another 24 hours. I was going to then bring it to the oven at 45°C for another 24 hours and repeat the whole process a few times. But I didn’t because it completely separated after about 2 hours of being outside of the freezer.
What am I doing wrong? Do you suspect this is a matter of ingredient ratios? Is it because I don’t have a proper homogenizer? What are some good books on cosmetic emulsions I can look into? Any help or suggestion you can give me will be highly appreciated!
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8 Replies
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So you are trying to create an emulsion without an actual emulsifier? How is that suppose to work?
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I was under the impression that Cetrimonium Chloride is an emulsifier. Is it not?
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What viscosity dimethicone are you using?
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Your formula’s ratio is not too bad.
But Im not sure why you have to try free/thraw storage? That one is only for stability test (which is at extreme condition).For other ppl comment about emulsifying effect of Centrimonium Chloride, yes it can be a good emulsifier at acid pH condition.
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Abdullah said:What viscosity dimethicone are you using?
It’s dimethicone 350 cst
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MetalizeMerz said:Your formula’s ratio is not too bad.
But Im not sure why you have to try free/thraw storage? That one is only for stability test (which is at extreme condition).For other ppl comment about emulsifying effect of Centrimonium Chloride, yes it can be a good emulsifier at acid pH condition.
Yeah, since it’s my first emulsion I just wanted to get it right, stability and all, before moving on to anything more complicated.
Maybe it’s too much, but I feel like if I’m not able to create such a simple stable emulsion, then how am I supposed to create emulsions with other more complex systems haha
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Adding a stabilizer like xantham gum at 0.3-0.5% can help keep the emulsion from separating.
Why add cetyl alcohol at 0.1% though? You can just replace that with ceteayl alcohol since you already have it in your formula. 0.1% cetyl alcohol does not make much difference.
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You might add some Glyceryl Stearate to also help with emulsification. ~0.5% or so should work.
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