Leave in conditioner obsession and issues - Chemists Corner

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Leave in conditioner obsession and issues

Posted by shuchi on February 11, 2020 at 5:03 am

Hi All,

My obsession with leave on conditioner formulation is just overwhelming. that I tried making another batch of leave in conditioner. This time, I have dropped glycol stearate. The formula was

Phase A % gms/ml

D/W 82.2

Glycerin 3.0 16.0 ml

D Panthenol 0.5 3.0 ml

Cetrimonium chloride 0.3 2.0 ml

Phase B

BTMS 50 5.0 26.0 gms

Ceto stearyl alcohol 1.0 5.0 ml

Stearic acid 0.5 2.5 gms

Coconut oil+Jojoba oil 3.0 15.0 ml

Dimethicone 1.5 7.5 ml

Phase C

M paraben 0.5 2.5 ml

Keratin+Biotin powder+ 0.5 2.5 gms

Vit C powder

Essential oils - Tea tree,Lemon, 1.0 5.0 ml

Orange pulp, Vit E

Citric acid 1.0 5.0 ml

The end product was good in consistency, look and feel. However, the pH was only at 2.9 when the target was between 4.8 and 5.5. I had to look up some blogs and baking soda was mentioned as a solution to up the pH. When I put around half a teaspoon of baking soda, the formulation separated into water and the creamy part ( emulsion) floating. Though the fishy odour from last time was handled well this time, the pH and the separation of the formulation was a let down. Will I be able to modify the batch or will I have to discard? What in your expert opinion could have gone wrong? Your valuable feedback will be helpful. Thanks in advance :#

Abdullah replied 4 years, 2 months ago 5 Members · 4 Replies
4 Replies

creatorhealer2020

Member
February 21, 2020 at 5:01 pm

I would suspect that too much baking soda was used and the pH was too high to maintain stability in your formula. I’m new to this, but if it were me I would add more emulsifier to see if I could fix it and then test the pH again.
chemicalmatt

Member
February 22, 2020 at 12:27 am

DEL the stearic acid and choose which quat you want to go with. CETAC and BTMS are “competing” to be the primary emulsifier there. CETAC usually wins.
Gunther

Member
February 23, 2020 at 11:47 pm

Drop the 1% citric acid and test its pH.
Remove the biotin+keratin+vit C
Remove the stearic acid and add more fatty alcohols if needed.

Cetrimonium or BTMS won’t really emulsify silicones in water thin products.
So you’d better add a ready made silicone emulsion, or a water soluble silicone.
Abdullah

Member
February 24, 2020 at 2:37 am

@shuchi
%1 citric acid is too high. Reduce the amount. Only %0.3 can drop the pH from 12 to 5 or 6

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