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Menthol
Hello guys,
how would you or what is the proper way to incorporate Menthol into surfactant systems?
1. Does it need an antioxidant?
2. Would you solubilise it or just put it straight in and heat to dissolve?
3. Something to look for/take care?
4. Typical usage rates? Face wash, body wash ..My friend asked me to formulate a refreshing facial cleanser. Will probably go with SCI as primary surfactant and thicken it with HPMC or similar.
I have done this a long time ago and remember that over time the product got weird. Probably instability - how to describe it - inside appeared something like pale white strings, maybe like a net if you will. I should have taken a picture. I never saw this/never happened to me before so I blamed the Menthol and never done the product again
Thanks a lot!
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4 Replies
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If you are using other essential oils, such as peppermint, menthol will dissolve into it easily (a bit of heat will help), more slowly, menthol will dissolve into other vegetable oils too. Once it is dissolved, it is unlikely to precipitate out.
I’m using this at 0.3-0.6% in toothpaste for flavour; however, for topical applications you may want to start at 0.01% and see what the feedback is like - and either increase or decrease from there.
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Heat the Menthol in a solubilizer (35C - 40C should do it) and add to your surfactant mixture. 0.1% Menthol is generally enough to get a cooling effect.
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Thank you guys.
@MarkBroussard, does it require an antioxidant? -
I don’t think so … it’s a relatively tiny amount
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