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No water liquid shampoo. Is it possible?
I’ve been experimenting with a couple of ingredients to reformulate a shampoo that contains no water. On the other hand, I want the formulation to be compatible with a type of packaging that can’t hold water inside. I’ve tried coco betaine, coco glucose, and polyglucose as the main surfactant on its own or as a combination. I also use glycerin and propylene glycol to act as a solvent system in order to keep other oil mixture and the surfactant to be incorporated. No water. However, if the package sits for a while, it starts swelling up or doesn’t keep its “puffy” shape. I know coco betaine is usually 30% active meaning it must have been diluted with water beforehand. Do they sell 100% “pure” ingredients out there? Am I too ambitious?
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10 Replies
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Why on Earth would you want to do this? Have you priced the difference between water and coco glucose, for instance? -
Tie detergent pods and dish washing pods are already out there. I was wondering if it’s even possible to create body care products using the similar concept of water-soluble packaging to encapsulate the liquid shampoo/conditioner/body wash. Yes, I’m aware to the price difference.
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I don’t see this as possible from a fundamental chemistry point of view if you use a liquid, but it should be possible to encapsulate a solid surfactant blend.
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Oh! … I see. That was not clear from your initial post. Thanks for clarifying.
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since the vast majority of liquid cosmetic-grade surfactants are sold as dilutions in water, your only really viable option is to try and dissolve solid surfactants in your glycerine/glycol solvent
sodium lauryl sulphate, sodium lauryl sulphoacetate and sodium cocoyl glutamate (in increasing order of price) are three such surfactants that I can name off the top of my head
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Or you can dissolve comercial washing powder in glycerin…
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I tried to encapsulate glycerin alone or with the shampoo with the glycerin mixed within the water-soluble packaging, and neither worked. Glycerin is a humectant as it attracts moisture in the air making the packaging so saggy and not-as-appealing as it should look. Propylene glycol behaves the same way. Sodium Coco Sulfate does come in a powder form. Should I try?
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@Belassi what do you mean by the solid surfactant blend?
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You could try alcohol…
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The thing is that I understand you want a dissolvable container. That implies something that will dissolve in a polar medium. If you use any polar material inside, the system will not work. Glycerine is polar. Alcohol is polar. The only way is to use a powder internal system or possibly a binary system but that sounds like rocket science.
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