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% of surfactants in shampoo
What is the typical concetration of surfactants in a basic shampoo? I have heard suggestions of 15-40%, which is a huge range. I have made shampoos with a concetration of 40% surfactants. but I think that may be too much. Am I using way to much surfactants in my shampoos? is 20-30% a better target?
Usually I use coco betaine, SCI powder, and Decyl glucoside, sodium lauroyl lactylate
But not I want to make a moisturizing SLES shampoo/bodywash with SLES, coco betaine, SCI powder, and glycol diserate. But think that 40% concentration of these surfactants is going to be drying.
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20 Replies
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It depends on how you combine the actives (wt/wt%) of each but 15-20% should be sufficient:P&G used to market Prell Concentrate in a tube which had >30% active SAA (they still may, but haven’t looked recently).Main concern with high SAA is ocular irritation.
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ok so would SLES 10% (60% concentration) coco betaine 5% and SCI powder 5% be a good amount of surfactant for a shampoo? The rest being water, cat guar, gycol diserate and thickener.
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Should be,so make it and test by whatever means you use.
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Don’t forget a preservative:suggest Germaben 11at 1% wt/wt.
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of course always preservative! I typically use liquid germall plus. probably also need soem citric acid for cat guar. thanks for help and suggestions!
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That would be enough, but you should check how much foam does the shampoo generate.
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40% is definitely too high. Your suggested formulas seems reasonable.
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Thanks! I really appreciate the feed back! I made a shampoo that was irritating my scalp a bit. but when I diluted it i didn’t have the problem. I think the concentration of cleansers was the big problem.
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So this is my projected formula. please advise. any suggestion or does this look like a goos starting place?
SCI powder 5%
Coco betain 5%
SLES 10%
Cat guar .5%
citric acid- until pH is 4-5Sodium Laureth Sulfate (and) Glycol Distearate (and) Cocamide MEA (and) Laureth-10 1% (premixed)
Crothix- until desired thickness achievedPeg 12 dimethicone- 2%
liquid germall plus .5%
water q.s -
AT pH 5 Better to use ammonium LES for long term stability:otherwise looks ok.
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@DRBOB@VERDIENT.BIZ thanks! are you saying that I should aim to take the pH down to 4 instead of 5? or should I try to keep it at like 6?
I only have SLES so I cant make the swap to ALES
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I only have SLES so I cant make the swap to ALES
That is unfortunate. SLES is a really crummy surfactant IMO. I base my own shampoos on ALS/ALES/CAPB and try as I may, I cannot get near the performance using SLS/SLES/CAPB, mass for mass. -
If you only have SLES adjustPh to 6 to6.5.
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gotcha!
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@belassi i like that combination but nearly impossible to find as a ready mix locally. am busy trying to see how i can make up some
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@Belassi -I thought ALS/SLS or SLES/ALES had very similar perfomance? Is this noted performance difference also true when calculated in moles active matter? ALS/ALES is not very popular in Europe - don’t know why.
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David: I haven’t tried to calculate it in terms of active matter. There is not much of a price difference for me in terms of raw materials. 20% of the blend (ammonium lauryl sulfate, ammonium laureth sulfate, lauryl glucoside and DEAL) + 5% CAPB = 25% whereas I cannot achieve anything like the same level of performance using sodium salts at those levels.
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Belassi do you have a spec sheet of that combo?
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UL Prospector
or
Care Chemicals
It’s very versatile. They say on the data sheet that it can be mixed at any temperature, but I usually work at about 50C because when cold, it is so viscous as to take forever to mix. Very high solids content, up to 70%. -
If you can’t find it there is an alternate blend by TEXAPON: KD SO3 which is ammonium based. I haven’t tried it myself.
I was able to simplify our production of shampoos, body wash and liquid hand soap by adopting a single blend with various additions as appropriate.
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