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Order of adding gums to emulsions
Hi everyone,
Does adding the gum to the oil portion or to the water make any difference in an emulsion, especially in a hair conditioner for better glide? I’ve done both method but I normally add the gum to the oil/emulsifier part because it is easier to work with. I’ve done both methods but i didn’t notice anything, what is your thought on that? Thanks in advance
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4 Replies
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What kind of gum? Ionic gums (ex xanthan) generally hydrate better in low ionic strength environments, I’d suggest adding them early in the water phase (after a chelator if including) and using a dispersant (such as glycerin again if including that in your formula). You can probably get away with adding the gums later in the process depending on which one it is and it’s role in the formulation (Ex do you need viscosity from something like xanthan gum or just conditioning/deposition from some cationic guar), but you may not be getting the best performance with it.
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evchem2 , Thank you for your respond.
I’d like to make a very light conditioner which suits my very fine hair to reduce static. I use Demineralized water and I have 2 gums, Polyquat-10 and PVP which I’d like to add, so I have one cationic and one non ionic plus a very small amount of emulsifier. I added both gums to the oil portion because it is easier to process but I’d like to know if they make any difference in performance (glide) and viscosity if I add them to the water or oil or at the beginning or at the end of process. Is there any rule to follow? Thanks
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I can’t speak much to performance and I don’t work on haircare much, there are some other chemists on this site that can answer better than me in those aspects.
General recommendations I’ve seen are to hydrate those materials into water solutions either early in water phase (especially if using for final product viscosity), or as a premix to be incorporated to the end of the process (typical for lower molecular weights)
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I really appreciate your respond. Sorry for late reply because I had a surgery, but again thanks for the info.
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