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Organic surfactant compatible with low pH (3.5)?
Looking for organic surfactants that will work in a low pH cleanser formulation, let me know if you know any options! Trying to keep the formula at least 95% organic, but need to use <5 % surfactant typically.
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10 Replies
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What sort of thing are you looking to clean with it, and how is the cleaning to be done?
Whether the surfactants are considered “organic” depends on the farming techniques used to grow the materials used to make them.
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Hi Robert,
It’s for a gentle face / body cleanser. Doesn’t need to foam at all. -
Is it to be rinsed off?
If it doesn’t foam, you have only a few remaining options to apply & remove it. It can have a cream consistency, applied thick & rinsed or wiped off. Or it can be soaked into a matrix like a cloth that both dispenses it & soaks it back up, akin to damp mopping. Non-foaming preparations are hardly ever used for cleaning parts of the body other than hands & face; an example was the microwaveable detergent-emollient-soaked sponges I used from Rite Aid when I had to keep my feet dry following surgery.
Why does its pH need to be that low? Is it because acid needs to activate some ingredient of it that does something?
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For certified organic surfactants, aside from soaps and plant extracts, I think your only choices are the ones from Earth Supplied Products (ESP) made from Sucrose Cocoate, like Safe-Surf SC-Pro.
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Akypo RLM45CA has a pH of about 3.5, it is a carboxylic acid.
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Or you can try Organic Soapnut Extract.
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I believe you can source sodium cocoyl glutamate organically. I’ve had no issues using it in face wash at skin neutral pH.
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Even Non ionic surfactants are also advisable and stable at wide range of pH & also these are eco-certified but for organic claim need check with supplier. Please refer BASF range of Glucosides.
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There’s a very large difference between Ecocert and certified organic materials. There’s a lot of confusion about this, so let me explain.Ecocert and other organizations just want to be able to prove “natural” and possibly minimally/naturally processed. “Certified Organic” has an entirely different meaning and a whole added level or two of complexity.Certified organic surfactants need to be made in a certified facility, and kept free from contamination by non-certified materials. They need to be made from certified organic raw materials that are themselves made in a certified facility, which in turn need to be made from certified organically grown plants grown on a certified farm. Because of this, there tends to be very, very few certified organic surfactants.To my knowledge, there are no certified organic surfactants manufactured anywhere in the world other than the ones I mentioned, including BASF’s glucosides, which very probably cannot ever be made as certified organic materials (we’ve checked).
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Thanks @Bobzchemist for valuable info.
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