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Product duplication: What is Ammonium Salt in this LOI?
I have been trying to come up with a duplication for Shea Moisture’s Curl enhancing Smoothie. I have been analyzing the ingredients list for a while and can’t seem to figure out exactly what Ammonium salt is and where i can find it. Could someone please explain? Is the Ammonium salt the emulsifier in this formula? Would this ingredient be avaliable to the home crafter?
LOI:Deionized Water, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter)*, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut ) Oil*, Macadamia Ternifolia Seed Oil, Magnifera Indica (Mango) Seed Butter*, Persea Gratissima (Avacado) Oil, Vegetable Glycerin, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract, Silk Protein, Ammonium Salt, Melia Azadiratcha (Neem) Seed Oil,Daucus Carota Sativa (Carrot) Seed oil, Sorbitol Esters, Panthenol (Pro-Vitamin B-5), Caprylyl Glycol, Essential Oil Blend, Lonicera Caprifolium (honeysuckle) Flower (and) Lonicera Japonica (Japanese Honeysuckle) Flower Extract, Tocopherol (Vitamin E), Hibiscus Flower Extract
From looking at the ingredients this seems like it should be a relatively straight forward duplication. But if the Ammonium salt isn’t the emulsifier, I cant seem to pen point what would be.
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14 Replies
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There is no emulsifier listed. “Ammonium salt” is not a correct INCI name. Probably they mean ammonium chloride.
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ok @Belassi I see. No wonder I couldn’t figure out the emulsifier. I thought as much, but considering they are a well known brand I assumed they would have a correct ingredient list.
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Hang on - by “sorbitol esters” they mean polysorbate. That is an emulsifier but high HLB only, so it is not, in my opinion, a well designed product.
And they are trying to conceal the fact that it almost certainly contains parabens by using the Lonicera Caprifolium (honeysuckle) Flower (and) Lonicera Japonica (Japanese Honeysuckle) Flower Extract description. -
“ammonium salt” could also mean a polymeric quaternary ammonium salt (polyquaternium) of some kind, which would be the curl-enhancing ingredient
or it could mean something like behentrimonium chloride, which would act as an emulsifier
as far as critical details go, that list is completely vague and uninformative, and very likely incomplete too; I’d personally ignore it and formulate by comparison
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With wrong INCI names it is a bit of challenge to duplicate. However, if you start with the three first ingredients(assuming they are correct) and find an appropriate emulsifier you may be on the right way.
@Belassi they could also mean Sorbitan Oleate, Sorbitan Monostearate ,Sorbitan Stearate..which all have a low HLB -
@Bill_Toge thanks for the advice. I think i will formulate by comparison as you said. Now i understand why I can’t figure out what this LOI means. the only things that are clear are the “natural ingredients” i.e the oils and extracts.
I’m sure @Belassi they have disquised the parabans and other synthetic ingredients on purpose; as they claim to be an “all natural company”. just curious though, how do you know that the extracts would disquise the use of parabens? are parabens commonly used to preserve these type of ingredients?
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just curious though, how do you know that the extracts would disquise the use of parabens? are parabens commonly used to preserve these type of ingredients?
No, these extracts actually contain parabens (as do blueberries, etc) -
oh okay thank you!
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@Bill_Toge -good point - a quat would help both the emulsifying and the curl enhancing. A quat you should be able to “feel” when testing. However it is too far down the list -or wait - the list is may be wrong -
Wrong LOI actually is worse than no LOI when duplicating.. -
According to the declaration on the Boots (UK) website the ingredients are
Ingredients
Water, Glycerin (Vegetable) , Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter***, Cetrimonium Chloride, Cetearyl Alcohol, Glyceryl Stearate Citrate, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil, Cetyl Alcohol, Fragrance (Parfum), Glyceryl Caprylate, Macadamia Ternifolia Seed Oil, Sodium Lauroyl Hydrolyzed Silk, Mangifera Indica (Mango) Seed Butter, Panthenol, Melia Azadirachta Seed Oil Daucus Carota Sativa (Carrot) Seed Oil, Tocopherol, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Glyceryl Undecylenate, Potassium Hydroxide, Citric Acid, Benzyl Benzoate.
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It’s quite a simple conditioner, then. Everything from Fragrance onwards is <1%.
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WOW @johnb I have never seen that ingredients list. Even the LOI on the back of the product are what I posted. interesting….
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found this by googleing
not a reliable source but to me it sounds they haven’t changed the formula - only corrected the INCI
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thanks @David good information to know. I would have never guessed that!
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