Shampoo Formula - Chemists Corner

Tagged: natural ingredients, natural product, preservative, shampoo

Hair

Shampoo Formula

Posted by rldabush on August 19, 2015 at 9:11 pm

I am currently working
on a natural shampoo formula and am having trouble with the formula thinning
out after a few days. I have tried making just the shampoo base and testing the
additives separately, and these have stayed a good stable viscosity. When I try to
combine all the ingredients, especially any sample that had the preservative added, it thins out after about 2 days. In addition, when I added a natural fragrance the shampoo had some separation.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

This is the formula that
I am working with:

57% Water

40% Iselux SFS (Water
(and) Sodium Lauroyl Methyl Isethionate (and) Cocamidopropyl Betaine (and) Sodium
Cocoyl Isethionate (and) Sodium Methyl Oleoyl Taurate)

0.5% Hydrolyzed Wheat
Protein

0.5% Panthenol

1% Preservative (Gluconolactone
(and) Sodium Benzoate)

Citric Acid (50%
solution)

1% Salt

heraklit replied 9 years ago 10 Members · 14 Replies
14 Replies

OldPerry

Member
August 19, 2015 at 9:25 pm

Did you do a salt curve analysis? Also, what is your pH range?

For the fragrance you probably need a solubilizer like Polysorbate 20.
David

Member
August 19, 2015 at 9:31 pm

seems you have nowhere to go except changing fragrance and preservative. That’s the main reason I don’t like premixes like Iselux SFS
David08848

Member
August 19, 2015 at 9:31 pm

By “natural fragrance” do you mean essential oils? If so which ones? It will be helpful to know which ones you are using as some are known to cause issues like you are having. (percentages are not necessary)

David
David

Member
August 19, 2015 at 9:34 pm

with a formula like that I would even let innospec (supplier of Iselux) do all the work and let them find a suitable fragrance and preservative
MarkBroussard

Member
August 19, 2015 at 11:06 pm

@ridabush:

In what order are you adding the Ingredients? If you post your process, perhaps that may give a clue.

And, what “natural fragrance” are you using.
melanie

Member
November 2, 2015 at 1:09 am

Can I use decyl glucose as my main surfactant in a formulation or do I have to use a anionic surfactant ?
chemist1

Member
November 2, 2015 at 12:07 pm

What is your pH? It sounds like you are at the top of your salt curve.
belassi

Member
November 2, 2015 at 3:32 pm

Decyl glucoside usually has a very high pH and will require a lot of citric acid to neutralise. Or you could use a carboxylic acid surfactant to neutralise.
OldPerry

Member
November 2, 2015 at 5:29 pm

Yes, some companies use decyl glucoside as their main detergent.

For example…

http://www.drugstore.com/california-baby-shampoo-and-bodywash-calendula/qxp239514?catid=183458
belassi

Member
November 2, 2015 at 5:59 pm

Interesting LOI for that product. Perry. Did you notice there are NO pH adjusters listed, despite the fact that DG is known to have very high pH? (up to 10.5 apparently)
OldPerry

Member
November 2, 2015 at 9:20 pm

Yes, it seems like there should be some Citric Acid in there. The product doesn’t list ingredients properly so it’s likely that there is just a mistake in the label.
Ruben

Member
November 2, 2015 at 10:08 pm

Also gluconolactone gets converted into gluconic acid when dissolved in water, which may help to drop the pH
belassi

Member
November 3, 2015 at 9:40 pm

I have some Iselux SFS here and have tested it pretty thoroughly. My results were that our existing sulphate-free formula foams better, has better sensorials, and costs less. I am getting back to the *original* question here.

I’m pretty sure your preservative is causing the problem you mentioned.
heraklit

Member
November 4, 2015 at 4:52 pm

There is a decyl glucoside with pH 3-5: Oramix ns10