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Soaping effect in cosmetic emulsion
Hey!
I’m formulating a emulsion and we observed the occurence of “soaping” effect when the formulation is applied to the skin.
It’s a very simple, natural, low-cost formulation with a high concentration of fatty alcohols (around 5 - 7%) and emollient (Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, around 20%). We are using Potassium Cetyl Phosphate as the emulsifier.
I made a research and it seems that Dimethicone is the best option to solve this kind of issue, but I can’t add any silicone to the formulation. I also don’t think that lower the fatty alcohol content or add more emollients will be the best solution, as it can affect the viscosity and sensory aspects of the formulation.
I was thinking that maybe the addition of a low HLB co-emulsifier like Glyceryl Stearate could help.Does anyone has any suggestion?
Best regards,
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3 Replies
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxw4QjFBrNI
check this
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Hello,
here we go again. If you would search soaping effect in this forum, you would find plenty of topics.
However, … please check the video above.
20% lipid is quite high input. Can you effectively stabilize it? Have you conduct proper testing? If yes, try to lower the emulsifier input.
It may mean, that there is way too much emulsifier present and it’s not “busy” with emulsifying oils and it’s capturing air, thus soaping effect.
You can also add some low HLB emulsifier ( max 2-3%, otherwise it can destabilise the formula ) as glyceryl stearate citrate or similar. -
Common to see foaming when using anionic emulsifiers such as those phosphate esters. Cetyl Alcohol should take care of it, adding only 2.00%, but it appears you already have a bunch of FA in there already… so why the soaping then???…beats me. Well as @Paprik suggests, minimizing the level of emulsifier in the formula might help. With personal care formulation in general: less is often more.
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