Stupid question about water

Formulating

Stupid question about water

Posted by mikeyd on February 9, 2015 at 9:25 pm

Hi all, I am interested in producing a ‘natural’ range of shampoo for my salon and want to start with the basics. My first of possibly many questions is what requirements are there for water quality? Is demineralised water ok? Is there an industry standard to adhere to? What are the main things to get tested in the water to ensure it’s safe to use? Any help or references will be greatly appreciated, thanks…

Microformulation replied 9 years, 2 months ago 9 Members · 14 Replies
14 Replies

David

Member
February 9, 2015 at 10:10 pm

Demineralised water is the place to start. If You could get your water somewhere else, like hot spring water, if you want to make a good story to sell.
OldPerry

Member
February 10, 2015 at 1:18 am

Deionized water works but demineralized works too.
mikeyd

Member
February 10, 2015 at 1:24 am

Thanks guys, is there anything that needs to be checked? I’ve heard rumours of electrical conductivity and ph levels that need to be in certain ranges? If I’m going to do this I want to do it right, and getting the basics right from the beginning seems to be the logical thing to do.
belassi

Member
February 10, 2015 at 1:24 am

Buying RO water in 20L containers gives me a cost of approx. 7c per Kg of product. That might not seem so much but it represents 40c of the sale price per Kg of product.

For an anti-wrinkle cream that might not be much of the price, but for a base shampoo, it might be way too much of the price. Worth considering installing a Deioniser column? A mixed-bed column produces water well suited to cosmetic production.
mikeyd

Member
February 10, 2015 at 2:12 am

Thanks Belassi, I just want to make sure the quality of the water is correct which is why I’m asking what I should be checking. It may sound stupid but is all RO water the same?
Bobzchemist

Member
February 10, 2015 at 3:23 am

Micro testing is also important
Lara

Member
February 10, 2015 at 5:41 am

May be its enough to use an steril Filter and an deonizer column?
David

Member
February 10, 2015 at 3:45 pm

@ Perry - Deionized and demineralized - isn’t that the same thing?
mikeyd

Member
February 10, 2015 at 10:32 pm

So is there levels of anything that should be checked or is it ok to just use demineralised water?
MarkBroussard

Member
February 11, 2015 at 12:54 am

Depends on the format of the water you’re using. If you’re buying distilled/deionized jugs that you’re going to use quickly once opened, no need to check for anything.

If you are going to be storing the water in a large vessel, but will not use all of it fairly quickly, or if you are setting up your own RO system, then you’ll want to check for dissolved solids and a micro check.
OldPerry

Member
February 11, 2015 at 2:16 pm

@David - yeah pretty much.

This thread inspired me to investigate it a little further. Here’s a little more detail on water used in formulating.
galina

Member
February 12, 2015 at 12:07 am

I run small batches on Reverse Osmosis water. You can get various size units and holding tanks. Buying water for shampoos will be tedious to say the least.
mikeyd

Member
February 12, 2015 at 12:10 am

Do you have the RO water tested? I just want to make sure I’m not missing anything…
Microformulation

Member
February 12, 2015 at 7:22 pm

In you get a RO system, do not scrimp on or neglect the preventative maintenance. I have seen poorly maintained system that were alarming.