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surfactant preservative
Hello,
recently, I was horrified to discover that the Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate (ALS) I use for a surfactant in my shampoo uses formaldehyde as a preservative system. I believe in practicing responsible chemistry and I wish to formulate with preservative free ammonium lauryl sulfate.
Does anyone know if it possible to get preservative free ammonium lauryl sulfate? If yes, which vendor can provide this raw material?
if this is not possible does anyone know of a preservative free replacement for this surfactant? -
17 Replies
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Using preservative-free surfactants is not responsible chemistry. It’s actually quite irresponsible and dangerous.
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It is irresponsible to use any amount of formaldehyde in any product that comes into contact with living tissue. Formaldehyde is an embalming agent and extremely toxic. It surprises me that the use of this preservative in cosmetic products hasn’t been blown up by the news media.
Do you have any suggestions for alternative preservatives for ammonium lauryl sulfate?
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I’ll take a formaldehyde releasing preservative any day rather than the awful isothiazolinones. Anyway, when you formulate the shampoo, you’re diluting the preservative by at least 3:1 - which is why we need to add a preservative of our own to the finished product. As Perry said, it would be dangerous to release an unpreserved product. As a matter of interest what brand of ALS is that and what % and type of preservative?
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BASF standapol A, formaldehyde was listed between 0.1 and 1%.
Honestly? I get it, all these things need some kind of preservative to prevent micro-organisms from growing in them. My issue is with the fact that formaldehyde is the preservative. It is my strong opinion that formaldehyde has no place being used in any products that contact living human tissue.
Are there safer alternatives? -
You are right as we did this!Contact supplier and request preservative you want in your ALS to be the same as you are using in final product.Ask for designation on drums you buy i.e. TRade Name. JSJ special.
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https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-causes/formaldehyde.html
Interestingly, formaldehyde is naturally created by your own body in the liver.
But there is zero evidence that the amount of formaldehyde people are exposed to from personal care products has any harmful effect.
Chemical toxicity depends on a number of things including level of exposure, time of exposure, and route of exposure.
Are there safer alternatives? I would say no because there is no demonstrable harm of using formaldehyde at the levels used in surfactants.
But if you prefer something else, follow @DRBOB@VERDIENT.BIZ advice and ask your supplier to give you a preservative that matches the one in your final product.
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I was mistaken, It was DeWolf, not BASF. Thanks for the help I appreciate it.
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I had a similar issue with the ALS we purchased which was MIT preserved. ALS is a tricky one as you can’t use the organic acids, the low pH required means Ammonia is released. We settled on phenoxyethanol and caprylyl glycol. Not sure where in the world you are based but the supplier is Zohar Dalia based in Israel so if you are in the EU and purchasing in large volume it could be an option.
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ALS is a tricky one as you can’t use the organic acids, the low pH required means Ammonia is released
Something wrong here. ALS absolutely requires an acidic (low) pH. It is at pH of 7 and above you begin to get ammonia released. I design my shampoos based on ALS/ALES/LDEAL for pH = 5. -
If you are that adverse to certain preservatives you could switch to a solid surfactant (which are less likely to contain preservatives) but these products generally require much more energy/heat to dissolve.
I think BASF sells ALS with a benzoate preservative. You just need to contact different suppliers and ask for ALS with a preservative that meets your needs.
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Ammonia is released at Ph 7 and above so at 5 -6 you can use BA—-Phenoxyethanol parabens and so on.
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I have found that 0.4% sodium benzoate gives excellent preservation. We’ve got ambient temps up in the 30s, even 40C, and I have never had a preservative failure in 4 years.
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Appears that I have been misguided by my supplier, thanks for the correct information
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It looks like ultimately we will need to switch to surfactants that have the same preservative as our final product. I guess its time to start asking suppliers.
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I checked my correspondence with the supplier, I was wrong the reason they said they couldn’t use benzoate and sorbate was due to discolouring and an increase in viscosity during their stability trials not Ammonia release. As rightly pointed out this was the reason they couldn’t preserve it with high pH
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Sure. Sorbate is only suitable for use in dark coloured products, and both of them being salts, add electrolytes so will result in salt-curve thickening.
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If you are using Sorbate, you must stabilizat it by citric acid (1:1). It can give photostability. But Sorbate will work below pH 5.0….
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