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Suspending mica in liquid soap… but actually that’s not the real bottom
Hey, guys!
My client wants to make her “honey liquid soap” with us and she already has a formula that she used to do handmade. It goes like this:
water — qsp
SLS — 24%
cocamidopropyl betaine — 24%
euperlan pk 771 — 11%
honey extract — 1,5%
propolis extract — 1,5%
parfum — 1,8%
mica — 0,33%
It has mica on it, but the product is not thick enough to suspend it. Turns out I can’t reproduce this formula with any gelling agent available in lab to suspend it, the visco always breaks. I’ve tried carbopol ultrez 21, hec and acrypol 940. She wants to keep it “slightly clear” so i’m avoiding the use of clays.
Since it’s a SLS system, i wonder if just adding NaCl would suspend the mica. Can anyone suggest some other thickening agent(s) to suspend mica whitout clouding the product?
thanks in advance! p.s. i know her formula doesn’t have any preservative system, i’m working on it lol
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3 Replies
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That formula has a lot of CAPB. Keep in mind that CAPB can have up to 5-7% of NaCl, and maybe that’s why viscosity breaks when using acrylates.
Is your SLES the one of 25% active, or the 70%? You could make a gel based on surfactants only (use a 3:1 ratio of SLES:CAPB as active matter), but I’m not sure it’d keep your mica from settling, especially in warm weather.
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You might be able to build viscosity from salt-thickening (@ketchito ‘s answer is solid), but it may not provide enough suspension
You could try ARBALON (distributed by Lubrizol), it requires some high speed mixing to disperse and might not be the cheapest option, but it should work well in your system. Just note that this does not add viscosity.
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Carbopol Aqua SF-1 is a good Thickener. Has back acid Thickening and suspending properties. Carbopol ultrez 21 is okay for emulsions or cream systems, but I dont like using it for surfactant systems.it has limited electrolyte tolerance.
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