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talc replacement for an eyeshadow
What are some good alternative ingredients for replacing talk in an eyeshadow formula?
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13 Replies
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Is money/cost a factor? There are some great alternatives, but they cost big bucks.
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That I’m aware of, no.
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what is the reason?
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Boron Nitride
Sericite Mica (coated and uncoated)
Dry-Flo starch, etc.
Silica microsphere coated mica
treated micas
Various microspheres
Kaolin -
@Belassi Talc is the new no-no ingredient here in the US at least.
There have been several class action suits against Johnson and Johnson. As such, talc is demonized. -
Well, I’ve got 40 Kg of THIS if you want to pay the carriage …
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So, I’m going to use this as a teaching moment.
To understand how to replace talc, you need to understand why it’s such a great raw material in the first place.
Talc, when ground, makes platelets - particles that have a high “aspect ratio”. Aspect ratio compares the surface area of one side of a particle to another. A mostly square particle will have a very low aspect ratio. A pancake-shaped particle will have a high aspect ratio.
Why is a high aspect ratio important? It’s all about “skin feel”. When applied to skin, high aspect ratio particles slide over each other, giving a lubricious feel.
So, one way to think about replacing talc is to find other particles that have similar shapes. That list includes Boron Nitride, Mica, Sericite, and possibly Kaolin or other clays, Barium Sulfate, and Aluminum Oxide.
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Thank you Bobzchemist !
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But wait…there’s more!
There are two other ways to think about talc replacements.
One is to just replace one powder with another, and not worry too much about skin feel - if you get the particle sizes small enough, you can’t feel the surface roughness anyway. That’s when things like starches, and modified starches, and other plant-based powders are considered. (I even spoke to someone trying to sell cork flour for this purpose once).
The second way is to consider skin feel, but from a different angle. Rather than get platelets to glide over each other, if you make the powder particles round enough, they will act like tiny ball bearings on your skin, giving you a unique feel. This is where microspheres of various sizes and compositions are considered.
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Great stuff Bob, absolutely insightful esp. that aspect ratio.
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Thanks. A big chunk of being able to formulate powder products well is understanding how particle sizes and shapes interact with the skin, and with each other. If you’re a professional cosmetic chemist tasked with formulating powders, it’s a great idea to also understand how particle sizes and shapes interact with production equipment. Not all of this information is available from the cosmetic side - you have to talk to people who process powders for a living.
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@Bobzchemist how do you think a combination of magnesium stearate and kaolin clay would work?
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I see a lot of companies opting for synthetic fluorphlogopite, but cost may be a concern and I believe it’s mostly about changing up the ingredient list to remove talc. @BobzChemist already went over my head haha so I’ll just say, @SoExcited, in my experience, kaolin alone may not work as your primary filler. Being a clay, it is going to suck up an incredible amount of oil. You need lubrication for everything to hold and perform well. It’d result in a very heavy, potentially greasy formula. Finally, more and more brands are returning to corn starch. Corn starch will have its own unique set of hurdles though, so if you’re just starting out, perhaps the alternatives are better.
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