Home Cosmetic Science Talk Formulating Hair thicken agents for low ph product

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  • thicken agents for low ph product

    Posted by Sksxlc on June 20, 2016 at 5:50 pm

    so i have limits with carbomer  and hydroxyethyl cellulose  . obviously carbomer not usable at low poh .

     trying to make a product similar to Neutrogena Tsal %3 sal  ( ph is 3.5 ) and Is like honey

    Neutrogena used hexylene glycol as only thickener I see but cant find it anyplace. my ph is 3 as im at %4 SAL . and cant get it thick enough

     The inactive ingredients are water, sodium C-14-16 olefin sulfonate, cocamidopropyl betaine, linoleamidopropyl PG-dimonium chloride phospatem, hexylene glycol, polyquaternum-22, sodium lauroyl sarcosinate, and sodium citrate.


    DavidW replied 7 years, 9 months ago 9 Members · 17 Replies
  • 17 Replies
  • David

    Member
    June 20, 2016 at 6:56 pm

    carbopol ultrez 30 works from pH 4 according to Lubrizol.
    Why is hexylene glycol hard to find for you? It is a very common chemical, you can even find it on Amazon.

  • belassi

    Member
    June 20, 2016 at 7:49 pm

    Well, I just this minute prepared a new formula with pH at 3 to 3.5 and thickened it without problems using Glucamate LT.

  • Sksxlc

    Member
    June 24, 2016 at 8:44 pm

    only place I seen it is sigma Aldrich  500g 50 .00     Glucamate LT  32.00 a pound  and is easier to find  so I will try that first  thanks

  • Zink

    Member
    June 30, 2016 at 7:18 am

    HEC works even with strong peels.

  • Bill_Toge

    Member
    June 30, 2016 at 10:25 am

    hexylene glycol will thin formulas rather than thicken them - and as there’s no obvious thickener in there, I believe that ingredients list is incomplete

    agree with @Zink‘s suggestion of HEC, and I’d add one for xanthan gum too - I’ve seen that used to thicken hydrochloric acid toilet cleaners with a pH of 0 - 1, so it shouldn’t have a problem here

  • OldPerry

    Member
    June 30, 2016 at 1:30 pm

    The blend of Sodium C-14-16 Olefin Sulfonate and Cocamidopropyl Betaine can be thickened with salt.  No additional thickening agent is really required.

  • cherri

    Member
    June 30, 2016 at 3:59 pm

    Try Amaze XT with Xanthan gum

  • Sksxlc

    Member
    July 7, 2016 at 7:23 pm

    :( well bill you are correct  after I purchased said product listed as thickener I read I t was a thinner , sure nuff just .5oz of hexylene glycol turned a half gal of semi thick shampoo into water , 

    will try the xanthan gum  , believe I tried it in past and I t made product hazy but ill take thick over appearance . already had used what perry suggested but when I get to 4ph it thins out . im shooting for 3 to 3.5 as the Salicylic acid goes from %90+ at 3ph to less than %10 availability at 4 .   


    anyone know if “carbopol ” is same thing as carbomer 940 ?  makers of carbopol claim works to ph 4  but ive tried the carbomer and same issue at ph 4

    thanks for all input let ya know what works best

  • Sksxlc

    Member
    July 7, 2016 at 7:28 pm

    oh BTW HEC gives me separation issues  trying to get it thinned out prior to mixing as it separates to surface  any suggestions

  • belassi

    Member
    July 7, 2016 at 8:08 pm

    Carbopol 940 is a carbomer and will not work at those pH values.

  • Sksxlc

    Member
    July 10, 2016 at 5:01 pm

    DING  DING  DING   it looks like neutragena TSal inactive ingredient list is incomplete as bill said . I just received a bottle of the Glucamate LT per belassi suggestion and guess what ?  same color, consistency ans SMELL as the TSAL product  looks like the main ingredient by volume is   Glucamate LT .   ;) 

    thanks again all 

  • belassi

    Member
    July 10, 2016 at 5:50 pm

    (Laughing). Glucamate has really nice sensorials. If you want even thicker or to use less, Glucamate VLT will do that.

  • ashish

    Member
    July 12, 2016 at 6:29 am

    Purpose of using Hexylene glycol in Neutragena is to solubilize Salicylic acid. It act as a solvent here. I do agree with Belassi, Glutamate VLT and DOE thickeners from Lubrozol are good options for this. I worked with Glutamate range, got good results. But, if product is over thicken, it would form lumpy gel. Its needed to keep flow able viscosity in case of Glutamate.   

  • DavidW

    Member
    July 15, 2016 at 12:06 am

    I had problems thickening a cleanser with low pH (salicylic acid) .  I think we ended up using Aqua SF-1.

  • belassi

    Member
    July 15, 2016 at 2:20 am

    Yes, Ashish. It’s not a linear relationship, I noticed that I have to carefully adjust each batch by hand, a little too much takes it to something more like plastic flow.

  • ashish

    Member
    July 15, 2016 at 8:58 am

    Aqua SF 1 will form turbid gel below 6.

  • DavidW

    Member
    July 17, 2016 at 2:03 pm

    @ashish in our case it was not a clear product.  It is a cleanser with EGDS for pearl. 

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