-
trying to knock off a hand cream formula (stearic acid + TEA)
Hello everyone! I would like to knock off a hand cream formula that I really like, but I am a little confused so I would appreciate any help.
INCI: water, glycerin (15%), cetearyl alcohol, stearic acid, triethanolamine, shea butter, butyl stearate, mineral oil, dimethicone, caprylyl glycol, lactic acid, allantoin, lanolin alcohol, titanium dioxide, ammonium phosphate, phenoxyethanol and fragance.
My first question is regarding the emulsifier system…I understand the emulsifier in this formula is the stearic acid-triethanolamine system. What I dont understand is why triethanolamine (TEA) is placed in that position in the list, even before shea butter. for me it doesn´t make sense using more TEA than shea butter in a formula, taking in account that TEA shouldn´t be used above 2% (usually at 1% in an emulsifier system).
could it be that they are placing cetearyl alcohol + stearic acid + TEA all together as the emulsifier system? because other way, I couldn´t understand why the are using more cetearyl alcohol than stearic acid, which should be around 15-20%…
thanks!
-
2 Replies
-
You make assumtions here without referring to any sources or reasons.
Who says you can’t use >2% TEA?
Why not more TEA than shea butter?
Who says you should have more stearic acid than cetearyl alcohol?
Who says it should be 15-20% ?The beauty of formulating is that there are no rules other than the regulations and safety. Try to use stoichiometric ratio stearic/TEA, then over- resp. under- neutralize and you will notice the difference.
Also keep in mind the LOI might not be 100% correct -
Yes, don’t count on LOIs to be correct.
Log in to reply.