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World’s Worst Chemist Needs YOUR Help! - Pomade Formulation
INTRO:Hey all. Clark here. Love this forum + the info you all share. Thought I would ask you all for some much needed help. I am an amature who failed out of high school AND university chemistry - ironically now trying to formulate a product. Life seems to work that way…. My product is a men’s original pomade. It is made with all natural ingredients. I am cooking in my mother’s kitchen without fancy lab equipment. Here is where I’m at:MY INGREDIENTSOILS: (Grapeseed, Almond, Sunflower, Safflower, Coconut, Olive, lanolin, Castor, jojoba, Caprylic/Capric/Myristic/Stearic Triglyceride (Fractioned coconut oil).WAXES: Soy wax, Beeswax (white pellets and whole yellow)MISC: stearic acid / emulsifying wax (plant based Cetostearyl alcohol, and Ethoxylated Sorbitan Ester) / PEG-40 / borax.MY FORMULA:2oz. batch: ONE (this is the closest i’ve gotten to what I want)Hydrogenated Castor Oil (PEG 40) _____65___%Soy Wax _____15___%Beeswax _____14___%Jojoba Oil _____5__%CONS:- doesn’t seem thick enough
- too malleable / “PEG-40” like.
- my pomade feels like room temp butter. I want it to handle closer like refrigerated butter.
- oil residue / run off after 10 seconds on hands. Would like the whole pomade to stay together more.
MY QUESTIONS:- Anything stand out to you off the top of your head? Am I missing a key ingredient?
- Would you use PEG-40 as the main ingredient?
- Is there a thickener I can use to give my pomade a better universal consistency?
- If you could formulate your own natural men’s pomade(with any ingredients I’ve listed) how would you do it?
Any feedback would be much appreciated. Thanks for reading!-Clark (clarkkegley@gmail.com) -
5 Replies
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I am no expert in this area but I could not work out why you are using PEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil. PEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil is a solubilizer.
Here is a hair pomade formulation which I found that might give you some ideas
http://www.biochemica.com/formulations/BCI0711.pdfHope this helps
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Hey @Ozgirl - thanks for the responses.To clarify, PEG-40 and “Hydrogenated Castor Oil” are the same ingredient, yes? Two pomades which I am modeling my product after list ‘Hydrogenated Castor Oil’ is the main (first) ingredient. I know that listing an ingredient first generally means it has 30%-50% of the product. The PEG:Wax ratio of 68% : 28% has gotten me the closest to what I am looking for.Thanks for that link. I had previously downloaded it / swapped out petroleum. This was a more natural recipe I did that I also liked:2oz. (59g total) batch: “THE NATURE-RAL”Olive Oil _____28___%BeesWax _____17___%Shea Butter _____17___%Almond Oil _____13__%Soy Wax _____13__%Lanolin Oil _____5__%Jojoba Oil _____5__%Essential Oils N/A (30 drops)Does this look more workable? More along the lines of what you were thinking? Any suggestions from looking at it? Thanks! -Clark -
@Clark, hydrogenated castor oil, PEG-40, and PEG-40 hydrogenated castor oil are three different things
hydrogenated castor oil is a very hard wax with a high melting point which creates a gel-like structure in oils, and stabilises viscosity at high temperaturesPEG-40 is a water-miscible liquid used as a solventand as @ozgirl said, PEG-40 hydrogenated castor oil is a water-miscible surfactant used for solubilising oils into waterthe “nature-ral” recipe in your second post would make a more conventional pomade -
@Bill_Toge Dude thanks! You have no idea how helpful that comment was. I have been trying to figure out the difference for WEEKS. Do you know where I can order the stuff? Should I look for “Hydrogenated Castor Oil Wax” Thanks again for you help Bill, really saves me a ton of headache.
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The only place I could find for small quantities is here:
“Hydrogenated Castor Oil” is the correct INCI name.
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