[belassi]

@Braveheart, thanks for that. Your argument makes a lot of sense.

[belassi]

By the way I don’t know where you get your sorbitol but mine is a white powder. Bobz suggestion is in fact very good. Quite some time ago I did some patch testing with sorbitol vs other humectants and it was noticeably effective.

[belassi]

Clay is something that is pretty tricky.

1. Bentonite (green) is very active and on its own gives a pronounced heating effect.

2. This heating effect is counteracted by the “Cal” (I am using the Spanish word. I don’t know what type of calcium it is)

3. Kaolin holds the blend together and allows even spreading of the mask.

4. Ingredients need to be very finely milled or will not spread properly and will clump and fall off.

The effect of a properly blended clay mask alone is quite impressive and we are actively trying to source more. And to answer your question, yes, it is a wash off product.

[belassi]

Don’t get it too hot, capric/caprylic triglycerides is water thin to start with and will break down if you get it too hot.

[belassi]

The urine thing is probably about urea, but I think I’d rather get mine from purer sources …

[belassi]

When painting cars with metalflake in acrylic, it is necessary to agitate the sprayer container in order to avoid settling-out. I guess that’s what is happening. Probably you’ll need a suspension agent but that is way beyond me.

[belassi]

Personally I found powder extracts useless unless they are soluble. Have tried all sorts of uses for microfine nopal powder without success.

[belassi]

You’d have to use a film former I think. However, I can’t see the point. I have been trialling a bentonite/kaolin/CaCO3 clay combination as a facial mask using plain water to make it up (we sell the dry powder mix) and it is lovely as a facial conditioner just by itself.

[belassi]

Just a suggestion: you could try dissolving it in an alternative nonpolar, such as an ester, eg Myritol 318.

[belassi]

Just the fine bubbles clearing. Normal.

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Argh what has happened to the edit function!

I wanted to add: Foaming bottles cost even more than pumps!

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I haven’t tried it yet but I am going to, which is why I’ve been experimenting with solubilising tea tree oil.

[belassi]

http://www.google.com/patents/US8496948

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Kirk, thanks for that. They’re in New Jersey. It is not inconceivable that I can import some. I’ve sent them a sample request. Great idea. Looks very interesting.

[belassi]

I can’t source gums here so I have no experience with them. I guess the guar gum is responsible for your ‘gooey’ sensorials. I had a stuggle with thickening my own sulphate-free shampoo and I ended up using Glucamate VLT and MEA (the MEA gave enhanced foaming and allowed a reduction in the Glucamate, which is an expensive item.)

So, your choice is to continue along that path or to change to a salt-thickening system using sulphates. I suggest you do a cost and sales price analysis of your proposed sulphate-free product. You may find that it will not be price-competitive. In order to make a price-competitive shower gel I had to first locate an all-purpose-blend with which I could make up a product with 30% surfactant. My own attempts resulted in a minimum of 40% surfactant. Shower gels need to be really high foaming or the consumer perceives inadequate cost/benefit because they use too much.

[belassi]

The problem is that you are working with a sulphate-free formula and you have no thickeners in the formula except the guar gum. You will have to increase the amount of guar or use another thickener as well. And why Inositol?

[belassi]

Without knowing the formula it’s hard to say. In general any form of fragrance tends to thin a surfactant blend.

[belassi]

Have you checked their shampoo ingredients? How can a shampoo work with no surfactants?

[belassi]

I’ve just got the sample of SHS. Solid at room temperature it melts instantly on the skin. A little goes a long way. Medium absorption time; not as fast as, say, capric/caprylic triglyceride. Usage probably about 1% so I’ll try this tomorrow if I have time.

[belassi]

Also try adding 0.1% D-Limonene. Honestly I don’t want to comment further because this is after all a cosmetic or at least, personal care forum, and I don’t get into or have much experience formulating household products.

Don’t you have chemical factors in your city? There are a dozen or more in mine, all of whom sell knock-off copies of Flash, Downy, etc etc in bulk at about a third of the price.

[belassi]

Ah. I wondered because there is a big difference between a synthetic soap such as Dove, and a cold process soap.

First let’s talk about the soap. Laundry CP is different from personal care CP. We don’t discount oils in laundry soap because that reduces the soap’s cleaning power.

Second, you should use only coconut oil to make the soap, since coconut oil produces the maximum cleansing power.

The sodium carbonate should improve the effect of the laundry soap in hard water.

This site here seems to have excellent information and took me only a minute to find… I like the idea of using meat tenderiser to make an enzymatic washing powder.

[belassi]

What do you mean by “soap” exactly? Secondly, I have heard that the use of phosphates in detergents is an environmental no-no.

[belassi]

Dispenser Link.

[belassi]

Bob is correct. You need either full-spectrum LED lamps (for a small lab) or you could take a look at the Philips ALTO range of full-spectrum discharge lamps as used in clothes stores etc, which produce an equivalent to sunlight. Actually I have a 150 watt version and in the winter it is like having sunshine inside the house. Lovely!

[belassi]

Yes I understand. UL Prospector is not so difficult but there are others such as Croda who are. That’s why there is a plethora of sites such as Brambleberry, Lotion Crafters, etc. that exist to supply people in the same position as you are. Unfortunately I have no knowledge of suppliers in Japan. What I did here in Mexico was to use the Yellow Pages initially and phone around to see who had a set of the basics - stuff like emulsifiers, oils, acids, bases, aromas. Then the first one recommended another for some ingredients and so on. These days I can source most of my basic materials in the city, but more exotic materials and actives I order from Mexico City (C. Lar) and a few that I can’t get in Mexico I import from the US (eg Polytrap 6500 which I can buy on EBay easily enough. Hey there’s a thought. Can you find what you want on EBay?)

You will need to find out who distributes BASF products in Japan and approach them.