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There is a large company that supplies purified lactic acid with no odour but I forget which one it was.

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When I took over chemistry at my last school I inventoried the storage cupboards and found 2 x 1 litre bottles of HF acid. Now, I am not one to be scared of chemicals, but I called the hazardous disposal people and had someone come around to take it away, and he freaked out when I showed it to him. I have only dealt with one other acid as dangerous, and that was chromic acid. I spilt some chromium trioxide on a vinyl lab floor and it made a hole straight through and cratered the concrete underneath.

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It depends on the stick blender. Some can produce high shear. Many don’t.

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Chemically butter fat consists essentially of a mixture of triglycerides, particularly those derived from fatty acids, such as palmitic, oleic, myristic, and stearic acids.
I can’t see any particular benefit from butter, and because it goes rancid fast, producing butyric acid which smells vile, it’s not usually found in cosmetics.

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Final pH for my product is 6.5
940 is neutralised the same way. It’s just that wetting takes ages. I leave mine for a couple of hours, typically.

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NO! Sooner or later there will be an accident, it is a horrific chemical.

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thanks

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Your formulation method is not correct. 
1. Do not heat carbomer to such temperatures.
2. It’s important to go about things in the correct order. Let me take a look at one of my (Ultrez 20) gels:
Looks like -
Ultrez-20 0.8% (this is added to half of the total water and left to hydrate)
aloe vera 6090C (10x concentrate) 10% (so, you see, lots of electrolytes are possible)
active ingredients (aqueous) 4.5%
panthenol 1%
NaOH (neutralize carbomer) 0.25%
water q/s
preservative
(no fragrance)

This produces a clear gel of excellent sensorials and pleasant aroma.
So, mix half the water with the things you need to dissolve, such as EDTA, and the actives, and the other half with the Ultrez. Allow time to hydrate. Stir, do NOT use high shear. With mixing set to high, combine the two halves, at the same time adding the NaOH in a thin stream, dissolved in a little of the water. Reduce mixing speed as the gel forms. Mixing technique is important so as to avoid excessive trapped air and / or fisheyes.

You mentioned you’re using Ultrez-10. I don’t have experience with that. I assume it’s yield values are different. I have the manual on carbomers from Lubrizol in the lab not here, but I don’t think the difference will be that great, you’ll have to adjust accordingly.

I think the sodium lactate and polysorbate are very bad ideas in a gel like this.

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Mamey oil is similar to Argan oil but higher in unsaponifiables.

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I seem to recall that potassium sorbate has been reported as causing flushing?

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I tried 2% before, but I had comments that it wasn’t detangling enough. Would 5% be OK?

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Thanks

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The cetrimonium chloride I have is just the standard stuff, can anyone give me a starting percentage to try? 

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Very interesting, thanks.

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I advise testing your formulation using 940 but also with Ultrez-20. The reason? Sensorials. I found that 940 is better for creams and Ultrez is great for gels.
Preservatives: We have been using Spectrastat at 0.7% for years and never had a failure even with difficult to preserve items. But we do use hurdle technique too.

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It’s a shampoo, it’s supposed to foam!

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I really doubt it’s the caprylyl glycol. That’s a major part of the preservative we use and we’ve never had a problem.

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Vinegar???

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First, there is little or no point in using an expensive peptide product used in anti-aging products, in a hair conditioner.
Correct me if I’m wrong but it sounds as if the emulsion separates out and fatty acids precipitate. If that’s so, your emulsification system isn’t adequate and I recommend:
1. Eliminate the cetyl alcohol.
2. Use a second emulsifier. Preferably two. I’d begin by changing the cetearyl to 4%, add 4% glyceryl stearate, and 2% Polysorbate 20. See how that works and adjust.

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A good choice. LGC is mild but the foam is more than adequate, especially combined with CAPB. If you use the Dehyton AB1 version of CAPB, you’ll get some conditioning with the extra N+ molecule. You’ll need a thickening system.

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I began using the same polypeptides several years ago and it’s our best seller. I’ll just check the formula… ah yes. I use 3.5% peptides, and instead of 5% glycerine, 3% and 1.5% of glucam E20. I used to use tea extract like you, but the powder is too unstable so I switched to pine bark extract. You must add the peptides at low temp or you get pea soup.

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Polyvinyl alcohol?

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Sticky? Could be carbomer but I doubt that for a number of reasons, one of which is the difficulty of using carbomer in a high % of surfactant, and another, being the cost of doing so. Also, the product doesn’t look clear. I suspect it has a gum, or even several gums, possibly with salt thickening to increase the viscosity further.

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Unfortunately I can’t easily obtain Polyquat 10 or amodimethicone. 

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ALES, for one. Akypo RLM-45, another.