[Bill_Toge]

the level of polyquaternium-7 (a cationic in a mostly anionic system) seems high, try reducing it

also, what’s the purpose of the dipropylene glycol? glycols, particularly longer-chain ones, thin surfactant systems

[Bill_Toge]

similarly, I used to work for a white-label manufacturer, and the only significant difference was that they used slightly more expensive surfactants in a shampoo than they did in a bodywash

colour and fragrance aside, bodywash, shower gel, handwash and bath foam were all very similar variations on the same formula, the only difference being viscosity

[Bill_Toge]

hydrogenated castor oil / castor wax (m.p. 70-80 °C / 158-176 °F) acts as a gelling agent and generally improves the thermal stability of oil-based products

[Bill_Toge]

xanthan gum gives you a non-fluid ‘gel’ effect but with much longer flow than carbomer, and very little viscosity

a more comparable substitute for carbomer is gellan gum with sodium salts; this gives a strongly shear-thinning gel with short flow, similar to a carbomer

[Bill_Toge]

for what it’s worth, the major manufacturer of arginine is Ajinomoto (who also make 30% of the world’s supply of monosodium glutamate, and numerous other amino acid-related chemicals); if you can find a local distributor for their products, that’d be the most reliable source

@Pharma arginine isn’t that strong a base compared to guanidine or hydroxide

[Bill_Toge]

Carbomer 940 is much of a muchness between different manufacturers; I suspect that whether they know it or not, your customer is using a more electrolyte-tolerant grade of carbomer (electrolytes are what cause it to thin when it touches the skin)

[Bill_Toge]

I suspect the adhesive polymer (which matches INCI name with Daitosol 4000SJT) shows some slight fluorescence in solution, and the effect decreases as the product dries and the water evaporates

not having seen the product or the polymer in question, this is pure speculation

[Bill_Toge]

@Pharma joking aside, when I used to work for a manufacturer of white-label toothpaste they used several different grades of abrasive silica; the coarsest one was used for whitening toothpaste, the finest one was used for children’s toothpaste, and the one in between was used for all other kinds of toothpaste

[Bill_Toge]

it’s most likely the pulp; the exact nature of the extract will depend on the solvent used, whether it’s water, glycerine, oil, supercritical CO2…

[Bill_Toge]

to my mind it’s most likely the ferulic acid or the vitamin E; they’re the least water-soluble components

I’d suggest using a more powerful antioxidant like sodium bisulphite, combined with an excited-state quencher like benzophenone-4 to keep the amount of reactive oxygen to a minimum

[Bill_Toge]

how fine is your calcium carbonate? (I’m assuming you’re using that and not metallic calcium)

if it’s too coarse, that could easily cause pain and sensitivity

[Bill_Toge]

the site has to conform with the same standards as a US-based site, and be accredited by an organisation acting on behalf of the FDA (e.g. SGS)

[Bill_Toge]

most likely a difference in processing; you need a high-shear mixer to get creams really smooth

[Bill_Toge]

@ngarayeva001 and the percentage is even higher in Liverpool, Newcastle and Glasgow

[Bill_Toge]

as a rule I tend to use two, one with low HLB and one with high HLB

where possible and appropriate, I tend to add a cationic or anionic as well, just to be sure

[Bill_Toge]

@Perry in fairness though, if you run it through a gas chromatography machine and it turns out to be a huge mixture of compounds, it’s almost certainly natural

[Bill_Toge]

it’s never been an exact science, but it’s definitely a good rule of thumb

[Bill_Toge]

check the emulsifiers; in my experience, amodimethicone is usually dispersed in a cationic emulsion, making it completely useless in shampoo

[Bill_Toge]

how much hyaluronic acid have you got, and what’s the molecular weight?

[Bill_Toge]

individual manufacturers often supply figures for their own materials, but I don’t know of any recent source that’s compiled all of those figures in once place

[Bill_Toge]

if the product contains a high-HLB emulsifier, you can be sure it’s O/W; it’s not physically possible to form W/O emulsions with high-HLB emulsifiers present

having said that, there are numerous products with incomplete or misleading ingredients lists, so the only way to be sure is by physically examining the product

the relative ratio of oil to water is irrelevant - the nature of the emulsion is determined entirely by the nature of its emulsifiers, as there’s no way for the system to ‘know’ how much oil or water is present

[Bill_Toge]

+1 for the strawberry; pentyl butyrate and ethyl methylphenylglycidate, used to create a strawberry odour, are both irritants, while strawberry seed oil is nearly odourless (it certainly doesn’t smell like the fruit)

[Bill_Toge]

no worries - some specific non-ionic surfactants (specifically, polysorbate-60 or -80) can inactivate certain types of preservatives (particularly parabens); the phenomenon is by no means general

[Bill_Toge]

your best bet is to use a longer-chain glucoside, e.g. lauryl, myristyl or cocoyl

[Bill_Toge]

my guess is that the keratin you’re using is a solution in water, which is why it’s not mixing in; what you need to do is find an oil-dispersible form of keratin