Bobzchemist
Forum Replies Created
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@perspicacious has this entirely correct.
The company I worked for (Estee Lauder) funded a good chunk of my bachelor’s degree, but only because I had paid for enough schooling myself to be able to get a full-time lab technician’s job there, and I went to school nights and weekends while working. I do NOT recommend this as a pathway to funding your education, unless you have no other choice at all. I had to completely sacrifice any hopes of having a social life for six years in order to get my degree.
Going to school this way also severely restricts your choice of major. Not all majors offer all of the required classes on nights and weekends - and the chances of your getting time off from work to go to day classes are very close to zero.
Chemical Engineering is also one of the hardest majors there are. I’m not at all sure that it’s possible to get through a ChemE program without devoting 100% of your time to schoolwork.
Talk to your counselors and teachers about local schools. Visit them and talk to faculty. Living at home while going to school is a very big money saver.
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we need more details.
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I must strongly recommend against your pursuing this product any further without hiring a consultant who is well-versed in this type of product and the regulations in the country you intend selling it in.
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Also, several of the pre-made silicone elastomer gels will work essentially as bases for this sort of thing. They aren’t widely used by themselves in the cosmetic industry for this purpose due to the difficulties inherent in stirring and filling viscous materials, but they work really well on a smaller scale.
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This is really close to the edge of things I can talk about, but - look into Pears soap, and maybe there are other ingredients you can heat that will give you color without odor?
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I’m somewhat tempted to suggest that this is not the sort of request we need in this forum. @Perry and everyone else, what are your opinions? (Please feel free to tell me I’m way off base here)
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You should probably start here:
http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.com/Another option is to start with pre-made bases:
http://www.makingcosmetics.com/Bases_c_13.html -
It might be worth looking into Cera Bellina as well.
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No, not at all.
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That’s an awful lot of niacinamide. How did you arrive at that level?
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You don’t need to heat the gel at all. You should be able to just stir the benzyl alcohol/climbazole solution into the gel with a spatula at room temperature.
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Check with the thickener manufacturers. The key to suspending particles is to increase the yield value, not the viscosity. (the viscosity may rise anyway, but this is incidental).
The other thing that may help is using mica that has the highest possible aspect ratio.
But…remember that gravity always wins. Pretty much the best you can hope for is a two year shelf life before the mica starts to sink to the bottom .
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Without formula info, the only advice I can give is to try doubling all of the ingredients (except water) in the lab, and see what you get. If it works, gradually add more of the failed batch until it starts to fail again, which should tell you how much you need to add to fix the failed batch.
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If you’re insisting on staying 100% all-natural, avoiding chemically-modified natural materials, then you will not be able to accomplish your goal.
Sorry we couldn’t help.
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I second the PEG40 HCO recommendation - it should be the first thing you try.
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You don’t need to go all the way over into water-based products. You can just add some oil-compatible emulsifiers to your oil-based pomade, which will make it much more likely to be washed away by shampoo.
If, on the other hand, you’re trying to make the pomade basically wear off/flake off without washing, then you’re going to need to go to a water-based product, and pretty much give up the idea of making something “natural”.
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Yes, I am! Sorry, minor crisis here.
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https://www.khanacademy.org/math/cc-sixth-grade-math/cc-6th-ratios-prop-topic
Percentages really only work when you’re weighing ingredients, instead of using measuring spoons. Invest in a small scale, you’ll be much better off, or use a lipstick making kit.
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Well, the easy answer is to leave this as a powder, and don’t try to make a liquid soap. Processed finely enough, the powder will dissolve nicely into your wash water. Use the method described here: http://www.sistersshoppingonashoestring.com/easiest-diy-laundry-soap-recipe-ever
The second easiest answer is to buy a cheap power drill and a paint mixer attachment. Keep it assembled and near your washing machine, and then mixing before use will only take about 30 seconds or so.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Warner-5-gal-Heavy-Duty-Power-Driven-Paint-Mixer-30388/205052759
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Ryobi-Reconditioned-5-5-Amp-3-8-in-Corded-Variable-Speed-Drill-ZRD43K/206382736The third option is to use some more powerful surfactants, as well as being sure to finely grind the soap using the method above. Buy some Lestoil Concentrated Heavy Duty Cleaner: https://www.amazon.com/Lestoil-Concentrated-Heavy-Cleaner-Ounces/dp/B0036B89US
Dissolve the ground soap into 4 cups of water, cool, add 2-8 ounces of Lestoil (you’ll have to experiment to get the right level), mix/stir well without creating foam (DON’T breathe the fumes).
Add Borax, washing soda, and fragrance booster to 2-3 gallons of hot tap water, stir until dissolved. Add soap/Lestoil mixture. Mix/stir well without creating foam. Cover while cooling.
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Here, we gave our clients a choice - pay for using/cleaning/sterilizing 55-gallon 316 stainless steel drums until the micro test came back, or assume the risk of filling the product right away (with the understanding that they wouldn’t have to pay for a contaminated batch, but that they would have to pay for the containers/components and filling machine time whether or not the batch was contaminated).
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If you look at the TDS for Sulfochem ES-70DXS, you will see that one of the specifications is 1,4 Dioxane under 10ppm. Every lot we buy has this specification analyzed for. If you call or write Lubrizol Technical Service, I’m pretty sure they’ll give you their method:
Lubrizol Personal Care Technical Service9911 Brecksville RoadBrecksville OH 44141+1 216-447-5831https://www.lubrizol.com/Personal-Care/Contact/Customer-Service
For anything other than this, you’ll have to hire a consultant.
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In all seriousness, for the vast majority of cosmetic companies, analytical work like this is contracted out, because the effort involved to do it in-house just isn’t worth it compared to the outside lab analytical costs.
For 1,4 dioxane in particular, no one analyzes for it in a shampoo precisely because it is only present in ethoxylated surfactants AND because the surfactants in question each come in with a CofA documenting the precise amount of 1,4 Dioxane in each lot. Going from the concentrations of 1,4 dioxane in the surfactant ingredients to the concentration of 1,4 dioxane in the finished product is a relatively simple calculation.
The people who do this analytical work on a routine/daily basis are the labs associated with the large SLS/SLES surfactant manufacturers. I would strongly suggest contacting their Technical Service departments for their analytical methods, if you absolutely need to pursue this. I’ve never had a problem getting this sort of information, so I’m pretty sure you won’t have an issue either.
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You really need to know if you have a stable formulation without the colloidal gold before you go any further.