Bobzchemist
Forum Replies Created
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Why not check the melt point before you trash it?
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Koster Keunen has an EU base - I think it was originally a Dutch company, before the US part got so big.
Koster Keunen Holland BVP.O. Box 535530 AB BladelRaambrug 3T +31 (0) 497 36 10 10F +31 (0) 497 38 79 02 -
Simplifying a bit, there are primarily four large-scale mixing methods available for cream/lotion manufacturing in cosmetic chemistry:
Low-shear:
1) Side-sweep/anchor or counter-rotating mixing
http://ancoequipment.com/uploads/3/4/6/6/34662113/_1131470_orig.jpg?250
http://www.ecrecon.com/pictures/21/575/TAN-575%20mixer%20A.JPG Medium -shear
2) Propellor/turbine mixing
http://www.neptunemixers.com/images/dpics.jpg
http://www.meurerresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/mixer2.png
3) Planetary mixing
http://www.cmcmilling.com/equipment-parts/planetary-mixers.html High-shear
4) Rotor/stator mixing
https://chemeview.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/ultramix-4.png It is common to have two or three of these mixers combined in one tank:
http://www.cmcmilling.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Tri-shaft-mixer-1024×1024.png
http://www.mixers.com/Proddetails.asp?ProdID=118Since each of these mixing types act differently on your product, it’s important to know what kind of mixer to use when.
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You need a “bodying” agent for your oil. There are a number of waxes you could try, but my first choice would be Cera Bellina. I would also very, very strongly suggest a preservative, if you aren’t planning on keeping your scrub refrigerated.
Heat the oils+wax until the wax dissolves, add the coffee grounds right away, then fill into containers while still hot.
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@Belassi is right - see if you can fix your formula before trying to replace your emulsifiers. If that still doesn’t work, then try Pemulen.
He brings up another very good point, which I had forgotten - most of the time, we exploit the lower viscosity at higher temperature property of formulations while filling our products into containers. It is much, much easier to fill a liquid than it is to fill a cream or a gel. Switching to a formula that is thicker at high temperatures will very possibly lead to huge headaches when it comes to packaging your products.
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If I hadn’t been making soap commercially for the past few years, I’d have no idea what you were talking about. This is not something that most cosmetic chemists deal with. On this forum, you’re in luck - there’s a few of us that make soap.
What you want to avoid, at all costs, is making foam. So, you want to have your mixer at the highest speed that will not beat air into your batch. That speed will probably be different for every formula, so you will have to figure it out experimentally.
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I’m going to try to use this as a teaching moment.
The two questions you have to ask yourself are:
1) Where is the viscosity in my cream coming from? (If you don’t already know, you can figure out this answer with a knock-out experimental series - which are the ingredients, when removed, decrease the viscosity of the batch?)
2) Why is the viscosity decreasing with increasing heat?The answers to those questions will guide you towards a solution.
If, for example, the viscosity in your cream is coming from waxy materials, and the viscosity is decreasing because those materials are melting in the heat, then you have to replace them with something that has a relatively constant viscosity when it is heated. Carbopol gels are an example of this. (Keeping in mind, though, that almost everything that’s not a solid will decrease in viscosity as heat increases)
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A pemulen/carbomer combination will be the easiest way to do this.
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I also want to point out that almost all professional cosmetic chemists design/equip a lab so that the products we make in that lab can easily be scaled up and made in larger batch sizes to be produced commercially. An overhead mixer scales up to several pieces of commonly used large-scale equipment. A Silverson mixer scales up to several other pieces of large-scale equipment. Unfortunately for the budget-conscious, they’re not interchangeable, for the most part.
Having a Silverson, however, usually means that you can limp along by removing the screens and/or with manual stirring or even with an electric drill - for most products - until you can afford to get an overhead stirrer. It doesn’t work the other way - there’s nothing you can do with an overhead stirrer that mimics the action of a Silverson.
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In my opinion, having a Master’s Degree is the best answer for the problem of not having any experience in Cosmetic Chemistry. Trying to get a job with just an undergraduate degree requires that you impress a prospective employer enough to get them to take a chance on someone with unknown skills. This seems to have gotten much, much harder in the last ten years.
Having a Master’s, and even better would be an added internship, allows you to point to your coursework and experiences and be able to say “I’ve done this before, and I was good at it”. To me, that’s a very valuable (and confidence-building) statement to be able to make.
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Send me a message with contact information, please.
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Ordinarily, we formulate lipsticks deliberately to leave a shiny film on the lips after application. In order for a lipstick film to be shiny, it must be smooth and reflective. Therefore, to make a lipstick more matte, you can interfere with the smoothness, by making it bumpy/rough, or you can interfere with the reflectivity, by using less of the ingredients that cause the shine.
The change @Perry recommended, using less or no jojoba glaze, is using the second strategy. The other option is to make the surface rougher, and to do that, you’d need to increase the powder load in your formula, by increasing the mica level.
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And even a decent used one costs into the $50,000 - 60,000 range.
Much smarter to pay a lab per sample:
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Please explain why you can’t research this yourself.
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I’d suggest trying some other emollients, although I’m not sure if they’d be staining or not, and I doubt there’s any published data on this. If I were you, I’d take this opportunity to switch to a drier-feeling emollient, as well.
So, Diisopropyl Adipate, PEG-4 Diheptanoate, Isocetyl Alcohol, Dicaprylyl Carbonate, Methylheptyl Isostearate, and PPG-3 Isostearyl Methyl Ether, among others, are all ingredients that I’d investigate.
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From what I’ve seen on the web, what the folks selling this kind of product do is mix glitter with a glycerin and alcohol solution, allow the alcohol to flash off, then scoop a ball of material into a pan. Then, they gently flatten it into the pan. The procedures and recipes are widely available on the web.
This is very far from how traditional pressed powders are made, and seems impossible to make commercially without custom-made filling equipment.
If I was going to do this, I’d mix the glitter into something like a clear lipstick formula, and hot-pour it into pans, which is a procedure that could be at least semi-automated.
Don’t forget to properly preserve the product.
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It’s a very, very tricky product to make. Try reading the patents.
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You might want to look into evaporating more of the water from the Decyl, or use one that has a higher % of solids, like Glucopon 215
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How are you going to get them in the pan? Pressure or hot pour?
Also, I would strongly recommend against using these in the eye area. Glitter has sharp corners.
Lastly, these really aren’t legal to sell in the US, although the FDA has put enforcement on hold. Where were you planning on selling them?
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After you fix pH, fragrance is usually my first suspect. Try a batch without it. if that doesn’t work, continue with a knock-out series.
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You need a lab for this, definitely. It requires expensive analytical equipment that would be far, far out of reach for an individual chemist to afford.
I’d suggest Avomeen, if you have to use an American lab. http://www.avomeen.com/
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The requirements for the +/- 10% for sunscreen actives aren’t in the sunscreen monograph or anywhere on the FDA website if you look for sunscreen information.
Where to find the regs for this, if you need them, is in the general requirements for all OTC drugs. A lot of people don’t realize that the general regulations also apply to sunscreens, because they’re not in the monograph - but they do.