[chemicalmatt]

@Ahassan22 At least you intelligently resolved the bad actor here by DoX - a good chemist you are. Many will just shake their heads and dial up this blogspot for answers. That BTC quat (Stepan?) is your issue when using with TEA. The white ppt may be the quat salting out. This raises the issue why adjust pH to the high side when a quat is the main surfactant (and disinfectant). No need to build pH like other HI&I products. The TEA is unnecessary. If you HAVE to include then add a hydrotrope to this like sodium cocoampodiacetate or a phospho-ester.

[chemicalmatt]

Best surfactant-emulsifiers for these high internal phase (HIP) invert emulsions are the polyglycol alkyl-modified silicone materials. Hands down the best. Check out ShinEtsu, Dowsil, Momentive, A&B Specialty for these.

[chemicalmatt]

Hey @JRB we don’t get our “feet wet” but we do get our hair wet in this trade. Joking aside, you likely have a tech grade AOS, one with too many “cats & dogs” as we call those many side-products in surfactant synthesis. Among those olefins lurk poly-unsaturates, all of which decompose to darker color when heated for extended periods. Try using less heat and longer dwell time, adding a little hydrotrope to help this along.

[chemicalmatt]

For safety? No problem there, but for stability, yes you will have many problems. Compatibility leans on the relative charge-mass ratio of the anionic and cationic materials to combine. In your case TEA-Stearate has a high c/m ration while BTMS-50 a moderate one. That is not likely to be stable resulting in a mess. BTW, this is why so many cationic charged polymers work so well in anionic-amphoteric shampoo formulas. Most of the polyquats have very low c/m ratios allowing better cooperation.

[chemicalmatt]

Without knowing your location, Glenn Corp. (Azelis) in the Midwest should carry all of the Evonik line as they have for over 30 years.

[chemicalmatt]

I’ll answer for Perry here (he’s a busy guy), YES, reduce the pH to 4.5 - 5.0 using lactic acid or citric acid. You had an unpreserved product all this time! Yeesh! Just curious here: this hair gel sounds like a gummy thing with no fixative properties. What application does it serve?

[chemicalmatt]

I’ll second @ketchito and offer the cocoamphocetates, and also echo the ratio proposition. If you have 2:1 to a 1:1 ratio (solid-state) anionic : amphoteric and a little builder this should be very viscous. That is, unless you start adding the accursed glycerin to your formula.

[chemicalmatt]

All of that aluminum ion is going to crash just about any rheological additive in existence save for Veegum or another colloidal clay derivative. Xanthan may work if at high concentration but then you’ll have a gummy mess of a product.

[chemicalmatt]

I have up UL Prospector and covalo during my day, sometimes x-referencing at SpecialChem4Cosmetics. I must say Knowde was not impressive at first but they have improved the site recently plus I can easily access HI&I and CASE chemicals there when I need them since I delve into those formulation applications often.

[chemicalmatt]

I will add to @gordof comments. Rice starch is not abrasive or any way harmful, nor will it wet out and be gummy like rice flour will. No need to certify as it already certified by the supplier. It will adsorb sebum and organic dusts very effectively and leave a silky soft sensorial on your hair, making it ideal as a dry shampoo base. As Gordof stated it will mattify too so if shine is your jam, you’ll want to look elsewhere. Agrana is a fine Italian source, but if you are in North America you’ll find it easier to obtain Activederm RP from 3V Sigma USA.

[chemicalmatt]

What @Microformulation Mark said, plus 5% is OK for Canada, over the limit for USA. As for a clear gel, lidocaine HCl is soluble in water not oil, regardless of what you read. No carbomer gel will be clear with jojoba oil or any other oil incorporated within. Try dissolving the lidocaine HCl into water after hydrating carbomer but before neutralizing it and see how that works.

[chemicalmatt]

@Ying Celeste should have gone ahead and slowly added the water - and more of it - to obtain the translucent solid stick formation. That stearate-diol system requires water to solvate (“activate”) and will not work without it.

[chemicalmatt]

Nope, never heard of using any cuprous salt in that application. Cuprous sulfate will burn & clean out the roots growing in your sewer pipe though. Seriously, no, don’t do that. If the purpose of the metal salt is sebum and sweat absorption just add rice starch, corn starch or tapioca starch.

[chemicalmatt]

DEL the phenoxyethanol and the octodecanol. ADD a pigment wetter that is compatible with all that silicone, such as a dimethicone copolymer or an ester. Increasing your dimethicone wax should thicken it fine without needing silica. Bear in mind petrolatum (love the stuff) and its cousin microcrystalline wax are not miscible with dimethicones of any type except for alkyl-modified ones. Might want to rethink those also. Good luck.

[chemicalmatt]

The lactic acid/sodium lactate buffer system is best, least irritating on the skin and lends other benefits the citrates and other acid-base combos do not have. It is also not expensive and easy to add. You do not need much (<1.0% total buffer solid state) depending on what activity you have in your formula. Bufferring to pH5.5 is easy, lactic acid has a lower pKa.

[chemicalmatt]

“Pet degreaser?” I cannot comprehend this application. Can you elaborate?

[chemicalmatt]

You may need to level that off at 2.00% fragrance. There are regulatory considerations here in the USA; not sure what nation you are distributing. Besides, for most fragrance oils in a body mist that will be plenty. You may not need more than 5.00% propylene glycol either, although butylene glycol is the better fixative.

[chemicalmatt]

I’ve been doing this cosmetic science gig for >40 years. Can someone explain to me what the heck is implied, explained or described - preferably in physical chemistry lexicon - by “micellar water”? I’ve long considered this a marketing scam.

[chemicalmatt]

I’m relying on HRIPT 50-panel being acceptable for the foreseeable future. The genomic safety regimes show a lot of viability, not to mention lower cost, but I cannot predict what FDA will rule as valid. ON another note, looks like I may have a good post-retirement career as a beauty brand RP if I choose to do so. You and Mark are too young to think post-retirement for now.

[chemicalmatt]

Not the only one…many encounter the same phenomenon. Luckily, the solution is simple: use an associative thickener such as HASE polymers (hydrophobic alkali swellable acrylic emulsifiers). Rapidgel EZ1, Aculyns, Acrysols, even some Sepigels work like this and drop them in at start or end depending on how much mixing you foresee. If you need to use a lot of shear then add at end ’cause these will entrain air.

[chemicalmatt]

Aside from my pal @Graillotion informing to follow your bliss (mine always stops at the next martini), and without knowing your undergraduate degree (not chemistry I presume?) you are well advised to pursue formal knowledge of cosmetic science both for your skill set and career prospects. A degreed chemist with 3 years documented formulating experience under their wings will gain in the range of $60,000 - $80,000 annually now depending on the location in the USA, less than that in UK or most EU nations. MUCH less in Asia except for Singapore. In SoCal now there is such a shortage of qualified chemists you might have a bidding war should your resume’ shine enough. Progressing to senior management status will get you well into 6 figures with the large cap firms today, but you will have to smell that big corporate political stench all day.

[chemicalmatt]

Epsom salt is divalent magnesium, not a friend to cationic guar HPTC. That is likely culprit for flocculant. Or your order of addition is all meshuggenah. It should be: water > Guar HPTC > CAPB > APG > anionic > amber stuff, fragrance, preservative. DEL the glycerin and oil as they are going nowhere but into your sewer system not your hair.

[chemicalmatt]

Disperse into water heated to >50C and mix until dissolved, then go from there. Pre-mixing polymers is a practice I often try to discourage in cosmetic chemists. A story for another day.

[chemicalmatt]

First I’ve heard of the lawsuit but the term “collagen” has been used loosely for a long time in the beauty industry and I can see where the plaintiff is coming from. Nearly all of the collagen used in topical skin care products is actually collagen amino acids, not native collagen itself. The native collagen is VERY expensive and is the stuff cosmetic surgeons inject into lips to plump them up to hideous levels. There is now a group in Taiwan that sells bio-engineered collagen that is not hydrolyzed or deconstructed. I have never used it but I know it also is not cheap. Collagen amino acids are much less costly and readily available. I speculate this defendant will need to provide evidence they used native not hydrolyzed.

[chemicalmatt]

Well said!