[chemicalmatt]

That “40%” moniker refers to the stearic acid used to make the ester, that grade being the typical food grade or soapers grade stearic (~50% C16/C18). That is the GMS to use as a builder for 99% of your formulations and why it is most common and least expensive. That 90% C18OOH is deo grade, and I have to think you’d buy the glyceryl ester made of it on special order. Sounds like George Deckner may have been overthinking this or needed to use up his word count.

[chemicalmatt]

Achh, those enzymes are blotchy, too pH dependent for my taste. I’ll recommend triethyl citrate and ethylhexylglycerin (Sensiva SC-50 or clone) at 1.0% each and a really nice fragrance at 1.0% also. No worries about pH or chemical coordination there either.

[chemicalmatt]

“Biokelp”? Is there another kind? I’m with @ketchito here, not enough formula intel to weigh in on and nothing you mention will provide the “slip.” You are at somewhat a disadvantage in that this product must atomize (read: spray on, not stream from nozzle) ruling out most polymers. One ingredient that fits the bill will be Glossamer L6600, a natural copolymer that will spray, add gloss and some lubricity. Not knowing your locale, I can only tell you Coast Southwest supplies this in the USA.

[chemicalmatt]

@Stell we would need a bit more intel than what you divulge here. E.g. Is this gel based on carbomer? Did you use a straight PEG with it also? This could take a while.

[chemicalmatt]

I do not suggest using Carpopol, Sepigel or any other acrylic here. Your issue is CAPB always carries 5.0% sodium chloride, so you are attempting to overcome 1.25% NaCl, which will affect all acrylic thickeners and even HEC. Hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) is your best bet, as @Bill_Toge suggests, although lowering all that CAPB, the salt it carries, and all the glucoside will help a LOT. @Abdullah is correct: those glucoside surfactants crash HEC and many other cellulosics including HPMC! Sugar & cellulose do not like each other? Who knew? (Also, what’s with that glycerin in a surfactant cleansing product? How many times must I rant on about this?! STOP this madness!!)
 

[chemicalmatt]

IF you have an oven and a KitchenAid Mixer, spread it out on a steel baking sheet, roast at 200F for an hour or so then break it up in batches with the mixer with the dough kneading attachment. You should be able to break it up enough to add & wet out in water alone with added time on the Lightnin’ mixer, plus a tiny bit of acid added to the water. Hope this helps.

[chemicalmatt]

Silica (it is ALL natural, BTW, even when treated or fumed) will not lower viscosity in oil-based formulations, it will THICKEN them, so you may want to stop right there. However, if the goal is to add suspension (yield value) to your product intending to suspend another ingredient, then use silylated hydrated silica and lots of shear and heat to get it incorporated with your oils before adding any other component. Once accompished then reducing oily sensorial is a simple task: add light esters and/or rice powder to this and “feel the silk.” All this assumes you have no water phase involved, only oils.

[chemicalmatt]

Nice synapsis @MarkBroussard.  I agree this basically harmonizes the USA with the rest of the liberal market capital democracies like the EU & China. I will predict the testing agencies doing HRIPT will be making lots of coin in the years to come. Likewise for the labs performing USP<51> PET testing for all those online Clean Beauty “stealth” brands. 

[chemicalmatt]

Ahh, there it is, @akrep the rheology stabilizer I was looking for in the first place in your initial post: Aerosil R972 silica.  

[chemicalmatt]

Agreed with all: still good to use but neither vegan nor Halal. An aside: should you ever want to buy tallow-based glycerin USP, Kosher or non, you’ll pay twice the price for a special order with a two-week lead time, and then only through select distributors such as Rierden Chemical in Chicago (hometown of commodity tallow). This is why I start to steam every time I see greenies mention “vegetable glycerin” in their label copy and marketing blurbs. Listen up homeys: it is ALL Vegetable Glycerin!! Byproduct of biodiesel and palm & coconut oil fatty acid fractionation. ALL of it. So much veggie glycerin around they need inventive ways to use it up faster.

[chemicalmatt]

For making soaps with alkali metal hydroxides you do not need deionized water. That RO filter will be plenty adequate for making cleansing products too, just add more chelating agent to your formulas.

[chemicalmatt]

True, Mark. Can do, will do. 

[chemicalmatt]

@GeorgeBenson, it would take an entire seminar here to explain the utility of butylene glycol in cosmetic formulation. A short answer: aside from freeze-point depression, anything propylene glycol can do, butylene glycol does better the only drawback is it costs 3X more than PG. Also, humectant and preservative booster are the two least important characteristics of BG; in fact it does not perform either very well at all.

[chemicalmatt]

Be advised not all Polyquaterniums behave the same. PQ-39 is a copolymer specifically designed to accommodate surfactant cleansers with anionics, as long as you also employ amphoterics too. The idea you have is a good one, but you need to use Polyquaternium-37 or 32, the 37 being the better one. You can load it up with butters and oils - but NO electrolytes or anionics - and get a nice body butter.  These are associative thickeners so adding just a smidgen of cetyl alcohol or GMS will pump up viscosity big time, much like the anionic HASE polyacrylics do.

[chemicalmatt]

Thanks for the 411 Phil.

[chemicalmatt]

I use my own deodorant stick formulation, SPF30 sunscreen oil spray, analgesic lotion (for sore muscles) but that’s about it. I buy the basics at the store just like Perry and others. I’ve formulated & compounded high-end ceramide/polypeptide cream for my wife because I had free ingredient samples sitting around just aging away and decided to gift her something special.

[chemicalmatt]

Correct you are.

[chemicalmatt]

@Nahlllailatul, yours is one of those cases where without knowing the other ingredients present in your formula, we cannot be of much assistance. I will add that HEC is not a good first choice for thickening “soap” formulations. Hydroxypropyl methylcellulose is preferred. Look into the Methocel line from DuPont-Dow.

[chemicalmatt]

One of my favorite amphoterics! No need to combine with CAPB either since it has superior performance as a detergent builder, hydrotrope, coacervating agent with polyquats, alkali-stable oil remover…I could go on. This is one of the few Gemini surfactants used in personal care. Most are used in HI&I formulation, where they are the best couplers around for cleaning products, especially high alkaline and high electrolyte kind. Gemini (called gem surfactants in some places) description fits the molecular structure like the Zodiac icon: a twin. Two twin hydrophiles on opposite ends of a shared lipophile.  

[chemicalmatt]

Affirmative, they include some numbers near the end. A few million this year, a few million more the year after, etc., Etc.

[chemicalmatt]

@Abdullah the answer to that question would entail a multi-hour seminar on the topic, one going into the weeds in physical chemistry. No short answer here.

[chemicalmatt]

Yo @enam you are combining an alkyl quat (Varisoft 100) into an anionic shampoo, a no-go. I’ll also add this is waayyyy over-formulated. Whassup with the PEG-7, glycerin (again: why, friends, why?), betaine, dermosoft eco (OK for skin, but for hair: Nah!) and dl-Panthenol at 2.0%? I’d dial this back. Increase the CAPB, decrease the AOS and DEL the glycerine, PEG, Varisoft, dermosoft and you won’t be needing that Crothix anymore, saving some coin there.  

[chemicalmatt]

Affirmative. This combo of  Sorbitan Stearate/Polysorbate 60 was taken directly from the original HLB Handbook authored by Bill Griffith for Atlas Chemical Company in 1957. Still works today! I know this annoys one of our esteemed colleagues here, who has been adamant about dissing the HLB system all along (and you know who you are.) The sulfite is in there as an antioxidant for ketoconazole stability. The TWEEN 80 seems totally unnecessary to me.

[chemicalmatt]

I read through the entire magilla last week and reckoned same. Made me think I may earn more compliance consulting gigs in my post-retirement years. BTW, the following mammoth section of the same bill deals with holding human clinical trial managers responsible for inclusivity/diversity protocols being met in their trials. Why? No science involved there, just politics.

[chemicalmatt]

<div>Mainly same as for ethoxylates, only polyglyceride is now the hydrophile. Remember that the carbonyl is calculated as part of the lipophile not hydrophile.</div>

Best to use the mass ratio method:

HLB = [HPMP ÷ 5]

where HPMP = hydrophile mass percentage

methylene = 14, glyceride group = 74, methyl = 15, glycol end group = 91, carbonyl = 28

For Polyglyceryl-6 Stearate:

Hydrophile mass = [(5 * 74) + (1 * 91] = 461

Hydrophobe mass = [(16 * 14) + (1 * 15) + (1 * 28)] = 267

HLB = [(461 ÷ 728) *100] ÷ 5 = 12.6

Best to state as approximation…HLB » 12.5