[chemicalmatt]

Simply put: uncoated zinc oxide SPF products will report lower SPF upon aging than coated ZnO used. TiO2 behaves similarly but not as much delta-SPF.  Neither will react with/affect other ingredients as their chemical catalytic activity is smaller than, say, platinum. This is the conundrum we face: the organics are more stable (when formulated correctly), easier to work with, more ubiquitous, have better sensorial properties and more supply sources; yet FDA and the coral reef watchers make using them a difficult decision.

[chemicalmatt]

I may have you all beat here: Columbus Vegetable Oils in DesPlaines IL (Chicago) http://www.cvoils.com sells oils, even organics, in gallon to tankwagon quantities and they will beat the price of others by a WIDE margin, even factoring shipping costs from Chicago. They did ship small orders UPS Ground domestically, hopefully they still do. JEdwards is also aces in my book and they do have a wider selection, but I’ve been backordered many times with those guys.

[chemicalmatt]

@Zahra, obtain some C12-15 alkyl benzoate. That will dissolve Red #17 for pink color and will bridge the argan oil and UV filter with your cyclomethicones since it is miscible with both. That UV filter better be a liquid one however. Maybe use less, huh? 

[chemicalmatt]

Thanks for the 411 @Graillotion. I will posit however that the triethyl citrate is doing the deodorizing heavy lifting in that blend. Sage smells nice though.

[chemicalmatt]

@Zara The numbers still do not lend themselves to activity (solids) of your cleanser system. I’ll glean here. The amphoterics are both 30 -35% active so you have ~8.0% solids there. The two anionics from Innospec are both 40% active so ~3.2% there, the glucosides are usually 50% active so 2.0% there. So we have ~ 13 - 14% solids in surfactants, the remaining components fragrance, preservative, etc. Does that sound accurate? If so, then take @Abdullah suggestion and drop the glycoside, it doesn’t work nearly as well in detergency. Both the amphos and the anionics are redundant with respect to each other’s partner, so trim down to:
Iselux LQ-CLR  @  20% (8% active)
Sodium Lauroamphoacetate 35% @ 16% (5.5% active) 
Add an alkanolamide at 2% and you should have a better result.

[chemicalmatt]

Looking to solubilize all that essential oil? 30% w/w of the total?  Nothing I know of will do that task. Best solubilizer I know is PolySugaMulse D9 from Colonial Chemical and you’d still need at least 3X that to do this.  Solution: tell your client this will be an anhydrous tonic and inform them the meaning of “anhydrous”; then you’ll have a clear path to success, and yes, pun intended there.

[chemicalmatt]

Affirmative: add the alklaline agent (AMP, TEA, tromethamine) first to the water, then add the Ultrahold, being careful how much to use: check the solubility/neutraliziation constraints first. Then dissolve 100% before adding PVP/VA. PVP/VA will compete with your acrylic polymer for water so using too much will salt out the acrylic even if 100% dissolved. Another case here of “less is more.” Then again, I’m a loyal Amphomer guy when it comes to hair fixation. BASF doesn’t need any more money from likes of me.

[chemicalmatt]

Affirmative.

[chemicalmatt]

@gdabain bloom testing, eh? That is for food techs and chocolate formulators, so look into ASTM methods for foods. I will tell you how to prevent it though: add a polyglyceryl fatty acid multi ester such as Caprol ET from Abitec (Polyglcyeryl-6 Octastearate). Good old lecithin works too but the Caprol ET adds a far nicer sensorial and is totally edible as virtually all PEFA are. These came from the food industry. Polyglyceryl-3 Diisostearate and Olive Oil Polyglcyeryl-6 Esters are good PEFA for this too. I cannot think of a worse sensorial than lecithin: yuuucck! Gives me the creeps every time I touch it. BTW, in cosmetic science we call this “retarding recrystallization of butters” instead of “retarding bloom” just to stay clear of the food tech folks. 

[chemicalmatt]

@rrthae you are best off heeding advice of @ketchito there. Order of addition - regardless of anionic - is: amphoteric / alkanolamide / anionic. The amphoteric (coco-betaine here) is a hydrotrope. Hydrotropes help materials that don’t like water, such as SCI, to like water more than they would without it. Sounds confusing?  No worries, I sometimes confuse myself.

[chemicalmatt]

@Camel Understood there, you are not purchasing commercial quantities yet. @Chemist77 TEA 99% will form a clear gel with any carbomer when neutralized to pH 6.5 - 7.5, Tromethamine (TRISamino from ANGUS) probably behaves best, but for clarity check the “Transmittance at 425nm” data on the TDS of the carbomer. In all my years I never considered gel clarity a big deal, but marketing peeps do so there it is. @Urbanxt you are either a neophyte formulator or smoking some powerful ganja these days: PVP is a hair fixative polymer, not an antiseptic - at least not here. You are no doubt thinking of povidone-iodine, where it is used as a conveyance for iodine, the actual antiseptic. Camel is using it here to style the hair and he/she is using too much of it too. 1.00% PVP K-90 is plenty enough to do the job. Camel should reduce the PEG-40HCO and fragrance way down also. This gel as written will have your hair standing straight up and smelling from a city block away.
 

[chemicalmatt]

Store it the same way we ship it: inside a 3-mil bag tightly closed by zip-tie within a sturdy cardboard box taped shut. Store off the floor if possible so dampness won’t seep in.

[chemicalmatt]

@Zahra, what exactly does a “keratinizer” do? Help us understand.

[chemicalmatt]

@MattTheChemist For volumizing I’ll take the polyurethanes any day, hands down. Look into DynamX from Nouryon. This is a urethane/acrylic co-polymer so you get the curl retention too. Be advised not all polymers will atomize and you mention a spray. DynamX will spray as will PVP K30. You don’t need heat to activate with most either.

[chemicalmatt]

@Camel not all carbomers are the same. (Perhaps I’ll run a seminar on that some day?) Use Polygel HG from 3V Sigma USA and neutralize with AMP-95 at a ratio of 0.80 to 1.00 Polygel. At 0.50% you should obtain 50,000 mPas, at 1.00% you will get closer to 100,000 mPas. Turn that jar upside down and jiggle: nothing comes out. The bonus: that material will cost you half as much as Lubrizol stuff. Better results at half the price, can’t beat that. Using TEA is good too, as Perry suggests, but just be sure to use 99% not 85%. The latter has 10% DEA in it; not wanted or allowed in California.

[chemicalmatt]

@samsal sounds like you are searching for a hair fixative, not thickener here, right? None of the above greenies will do that. Closest you will get is Biostyle XH or another starch copolymer. Not going to do as well at holding as Amphomer, though. Good luck. 

[chemicalmatt]

I’ll recommend Kelly Dobos for this.  Perry knows how to contact her.

[chemicalmatt]

I’ve often recommended a shade tree.  :smiley:

[chemicalmatt]

That’s a good  question, @chemeng. I wouldn’t mind knowing myself. There are so many variables with a compounded product and free radicals can be quenched as soon as they are generated.  Might need to look back through the Journal of Society of Cosmetic Chemists archives to check if anyone did this before.

[chemicalmatt]

Thanks Perry! I was having a good hair day when we filmed this too. Maybe a cover-grey shampoo next with self-experiment? Next episode (filmed yesterday) will be a glycol-stearate type deodorant stick - with nearly all renewables. Watch for it later in March.

[chemicalmatt]

@Mondonna I cannot advise using any natural preservatives in anything. Your best bet is to reduce the water activity (Aw) to the very lowest then add your Leucidal or whatever….good luck with that.
@samiditsamir_roubahi please begin a new thread, you have highjacked the one started by Mondonna here - not a good start, my friend.

[chemicalmatt]

Hard to help without knowing the constituents of your “liquid foundation o/w”. With all those minerals the easiest outcome would be to reformulate as an invert w/o or w/Si system. That’s the method of choice for these things. 

[chemicalmatt]

@Paprik I’ll go with @Abdullah and @GeorgeBenson here: I’ve never had good results with HEC and alkyl glucosides, or with many other surfactant combinations. The resin to use here is hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (Methocel F4M or 40-100 from DOW) otherwise called HPMC. 

[chemicalmatt]

@BettiB Affirmative, you do run that risk, why I only use the lowest speed setting when mixing viscous formulations or those that foam.  The higher speeds on the KitchenAid work fine for emulsification and dispersion when the batch is liquid at higher temps. Also, I’ll disperse carbomer with it at RT, then stop, let air vacate, then put on low speed with the dough (planetary) blade to neutralize and form an air-free gel.

[chemicalmatt]

Invert emulsions will destabilize if you over-homogenize them. You may have homogenized above the inversion temperature - turned out OK, then tried same only below inversion - not so good.