[em88]

I have personally visited manufacturing sites and even tried these inexpensive shampoos (not limited to shampoo products alone). The volume discount does have a limit. Pantene and other massive brands like it also operate at high volumes. I’m fairly certain they already secure the lowest prices for their raw materials too. There are indeed cases where the same product is marketed under different brands, with pricing determined by the brand’s strength. This is true; those products are nearly identical.

[em88]

“Another question is, why everytime i make formula that consist SLES (Texapon) and HEC, the final product always separate after 1-2 days?”

HEC is not compatible with SLES.

[em88]

Carbopol ETD 2020 should handle that amount of NaCl. 

[em88]

blueberry said:

Carbomer is next. Siligel is separating in the past 2 days.

Carbopol ETD 2020 is a good option in this case

[em88]

HEC is not the best choice for other surfactants as well. 
HPMC, xanthan gum, and carbomer are a few alternatives

[em88]

It will dissolve in your oil phase.

[em88]

Shouldn’t the quantity of Polysorbate 60 be higher than the quantity of Sorbitan Stearate?
You are right about the antioxidant. 
My guess for polysorbate 80 is that it is added as a wetting agent for ketoconazole when it is dispersed in water. After that, the suspension is added to the base cream. 

[em88]

Perry said:

4. The Rock (Dwayne Johnson) will launch a beauty product line. (maybe hair treatment for the bald head)

Anyone have any more?

[em88]

Pharma said:

What the heck… I’m speechless from all that stupidity (mostly because that lawyer, dumb as he/she might be, most likely earns 10 times as much as I do)!

And if I’m not wrong, you are based in Switzerland, where most likely you earn 10 times as much as we pharmacists make in the EU   :smiley:

[em88]

Do you really need the soaping effect?
Since you are a beginner and already familiar with Seppic products, I’d suggest you use Sepineo P600. It is suitable for cold processes. You will not need RitaMulse and Sepinov EMT 10 if you use Sepineo P600. 

[em88]

Three minutes are not enough to talk about PVP in general. This was more like an ad.

[em88]

At what temperature are you adding them?
I would decrease CDEA at 2-3%, and increase the quantity of PEG-150 Distearate to achieve the desired viscosity.

[em88]

Depends on the product. Can’t you measure the density of the finished product? 

[em88]

We only sles, both concentrations 27% and 70%. I’m not so sure about the prices you get, but for the quantity we buy, the price for sles is way too cheap to be considered.
If you are using small lab equipments, I’d suggest to go for 27%. It will make the process easier and faster. Sles 70% needs time and temperature to be dissolved in water. If you force the dissolving process, you will have to deal with foam. 

[em88]

Pharma said:

@chemicalmatt Why are people so often promoting lactic acid / sodium lactate as a buffer for urea? It’s no longer buffering at that pH range, let alone preventing the product from a rise in pH which is the main issue with urea.

I agree with you. LA/SL will not help

[em88]

I’d really suggest you to read much more before preparing any product. At least read about basic knowledge, before hurting yourself or someone else. 

[em88]

Pharma said:

He’s referring to triethyl citrate. It’s not an acid but a tripple ester of citric acid with ethanol. Once pH increases, it hydrolyses turning into citric acid. This in turn brings the pH back down (and also stopps hydrolysis).

w/o emulsions also have a pH which can (and will) drift when using enough urea. Unfortunately, there is no benefit from using this type of emulsion when it comes to stabilising urea. I tried making w/o emulsions with 40% urea… was fun but didn’t work out (emulsion instability, not chemical instability). Urea is the same b*+ç# as always and heavily interferes with HLB/HLD calculations/estimations and oil phase integrity/stability.

I have read a few articles about using triethyl citrate to stabilize urea. I would give it a shot. Do you have any suggestions regarding any ratio TEC/Urea?

Thank you

[em88]

It depends on how deep your research goes. Considering that you are talking about cosmetic products and that you are alone in the lab, one product a month is feasible. 
Reverse engineering is a fancy way to say formulating a generic cosmetic product. 
Tech transfers are usually easier to do, but it depends on how robust is the formula. 

[em88]

@Padmavathi, Well,  what do you mean by stable? 

[em88]

ngarayeva001 said:

@em88 there’s a couple of tricks: if you don’t need more than 10% go for water in oil. Then pH doesn’t matter. If you need it be be oil and water and or at high concentration, keep pH at 6, add lactic acid buffer and predissolve urea in propylene glycol (60c). Arlacel 165 is a good choice of an emulsifier. 

Indeed in W/O emulsion pH doesn’t matter, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have to stabilize urea. It is even harder to see if urea is stable in W/O emulsion for that reason. While in O/W emulsions, the buffer will maintain the pH stable, but from my experience, the appearance of the cream changes over time. It will get bubbly. My guess is due to CO2 being formed. The only solution I see in higher concentrations is to remove water completely and formulate anhydrous emulsions. 

[em88]

I’m actually surprised the product is stable at 40 C 75% RH and 50 C. 

[em88]

You should never guess to add or not a preservative or to guess the efficacy. You have to test it! Indeed you have a lot of glycerin, you can test your formulation as is, but you should as well consider adding a proper preservative. 

[em88]

suswang8 said:

em88 said:

zetein said:

@em88

Using sugar alcohol to dissolve salicylic acid is quite novel. Would you mind sharing your experience?

It’s probably confusing. By sugar alcohol I mean polyalcohols such a glycerin, but also propandiol, butandiol and so on. I believe it’s understandable that blends of alcohols, polyalcohols and PEGs have better dissolving properties compared to each of them alone.
Thanks for pointing it out, and letting me explain it better. 

Salicylic acid is soluble in glycerin?  I had not heard this before.

You don’t have to hear it, you only have to think. 

[em88]

Why did you add cocamide dea?
As Stanley said. Carbopol aqua sf-1 should do the trick. What viscosity do you need? 

[em88]

I’m pretty sure that cheap shampoos are cheaply made. they don’t have the best formulation or the best quality control. It is safe to assume they are cutting costs from somewhere or everywhere.