[em88]

@Doreen81, I’m very curious in this method. do you disperse the gum in hot/melted oil? What if the gum is dispersed in liquid paraffin and than added in the melted oils? I guess, it should be easier.

[em88]

@ozgirl agree. Other factors, density, particle shape, polymorphism 

[em88]

You may try glycerol+PG+alcohol to dissolve SA
Not sure if sodium lactate can increase the pH to 3.5, I guess you will need a bigger quantity. I’m curious what results did @Zink achieve. 

[em88]

Yes.

[em88]

Lactic acid has anti bacterial effect. but the best thing to do is by making a small research by comparison of lactic acid and other anti bacterial ingredients.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0956713514003636

[em88]

“It would be interesting to see a study where someone compared the damage to hair over a pH range from 1 - 14”

I’m not sure if you are being sarcastic or not, but why should be a study like that?
Who is going to put anything at extreem pH on their head? 
Also there is no such thing, study on hair only? Always it is considered hair and scalp.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4158629/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4458934/

[em88]

What exactly don’t you understand? Should I reformulate my statement again? @Doreen81

[em88]

Just curious, what formula did you try?

[em88]

I was talking about more pH 8+
PH 6-7 should be good. 

[em88]

Well, a higher pH may damage the hair.
if you are in the range of the scalp-hair pH, in my opinion, is a better choice. 

[em88]

Seems similar with alpecin shampoo. It should give the hair more volume, which may be observed as thinker hair.

[em88]

I’m a pharmacist and I was scared when I red about the OP having so limited info about sterile preparation, but still getting fully involved. 
Again, I insist about the supervisor! 

[em88]

Just by using NaCl 0.9% solution instead of water, doesnțt mean you are good to go. 
@chemicalmatt  stop giving bad advices.

[em88]

@mary24, you have a lot to learn. 
Calculating the NaCl quantity necessary is very easy. But this is the last step in the formulation. Do you have a stable formulation yet? 

m={[0.2308-(c*i+c1*i1+c2*i2+….)]M}/i’

m-> NaCl needed for 1000 ml solution
i’ -> dissociation degree (Van ‘t Hoff factor) for NaCl, in this case is 1.5
M -> NaCl molecular mass
i, i1, i2 etc -> is the dissociation degree (Van ‘t Hoff factor) for each substance in your formulation
c, c1, c2 etc -> is the concentration ‰ of each substance divided by the molecular mass of the respective substance 

You need a supervisor for this kind of formulation! 

[em88]

A small lab scale V-blender would be a good choice for powder mixing/blending but you are looking for a very small quantity of powder to mix. 10-30 g of powder should take about 5-10 min to mix if you use sieves. 
Forget about the mortar. While you use the mortar, in the same time you reduce the particle size of the powder. 

[em88]

Use sieves! Blending at high speed will not lead to homogenization and of course the mortar will not do the job properly. You have to put the powders in a specific order based on density and quantity to achieve the good mix. 
As I said, use a proper sieve for the particle size of the powders you have and sieve the powders several times. 

[em88]

They are using the Nobel prize for marketing and not for science.
@Belassi, at that range those particles are going to be comparable or even smaller than the size of a proton lol.

[em88]

I’m curious if they have any study about these Nobel products

@sabahi, the Le Mer cream is going to be an obsession for you

@Belassi, wouldn’t nano spheres be better :smiley:

[em88]

I’m sorry regarding LABSA. Taking notes
@Chemist77, thanks for explaining it! 

[em88]

I haven’t worked with LABS so far, but I don’t think you should neutralize it with NaOH, SLES and CDEA do not need to be neutralized. NaOH is reducing the viscosity. 
Instead of Na2SO4, use NaCl. You may also add some acid like citric acid which will increase the viscosity. 
Removing carbomer and CMC will make the manufacturing process easier, you should take this in consideration. 

[em88]

Ascorbic acid is not stable and it changes the color to yellow-orange, by transforming in L-Threonic and oxalic acid.

[em88]

Why are you neutralizing SLES? 
What is the viscosity you want to achieve? 
CMC alone should be sufficient.

[em88]

The important step you forgot is the problem.
I think NaOH is causing the decrease in viscosity. 

[em88]

With all those extracts and salts they can almost speculate to cure cancer lol

This thread is great! Thank you for your posts. 

[em88]

@sabahi, it sounds funny, but I kinda think that having a slight coffee flavor in a shampoo with caffeine/coffee is better.