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  • evchem2

    Member
    February 13, 2024 at 7:36 am in reply to: Dry Shampoo — Basic Questions

    Not a haircare formulator, but here’s my thoughts:

    1. The ‘mechanism’ as far as I know is alcohol or starches absorbing oil/sebum and giving hair a more matte appearance.

    2. Anyone who would like to skip washing their hair occasionally. If you’re asking about target demographic probably younger women with long hair

    3. I’m not sure on this, I think a spray would likely get more uniform widespread coverage but probably comes down to the specific packaging/formula.

    4. You should take a look at big brands that are in this space and read their ingredient labels. You can also look at amazon/ulta/sephora top sellers online.

    https://www.pantene.co.uk/en-gb/hair-tips/hair-care/how-does-dry-shampoo-work/

  • evchem2

    Member
    February 7, 2024 at 7:40 am in reply to: How to make a Skin Essence (Korean Beauty)?

    Is there a benchmark product that has some attributes you’d like to replicate or build on? I’d start by looking at what’s already in the market and what ingredients those products contain. You will start to notice if there are commonalities and researching what functions the ingredients can have will help you start to plan your own formulation.

  • evchem2

    Member
    February 5, 2024 at 8:01 am in reply to: Shampoo separation cause and solution for prevention

    Might be related to the combination of anionic surfactant with cationic surfactant from the amodimethicone emulsion

  • evchem2

    Member
    February 1, 2024 at 8:02 am in reply to: Formulating a Clarifying shampoo to remove buildup

    If your pH is going to be 7-8 I don’t believe potassium sorbate will be effective as a preservative (see intro of this paper for a quick explanation of how organic acid preservatives and their salts work). This would also apply to the acids in your verstatil and microcare blends. You should look for alternative methods of preservation such as CMIT/MIT blends, maybe phenoxyethanol/ethylhexylglycerin, or others. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4178694/

  • evchem2

    Member
    January 22, 2024 at 7:22 am in reply to: Crystals in the SPF 50 Cream

    I think allantoin could be a potential crystallizer here, but also the PBSA. I haven’t worked with it commercially but I believe product pH needs to be right around neutral for PBSA to remain soluble.

  • evchem2

    Member
    December 14, 2023 at 2:04 pm in reply to: monopropylene glycol

    What’s the final application? Might be able to use PVP, maybe a carbomer, diutan gum will definitely work but might require some heat/shear

  • evchem2

    Member
    December 7, 2023 at 12:53 pm in reply to: Counter-ions for Carrageenan


    @ketchito
    is right on, especially for iota carrageenan- divalents will work best and you can usually use a bit less than the monovalents which will help reduce chance of instability (maybe try 0.1-0.2% CaCl2 or MgSO4?). Since you’re making an o/w system, I would suggest adding those salts after forming the emulsion (https://www.ulprospector.com/knowledge/11641/pcc-tips-and-tricks-guaranteed-to-improve-the-your-formulations-part-one/) .

    Do you know which type of carrageenan you are using?

  • evchem2

    Member
    November 17, 2023 at 7:40 am in reply to: Cream lip product issue

    I am not well-versed in either hot-fill or color cosmetics, but I had a couple thoughts:

    1. Are the glass containers warmed at all before being filled with product? Could you run them through a heat tunnel so they are not quite as cool when being filled? Maybe less of a temperature shock going from 63C to RT containers would help.

    2. Are you selling in the US market? If yes, I would be very careful because your botanical extract (from Campo?) is not an approved colorant for cosmetics, let alone those in contact with the mouth. I would make very sure you have appropriate safety data for this formula.

  • evchem2

    Member
    November 10, 2023 at 7:08 am in reply to: questions about xanthan gum

    If you have only 1% glycol, I would stick to using <0.3% xanthan gum if you keep the slurry method- but if you’re seeing clumping then something isn’t working with the current process. The ‘gloopiness’ is characteristic of this gum, certain grades from specific suppliers can offer some improvement on that. Air bubbles are also normal, xanthan provides viscosity and suspension- to limit their incorporation try to keep your mixing blade a bit off-center and monitor your mixing speed (watch if you are pulling air into the vortex).

    ChemicalMatt’s method will also work, I recommend slurry method when I don’t know the processing equipment capability. The end goal is uniform product not just within one batch but lot to lot, and if your slurry is thick and difficult to incorporate on small scale it might also be an issue for scale-up, so use whatever method gives you best results.

  • evchem2

    Member
    November 9, 2023 at 7:13 am in reply to: questions about xanthan gum

    If you have any kind of glycols in your formulation (glycerin, propanediol, etc), you can premix the xanthan gum in that instead (at least a 3:1 ratio glycol: gum is advised) and add that into the water phase instead.

  • Maybe include a lip-safe fixative- more ‘premium’ fragrances may already include those. I think triethyl citrate or dipropylene glycol should work, if you search those in this forum you’ll see some guidance

  • evchem2

    Member
    November 7, 2023 at 4:41 pm in reply to: Viscometer RV or LV

    The LV is the more sensitive spring, it has a lower range of viscosity it can measure. The RV is less sensitive and so it generally works better for thicker samples (it’s about 10x less sensitive if I understand the Brookfield manual correctly)

    Brookfield has some decent documentation on their equipment- if this link doesn’t work just google ‘More solutions to sticky problems’ https://www.brookfieldengineering.com/-/media/ametekbrookfield/tech%20sheets/more%20solutions%202017.pdf?la=en

  • evchem2

    Member
    November 3, 2023 at 7:43 am in reply to: Facial Cleansing product

    Generally adding salt at the end of the process is best, that way in scale up you can work at lower viscosity as long as possible (less energy to mix, less risk of air entrapment), and all your other ingredients will already be present and accounted for. And it’s always good practice to create a salt curve for your specific formula.

  • evchem2

    Member
    September 12, 2023 at 2:51 pm in reply to: W/O MAKE UP FOUNDATION PROBLEMS WITH STABILITY

    Not a color cosmetic chemist but here are some ideas:

    -Can you find some commercial benchmark products and subject them to the lumisizer test alongside your formulations? Maybe some selected by the client and others from large brands in the category (ex Clinique, Fenty, Maybelline, Covergirl in the US) to see if they also hold up under the same conditions. If nothing passes that test… w/o are notoriously hard to stabilize, I don’t know if that kind of test is common for these kind of products.

    - Is w/o necessary or can you make something anhydrous?

  • evchem2

    Member
    September 12, 2023 at 12:04 pm in reply to: Window cleaner leaves strikes ????

    Is your water deionized? Salt content might be creating some streaks. Certain non-ionic surfactants are also recommended for window cleaners (ex Tomadol 901). What pH is your current formulation at?

  • evchem2

    Member
    August 16, 2023 at 10:34 am in reply to: How to thicken solution containing alcohol

    Xanthan, Ultrez 20, Alginate will not work, they will interact with the Al which is positively charged. HEC you might be able to have some success, please share how you have incorporated that polymer and what specific brand you are using. You can also try HP guar

    I should also mention that if you are in the US, anti-perspirant is an OTC and so I wouldn’t recommend making this as a beginner, and certainly not for anything other than personal use.

  • evchem2

    Member
    January 25, 2024 at 11:11 am in reply to: Can Fucogel Powder be heated?

    Solabia has a formulation using Fucogel powder in the water phase (pre emulsification) and heating to 75C. I don’t see a reason why you couldn’t add it post emulsification as well if you properly dispersed it.

  • evchem2

    Member
    January 5, 2024 at 7:16 am in reply to: Is surfactant necessary for my formulation?

    You can check out some of the contacts here:

    https://chemistscorner.com/cosmeticsciencetalk/discussion/need-formulating-services-here-are-some-contacts/page/5/#post-224201

  • evchem2

    Member
    January 4, 2024 at 7:57 am in reply to: Is surfactant necessary for my formulation?

    Traditional: depends on your preference but some of the classics are PEG-100 Stearate & Glyceryl Stearate combo (trade name Arlacel 165, amongst others), or Cetearyl Alcohol & Polysorbate 60 (Emulsifying wax). If ethoxylates are undesirable some other popular options are from the montanov series from Seppic (ex Montanov 68 Cetearyl Alcohol & Cetearyl Glucoside)

    Polymeric: something from the Pemulen series from Lubrizol (Acrylates/ C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer). The also have a more ‘natural’ oriented Pemupur Start, though I haven’t used it myself.

    Some combinations are more or less preferred depending on the final desired appearance/feel of the product, availability, cost, etc. There are plenty of threads in this forum that also mention some popular choices. @chemicalmatt is an industry vet, you can also go the route he suggested and saponify.

  • evchem2

    Member
    January 3, 2024 at 7:29 am in reply to: Is surfactant necessary for my formulation?

    Polysorbate 80 is more often used for solubilizing when you have a low percentage of oil (~<1%). To try and use it with 10% of a fatty acid, I imagine you would need to use quite a bit (the general recommendation is 3-4x the oil level) and it will feel sticky/unpleasant. I’d stick with a more traditional emulsifier (but then you might have to move to hot process), or maybe replace HEC with a polymeric emulsifier (I don’t know if your active would cause any problems with one of those)

  • evchem2

    Member
    November 10, 2023 at 9:40 am in reply to: Jaguar HP 105 (HP Guar) Viscostiy/ Thermal Stability

    @chemicalmatt thank you! That’s wild, I didn’t include that I had 3% glycerin in the system (the only other component) because I assumed it would be negligible…I recall a saying about assumptions that seems relevant. Any idea the reasoning behind the incompatibility?

    Thanks for the tip about the borate, not sure how client will feel about it but good to have in the toolbox

  • evchem2

    Member
    November 9, 2023 at 7:17 am in reply to: Sodium benzoate in toothpaste

    Would this be true for any of the organic acids to some extent?

  • evchem2

    Member
    September 6, 2023 at 7:23 am in reply to: Sodium alginate mask

    @Ron_93 I’d have to know more about what you included/ how it was prepared. Did you use a retarder/ extender? Without the extender you may see some lumping from poor dispersion of the alginate, without the retarder you may see lumping from premature gel formation

  • Xanthan should work in presence of 4% glycolic, just slurry it with glycerin and add it in after water (and chelator if using). Whether you like the sensory/appearance or not is another question, but to speed up ‘absorption’ you could add small amount of ethanol, or try adding some starch or silica- but those options will also modify feel

  • evchem2

    Member
    August 15, 2023 at 7:26 am in reply to: Concentrated Liquid Cleanser

    You could use a refatting agent like Glyceryl oleate, Polyglyceryl-3 Caprate, or Peg-7 Glyceryl Cocoate

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