johnb
Forum Replies Created
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You really should find out what you are doing first being even looking at what you will be making. It is unfair of you to request all that information with no input from yourself
Look to the right of this page “Learn to formulate cosmetics!” to learn some of the basics.
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I was unware, until your post of the 14th, that you had any requirement for your product to be “natural”.
You should examine the “naturalness” of cetyl alcohol and of Phytomulse before you proceed.
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Have you had this SLES sitting in the tank since November?
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Will this product contain anything that could be classed as medication?
If so, then your request is outside of the remit of this forum.
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The ratio of the detergents depends on how long you want the block to last sitting in the toilet cistern.
The more CME, the longer it will last but the less effective (less colour released per flush). You may want to start with 10 - 15 % CME and test that first.
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What do you classify as an ionic species?
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There is a sample formulation offered on the data sheet given by Perry.
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The data sheet you sent describes the correct material. It doesn’t really matter which one of the two you select - comes down to price really!
Something that hasn’t been mentioned is the process for making the blocks.
It is simply melting the two detergent materials together and then adding the powdered dyestuff and mixing well. The heating should be done over a waterbath - not direct gas or electrical heaters and do NOT make it in the kitchen. The dyestuff is a very powerful colouring agent in very fine powder form. You may be surprised how easily it can distribute itself and stain everything it touches.
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I would replace the SLS with something a bit more gentle.
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Those three materials are all you need to make a high quality product. Ensure you have cocamide MEA and not DEA (which has completely different properties.
You will have to do some experimental work trying different ratios of detergent to check which gives the longest life and best visual effect.
The dye content is about 2% - 5%.
Regarding the amount of foam generated, the cocamide MEA is a very good foam stabiliser and will most likely give a superior foam compared to that of a commercial product.
The steareth21/cocamide MEA block will be much harder in texture that commercial ones and may well not require a wrapper. If you want, you can get a suitable product from Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=soluble+film&tag=googhydr-21&index=aps&hvadid=155853298232&hvpos=1o2&hvnetw=g&hvrand=6922649303676878326&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9041127&hvtargid=kwd-1033397470&ref=pd_sl_2wndqe1c97_b
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See the answer by Bill (above). DPG will not help.
Better still, ask your fragrance supplier for a perfume which is compatible with your base.
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The real problem with heating essential oils or perfume compounds for any extended period is the loss of the material by evaporation.
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The Sanex product also contains lactic acid so the active preservative may be benzoic acid.
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Dipropylene glycol does little, if anything, to stabilize or fix a fragrance.
Dipropylene glycol is used as a solvent for difficult to dissolve materials or, almost exclusively, to dilute (cheapen) a fragrance compound.
You may find, even, that the DPG doesn’t dissolve in your carrier oil which brings me to another point, is your fragrance truly soluble in your carrier or is it separating after a time and sitting on the bottom of the bottle?
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Are there any additional ingredients required for this? Would these
ingredients bring in the element of medium thick foam and the cleaning
properties?The ingredients for a basic “blue block” are as given. Some have had perfumes included but, as the dilution ratio is so vast, these are ineffectual. Similarly with cleaning power. All that can be expected from this type of product is a blue colour in the flush water and some fairly transient foam.
If you find it impossible to obtain stearyl 5-ethoxylate, it is possible to substitute coconut monoethanolamide (cocamide MEA). This may give improved foaming. It was not used in the original commercial formulations because of relatively high cost. It is available in small quantities from several suppliers.
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Can you define the oil you want to use? The reason I am asking this is because there are several different materials that go by this name.
Some marigold oils are not essential oils per se but infusions of marigold flowers in a vegetable (fixed) oil. These will require different treatment in formulating into a lotion than a true essential oil.
3% oil, especially if a true essential oil, seems excessively high. Is this figure correct?
For us to help further, can you give some indication of the constitution of the lotion you are using?
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I’d try the same in both - no point in increasing your raw materials inventry without good reason!
Please do test it first to ensure it does what you want and to work out how much you want in there to give the best effect.
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I ought to have suggested also that you prepare samples each with one of the ingedients omitted (apart from water, obviously!)
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N.B. Please do not confuse hydrogenated castor oil with PEG40 hydrogenated castor oil as I have known people to do in the past. They are totally different.
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You state “emulsified” sugar scrubs - where is the emulsion and where is the sugar?
Anyway, that aside, I think that stearic acid may work for this but, probably better, would be a wax or a high melting glyceride such as hydrogenated castor oil (castor wax).
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No response yet so, I’ll have a go.
Not at all sure about the reason for the discoloration but I do know that N-acetylglucosamine is sensitive to pH (as is niacinamide to a lesser extent) so it could be advantageous to check on the pH of your mixture and adjust if necessary.
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Yes indeed!
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The nature of the anion in cationic detergents has little or no influence on the performance. I doubt that you will detect any difference between cetrimonium chloride and cetrimonium bromide in their effect on hair.
I had some success by moving away from quaternary ammonium cationics to alkylamidomethyl dimethylamine compounds (stearamidopropyl dimethylamine or behenamidopropyl dimethylamine) salts. The materials are supplied as the free base so you are free to introduce an anion of your own choice to complete the conditioner material. The lactate salt is often used.
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As a point of interest, what do you think an example lipstick contains?