ketchito
Forum Replies Created
-
@Graillotion The main issue with EDTA (and related) is the low biodegradability. A good compromise are similar and yet more biodegradable molecules like MGDA or GLDA. Buy yeah, sodium phytate has the lead if your communication is based on “natural”.
-
@Tyss The closest relative of palm oil is coconut oil, but perhaps you’ve already considered it.
-
@Lisa18 It’d be better to knos what’s the final viscosity and pH of your system, and if you’re using electrolytes (like sodium chloride). I always had better results with powdery carbopols (like ETD2020, Ultrez 20 or 21), and not a big fan of Aqua SF1, but again, the final viscosity is very relevant. Which surfactants are you using, and which type of beads?
-
@Soona As other members mentioned, it’d be better if you disclose more details about your formula, so it can be better assesed. Just one thought, usually HEC gets more clear when you increase pH since it helps “remove” its acidic particles envelop, so when you mention the acid environment of your formula, makes me wonder if the system was acid at all times.
-
@JD Calcium helps some biopolymers gel fast, but you need a good mixing system to avoid clumps.
-
@Kunal The ratio 3:1:0.5 thicks very well, but it brings you very close to a gel point. A way around is increasing the relative content of the anionic (eg., 4:1:0.5). Also, these type of products when left in an open container, tend to gradually lose water, that’s why you see it becoming a gel over time.
-
@Cyro Considering that it’s very hard to actually replace silicones (performance, deposition, shine, flexibility, etc.), a fair tweak for shampoos is to increase cationic polymers, use esthers (I’d go for the second one in your list) and even include an amido-amine surfactant. For conditioners, relying on cationic surfactants and esthers/oils is aso a fair way to go.
-
@Soona What’s your final pH? Betaines tend to behave like cationics at low pH (in the case of CAPB, it happens at a pH below 5.5). Since you hace Salicylic acid and no base to raise pH, I see that could be the reason.
-
I agree with the comments above, aminoacids in hair products offer no benefit other than marketing. In fact, I remember a paper discussing the effect of small molecules on hair, and some aminoacids that were able to enter hair through scales, made hair more prone to breaking since they acted like small rigid units. The bottomline, that something manages to penetrate skin or hair, doesn’t mean it’s going to have an effect, and in some cases, that effect can be detrimental.
-
@oladapo That color is normal, and you’ll see it going away when you add more ingredients during the process.
-
@GARIFUNA In your formula, the true emulsifiers are glyceryl stearate (low HLB) and ceteareth-20 (high HLB). A mixture of both gives a more stable emulsion rather than using just one. Behentrimonium chloride gives not such robust emulsions (you see that for how easily affected they are by share, and also, when you add some oil or fragrance during the cool down phase and you see a marked drop in viscosity, even in the presence of ceterayl alcohol, which is a co-emulsifier).
-
@Rookayerh123 I’d choose pairs of surfactants that have interactions between each other:
- either Cocamidoproply betaine and Alpha olefin sulphonate/SCI,
- or Decyl glucoside and Coco glucosideIf you only have Xanthan gum or Guar gum, I’d choose Xanthan gum. PQ-10 gives a bit of viscosity, but it’s mainly used as conditioner (being a cationic polymer), which you also need in your formula.
I wouldn’t worry about adding Glycerin, but you can add a bit if you want (keep it not more than 0.5% because it can impair foam).
-
@qwerty Polyquats/dimethicone is a good performing and cost-effective system for shampoos, but if you have some more money to spare, I’d go for a cationic silicone also in the shampoo, to avoid PQ buildup. But the first combo is still valid (just keep in mind you’ll need a good surfactant system to remove the PQ’s). For the serum, a cationic silicone (especially a microemulsion) would work well. For the pre-shampoo, it depends…do you want a product for gentle cleansing before the shampoo? of a refattening product to avoid excessive removal of lipids? I believe that in any case, no silicone would be needed.
-
@ritag You can add a surfactant (like amine oxides, sultaine or cocoamphodiacetate), or a polymer (one that comes to my mind is Supracare 801 from Dow, but there are many more) for that matter.
-
@Dan Indeed, they use special equipment to do that. You could alternatively heat the drumm a bit, or if your formula allows it, mix it with some Ethanol (in wich SLES is very soluble).
-
@Abdullah It’s the ingredients. A non structured shampoo has mainly surfactants, like SLES, CAPB, CDEA and NaCl. A structured shampoo includes also cationic polymers, anionic rheology modifiers and some materials to suspend (like silicones).
-
@qwerty Those are good questions. In a shampoo, polyquats actually help “neutral” silicones (like dimethicone and dimethiconol) deposit on hair, through what it’s called assisted deposition. The story is different for cationic silicones like amodimethicone, with which polyquats will compete for binding sites on hair.
In the case of a conditioner, the story is different, since contact time and vehicle varies. Dimethicone and Dimethiconol deposit driven mainly by hydrophobic forces in an uneven way, with the possibility of particles being deposit on top of others. Nevertheless, since they are hydrophobic, the forces that make them stick to hair are low, and a good shampoo can remove them (residues will remain probably, if your surfactant system is not good enough). In the case of Amodimethicone, ionic interactions play a great part, and that’s why it usually has more changes to deposit where there is damage on hair due to electrostatic interactions. But even though forces are stronger than just hydrophobic and it’s actually harder to remove them than neutral silicones, they form a very uniform film and they tend not to deposit more particles on top.
-
@dmh0023 You need to temper your butters before manufacture. You can warm them at aprox. 60C for 15-20 min, and then add them to the process.
-
@chemistgr1 If quantities in your formula are based on 100g, then 1g (or 1%) or fragrance could be a bit too much, specially for skin irritation; also, if your fragrance is not so soluble, it’ll not be solubilized properly and impair your stability. Regarding keratin proteins (which I believe are hydrolyzed proteins), I wouldn’t add them in a shampoo since they will have little chances to do interact with hair fibers. If you don’t mind using SLES, then replace your SCI with it, and you’ll see the benefits in foaming, detergency and viscosity of the SLES-CAPB mixture. As @seaberry mentioned, acrylates/c10-30 alkyl acrylate crosspolymer help both stabilize and thicken your surfactant system, just keep in mind that the order of addition has to avoid direct interaction between your thickener and your PQ-7.
-
@LongXi You really need to add the Sodium citrate. At the pH you mentioned, it’ll be in equilibrium with its former acid (Citric acid), which will help buffer the system, controlling pH drifts. Sodium citrate has to be added before your preservatives. Citric acid and Sodium hydroxides are added to reach your final pH, you don’t need to use both, only the one that can make your reach your final pH, and it’s better to dilute them first, for proper incorporation.
-
@qwerty The main cause of build-up is actually polyquats, so I’d worry more about the type and amount of polyquat you’re using (PQ-10 is harder to remove than Guar HPTC, even when using SLES).
When you’re talking about silicones, by heavy you mean to their nature (non modified dimethicone vs modified -hydroxylated, cationic-) or to their molecular weight?
As I mentioned, due to their hydrophobic nature, silicones can be removed from hair by common surfactants (providing your formula is cleansing enough), it’s polyquats the ones that resist washing more. Nevertheless, since silicones can deposit in good amounts specially in the presence of polyquats, you could feel your hair overcharged after only one application of your product, so you need to regulate the amount of silicones you want in your shampoo.
-
@Batya The frosting you see is from the butter. Butters should be tempered before manufacture. Try placing it at around 60C for 10-15 min befor the process. Also, you mentioned you’re using Candelilla wax and Cetyl alcohol, which are the waxes that will provide hardness to the product. Try to change the ratio between them, favoring Candelilla wax which will give you a more firm product.
-
@Batya There are actually several issues here. The low pH is propbably causing your color and scent change. What’s the initial pH of your product? Maybe the product itself has a low pH from the start.
Also, even though I’m not familiar with Lecithin as emulsifier, I see few things that can cause separation:
1) xanthan gum might not be able to hold such a high level of electrolytes (from MgCl2)
2) preservative system might not be sufficient since you’re using quite some amount of soy lecithin which itself is a source of contammination, exposing also xanthan gum to attack
3) I read that lecithin alone doesn’t give stable emulsions, so maybe you could consider adding a co-emulsifier to the systems (in foods, usually whey or other related proteins are added for this purpose, but that will also increase your risk of contamination, so maybe a less “natural” co-emulsifier might help). -
@himansh_20 Just by reducing or removing Glycerin from your formula (since it doesn’t do much in a rinse-off product other than maybe help with clarity) you’ll improve foam. Another thing you can do is adding an Amine oxide, which will improve your foaming behavior. Increasing CAPB and DEA will also imrpove foam density and stability.
-
@vandrean Sodium benzoate has a fair antibacterial activity, also the low pH could also play a role (depending how diluted was the sample for the test). And last but not least, the amount of SLES is higher (surfactants also have antimicrobial activity).