[manstra]

Hello DavidW

You should refrain from using carbomers and try using 0,15% guar gum/xanthan gum 50/50 that gives stability over range of PH. At this percentage it won’t have a marmalade like filling. Also Euxyl should be backed up with a polyol system such as dermosoft OM (Evonik)that contains caprylyl glycol and methylpropanediol at minimum 2% in your formula. It will provide an extra microbial growth hurdle.

[manstra]

One small detail to take into account as far as surfactants systems are concerned. At 0.2% or above surfactants might pass through the cell barrier of the stratum corneum especially in SLS and SLES systems. Use of betaine counters this effect

[manstra]

I also use 0.2% in shampoo systems and creams and never had issues with pH drop. It starts dissolving around 40 degrees Celsius. Check your supplier and the purity of your edta. I use also a buffer of citric/citrate in most of my products together with EDTA.

[manstra]

Spray (ethanol) alcohol when the emulsion starts to become thicker and decreases in temperature. That will solve the problem.

[manstra]

Hello Everyone

I did make products with Silver Citrate as an antibacterial ingredient but keep in mind that is important for it to work properly to abide with the following observations that I had after many failures in challenge testing

1. A broad spectrum preservation with a booster (ethyl hexyl glycerine/caprylyl glycol) is needed. Do not rely on Silver Citrate
2. pH should be between 3-5 for it to optimally work
3. Darkening is not influencing its efficacy. Use always packaging that does not allow light to penetrate, othewise use Benzophenone-4 or covasorb ds as Silver is sensitive to UVA radiation
4. EDTA, Cocamidopropyl Hydroxysultaine, SLES, SLS, Sodium Lauroyl Sulfosuccinate or/and sarcosinates cause Ag to form complexes and finaly to sedimentate in the bottom. This deactivates the antibacterial effect of the product.
5. It is compatible with cocamidapropyl betaine at 0.3% or less, PEGs as solubilizers and fragrances/essential oils. 
6. Better used in very simple systems as AgCi is prone to pH changes or long term oxidations/reactions. Vitamin E 0,1%+ Peg40 hydrogenated castor oil at 0.5% increases slightly its self life. Difficult to be used in creams as it darkens the final product even with the use of UVA filter.

[manstra]

My personal opinion is that it is contact dermatitis if after a few minutes or hours you see the rushes on the skin. I would avoid using products with thiazolines on pets generally. These preservatives are more suited in houseclean products due to their sensitizing+accumulating effect. @jonhb DMDM hydantoin is generally unsafe if used over 0.6% and can also cause serious skin irritation. For DMDM hydantoin I always trust Lonza’s Glydant 2000 where I never had issues because the free Formaldehyde is lower even in the final products and in most cases is sufficient at 0,4% active (0,8% as Glydant)

[manstra]

A good perfume fixative is glycerin + labdanum or vanilla

[manstra]

Generally in my experience PEG-40 will solubilize but consider a ratio of PeG-40 to Fragrance (eu de cologne is around 4-7%) 3 to 1 w/w

[manstra]

Thank you @johnb. Any idea if this ingredient needs alkaline pH to give the desired results? Is it incorporated in a lotion?

[manstra]

Dear @Perry thank you for the feedback. My system contains 82%-14%-3,9% and 0,1% vitamin E Acetate. The spray is wonderful for lubricity and shine but takes a lot of time to settle on the hair and does not influence the manageability nor the straightening on the hair  

[manstra]

I have a ready system of Cyclomethicone - Amodimethicone - Dimethicone that I sell but the problem is that it is too oily

[manstra]

If I increase the viscocity will this cause a buoyancy effect on the mica particles?Unfortunately the pearliser has to be mica otherwise I would have used distearates. Thank you all for your feedback and suggestions.

[manstra]

Carbopol aqua sf-2 requires vacuum during production?The production line does not have vacuum

[manstra]

@Belassi if you don’t mind using an anionic replacement I would recommend disodium laureth sulfosuccinate that works miracles and is a very strong alternative to SLES. Otherwise I would aim using sodium lauryl sarcosinates which also reduces in a higher extent the irritancy of a formula. SABO and KAO provide these two surfactants respectively. 

[manstra]

About glycerine: I have been informed by my suppliers that glycerin reduces the irritancy of SLES or SLS, working synergistically with cocamidopropyl betaine. It may not be a refatting agent but will give a milder final product.

[manstra]

Thank you all for the feedback. I found a very good emulsifier for silicone based systems (1-10%). Salcare cs96 1,2% emulsifier managed to pass all the stability tests in my system. It’s an cationic emulsifier/disperser that solves stability issues in cationic silicone systems.

@Chemist77 can you please give me a product name for this silicone?

Thank you all for the support and the comments.

[manstra]

I have a Silverson AX-1 for batches from 0,5kg - 50kg and even 100kg for low viscosity shampoos. I use it both as a small scale / R&D test mixer and as a small production apparatus in my lab. I bought it 3 years ago and until now I haven’t had any issues. I produce hair conditioners, shampoos and cream emulsions using solely the square hole high shear head.

The difference between R&D batches and scaled up ones is the rotor speed I use. For a shampoo system of 3500 brookfield I use for a small scale batch of 1kg 800rpm and for production of 50kg 2800rpm. 

If i had to opt for a new machinery Silverson will be again my first choice. I have to say through that there are occasions that I need the more rpm that an IKA mixer offers. Making microemulsions is easier in an IKA machine and then you can easily add it as part of a formula in a larger scale production using a Silverson high shear mixer

[manstra]

Try using a solubilizer for the fragrance with high HLB like tween 20, tween 80 or PEG 40 hydrogenated Castor oil at 0.5-1% . This might solve slight instability issues

[manstra]

Although your formula has no water doen’t mean it has no humidity around. Humidity makes fungi and moulds thrive even if it is only on the surface of a product. Phenoxyethanol/caprylic glycol (Verstatil PC for eg) should be in the formula.

[manstra]

Try also for thickening the DOE-120 Glucamate from lubrizol. It thickens almost any pH range in a percentage of 2-4% and is only heat dependant. The higher the temperature the thinner the emulsion. At Standard conditions (during the shelf life of a product) there is no loss of viscocity.

[manstra]

Belassi is right. 27-32% is an adequate amound of surfactant base to have  a luxurious in lather shampoo. Also you could try the combination of Disodium laureth Sulfosuccinate 10% / amidet - N 2% instead of lamesoft and Euperlan you are using for extreme foam boosting. In a formulation like yours CAPB should be around 8% in active surfactant. Yours is only 1,8%.

[manstra]

This is a cold mix process you’re right

[manstra]

Anti freeze means flexible and easy to comb hair, light is a texture aspect of the hair (how it feels when toughing it) and shine means to reflect the light, making the hair appear more vibrant.

[manstra]

Take care using dehydroacetic acid in emulsions. You need also Vitamin E (not the acetate form) to stabilize it otherwise you might end up with unwanted browning during the shelf life of the final product.

[manstra]

I think cetearyl alcohol would thicken the emulsion