Forum Replies Created

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  • Perry44

    Professional Chemist / Formulator
    January 19, 2024 at 8:09 am in reply to: Using Hydrolyzed Protein as a Hair treatment

    The term “hydration” is a marketing term with multiple meanings. What do you specifically mean when you say provide hydration? Hydrolyzed proteins can work as humectants and attract water to the surface of hair. But Glycerin can do that much more efficiently and for a lower cost. So for that effect, companies use a high level of glycerin and a tiny drop of protein so they can make the claim. Again, the protein isn’t doing much.

    A combination of a silicone and a cationic surfactant like BTMS should work best at taming frizz. You could also try a lower molecular weight ingredient like Cetrimonium Chloride.

  • Perry44

    Professional Chemist / Formulator
    January 18, 2024 at 9:36 pm in reply to: Using Hydrolyzed Protein as a Hair treatment

    There is so much marketing stories in hair care that it’s hard to keep up. Hair masks are nothing more than thickened conditioners. They don’t actually do anything different. Protein has very little impact on hair and the notion of “protein overload” is just made up too. There is no scientific evidence that it is even a thing. I’m sure there is lots of anecdotal evidence but you can’t demonstrate it in the lab.
    In your formula, you’ve got Dimethicone and Polyquaternium 7. With those two ingredients the protein will have no noticeable impact on hair.

    In truth, in the industry we add protein to hair care products because consumers believe that it does something and marketers like to talk about it. But if you try to demonstrate there is an effect, it’s just not there. At least, for rinse off products. Leave-in products can get a film formed but again, if you have dimethicone in there the protein film is irrelevant.

  • Perry44

    Professional Chemist / Formulator
    January 9, 2024 at 6:14 pm in reply to: shampoo viscosity

    Yes if you want any helpful answers you’ll need to list your ingredients

  • Perry44

    Professional Chemist / Formulator
    January 5, 2024 at 7:51 am in reply to: Vehicle Shampoo Help

    At 4% surfactant and wax you are not going to get much foam. Try getting rid of the wax and increasing the surfactant level. You might try doubling the levels you have.

  • Perry44

    Professional Chemist / Formulator
    December 30, 2023 at 10:09 am in reply to: Thank You!

    No problem! Thank you for participating. The forum was really set up for people just like you who have an interest in formulating, in chemistry, and a desire to know what is true versus looking to confirm what they already think is true.

    Thank you also for the great work you do communicating what you learn on your various social media channels. Keep up the great work!

  • Perry44

    Professional Chemist / Formulator
    December 21, 2023 at 8:49 am in reply to: COSMETICS RAW MATERIALS SUPPLIERS

    Yes, we have a list of potential suppliers. However, raw material availability depends on where you are located in the world.

  • Perry44

    Professional Chemist / Formulator
    December 21, 2023 at 8:18 am in reply to: Is filter sterilization common practice in cosmetics manufacturing?

    No. Cosmetics don’t require sterilization in manufacturing. Having said that, ingredients are tested to ensure they have low/no microbe counts & you shouldn’t use ingredients with obvious debris floating in it.

  • Perry44

    Professional Chemist / Formulator
    December 20, 2023 at 9:10 am in reply to: SLS thickens at cold temperature

    It’s turning thick and white because you’ve reached the temperature below the cloud point of your solution. When the temperature drops below the cloud point, the solubility of some surfactants or other components in the formulation decreases. This reduced solubility leads to the separation and a cloudy appearance. This used to happen to some of the VO5 Shampoo formulas I worked on.

    There are a bunch of things you can try like adding a hydrotrope (sodium xylene sulfonate), reducing surfactant level, adding some non-ionic surfactants, adjust salt levels, pH levels, etc. Every system is different so no one answer will fix it.

  • Perry44

    Professional Chemist / Formulator
    December 20, 2023 at 8:34 am in reply to: Paraben-Free Candles

    Now if they could just do something about removing the fire from candles! I hear that stuff can be really harmful.

  • Perry44

    Professional Chemist / Formulator
    December 16, 2023 at 8:25 am in reply to: To advance my ppn

    Well most important is to put in a preservation system. Next, you’ll have to test stability over time.

    Then you need to determine the claims you’re going to make & how you will prove what you say about the product is true.

  • Perry44

    Professional Chemist / Formulator
    December 14, 2023 at 10:53 am in reply to: New study commissioned by the FDA about hair loss

    So a mouse study shows a correlational effect of hair loss and using these products? No controls? No human subjects? Seems suspect.

    The problem is that it would not be hard to add some proper controls and get some good information. That would be really interesting if these products actually caused hair loss while other products (that use pretty much the same ingredients) don’t.

    The whole endeavor seems sketchy.

  • Perry44

    Professional Chemist / Formulator
    December 12, 2023 at 2:38 pm in reply to: Cerium Oxide

    No. These are the only allowed color additives for cosmetics in the US.
    https://www.fda.gov/cosmetics/cosmetic-ingredient-names/color-additives-permitted-use-cosmetics

  • Perry44

    Professional Chemist / Formulator
    December 12, 2023 at 2:22 pm in reply to: Best humectant to help with preservation

    For price and performance, Glycerin wins.

  • Perry44

    Professional Chemist / Formulator
    December 11, 2023 at 3:42 pm in reply to: Recalls

    Looks like they were mostly microbial contamination problems. Don’t really expect that from big companies like L’Oreal but it can happen to anyone I guess.

  • Perry44

    Professional Chemist / Formulator
    December 11, 2023 at 10:05 am in reply to: HELP: Panthenol (B5) turning pink

    Without a list of all the ingredients in your formula, it is difficult to give you any answer.

    My blind guess is that your product is contaminated with bacteria.

  • Perry44

    Professional Chemist / Formulator
    December 9, 2023 at 10:10 am in reply to: propylene glycol or propanediol in low pH

    No, those ingredients should work fine at lower pHs

  • Perry44

    Professional Chemist / Formulator
    December 7, 2023 at 9:20 am in reply to: Aerosol malodor in stability

    We could be of more help if you list all the ingredients in the formula. It’s probably some kind of oxidation reaction.

  • Perry44

    Professional Chemist / Formulator
    December 6, 2023 at 11:10 am in reply to: Lume/Mando

    Haven’t used it myself but it’s an alpha hydroxy acid and yes, they claim it is an antibacterial.

    I suppose based on papers like these. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33402087/

  • Perry44

    Professional Chemist / Formulator
    January 7, 2024 at 9:17 pm in reply to: Vehicle Shampoo Help

    They just accept a lower foam production formula and accept a cleanser that doesn’t work as well as it should. People mostly can’t tell much difference.
    But if a consumer wants a good waxing result, waxing should be put on after cleansing.

  • Perry44

    Professional Chemist / Formulator
    January 6, 2024 at 8:47 am in reply to: Vehicle Shampoo Help

    You should be able to thicken the system with Sodium Chloride (salt).

    As far as getting foam but also providing a wax film, that doesn’t really work. The more wax you put in a system, the less foam you are going to get. So, if you want more foam, you have to remove the wax (or significantly increase the detergent).

    You can’t really create a good cleanser and have it deliver wax or a coating to the hair. Cleanser are meant to remove things, they are not meant to leave things behind. This is why adding wax is typically done after the car has been cleaned.

  • Perry44

    Professional Chemist / Formulator
    December 12, 2023 at 2:23 pm in reply to: new formula for natural cosmetics

    See what @fareloz said

  • Perry44

    Professional Chemist / Formulator
    December 11, 2023 at 11:20 am in reply to: HELP: Panthenol (B5) turning pink

    Well, there are no obvious answers. However, I’d suggest you do a simple knock-out experiment to isolate which ingredient might be causing the problem. A knock-out experiment would simply be a series of batches each of which is missing one ingredient. You would replace the missing volume with water. So, if your batch normally calls for 1% HA, you would add 1% extra water instead. Then see which batch turns pink.

    It could be lots of things. Metal ions in your water, oxidation of ingredients, some unknown contamination in your ingredients, etc.

  • Perry44

    Professional Chemist / Formulator
    December 10, 2023 at 9:30 am in reply to: USA best selling basic body lotion and basic face cream…. ?

    Yeah, most people in the US are buying lotions from Olay, Suave, Neutrogena, etc. Online sales is a big piece but in-store sales still represent a much greater piece of sales.

  • Perry44

    Professional Chemist / Formulator
    December 10, 2023 at 7:53 am in reply to: Preservatives for Kids Mists and Sprays

    I don’t have better advice than what @PhilGeis has suggested. He is an industry expert in preservation & his advice is most reliable on the topic of anyone on this forum.

  • Perry44

    Professional Chemist / Formulator
    December 9, 2023 at 10:08 am in reply to: Aerosol malodor in stability

    If you are selling a product, you must declare the LOI on the package anyway.

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