OldPerry
Forum Replies Created
-
Yes, 10 - 15% active should be plenty. But it depends on the surfactant you use too.
-
Bimatoprost is a drug active and would be illegal in a cosmetic. The pharmaceutical company Allergan I think has a patent on it and use it in their product Latisse.
Knock-offs would be illegal drugs (if they worked).
-
Ask the supplier if you can get a sample.
-
You have to ask yourself why you are adding the ingredients. Whether you put in 1% or 0.01%, it will have no noticeable difference on performance. These ingredients do nothing in a shampoo.
They are added just so you can put them on your label and tell consumers that they are in your formula. They are claims ingredients only. So, you can put in 1% or you can put in 0.01%. It will be more profitable to use 0.01% and will have exactly no impact on product performance.
-
@Cafe33 - They get away with it until they don’t. The FDA or FTC who are responsible for policing this sort of thing only has so many resources. They usually will ignore a small company at least for a little while. It would be surprising to see a significant brand making illegal claims and being sold in Sephora. But selling online or in small stores, they can get away with that for a while.
You really have to look at the way the claims are written. However, a lot of companies are just small brands that start up, make a batch, and sell until the FDA finds them. Once noticed, they shut down business, then start up another one.
The US system is set up to encourage entrepreneurship. Unfortunately, that also means it’s set up to encourage people who would take advantage (knowingly or not) of a seemingly lax system.
-
Step 1 - Don’t use TBS, tsp, or “drops” for your measurements.
Convert all your measurements to Grams (you have to weigh the ingredients). Then list your formula in the form of percentages.
Cosmetic formulating is not cooking. You need a more exact measurement of your ingredients. TBS, tsp and drops will not do.
Without have a consistent formula, you can’t methodically improve on what you have.
-
I’d guess it may be some kind of viscosity difference or related to the bubble stability of the particular system you are working with. I don’t really think there is some simple answer.
Slowing mixing may increase production time but if it reduces the amount of time it takes for the bubbles to go away, it would save time in the long run. You also might consider heating the batch up while making it. Warmer systems will deaerate faster than cooler ones.
-
Triethanolamine (TEA) or Aminomethyl propanol (AMP). Although KOH should also work.
-
Slow down your mixing.
-
None of the ingredients makes hair grow. Not even castor oil. Yes, this is just marketing. It would be illegal if it claims to make hair grow.
-
Yes, Suppliers Day is the biggest. We’re having one in Chicago called Teamworks which will have a good number of suppliers. And California has a suppliers day every other year in October.
In-Cosmetics outside the US is also a big show for raw material suppliers. They tried to have one in New York in October but that just hasn’t caught on.
-
“Optiphen on steroids” - that’s one way to put it.
If you want to boost optiphen and are most concerned with producing a safe product, include DMDM Hydantoin and Methylparaben. Also reduce the levels of natural ingredients which are unlikely to be having any positive effect on the product performance anyway.
If product safety considerations are less important to you than your marketing position, then the Euxyl K 703 is a reasonable option. Although it may destabilize your emulsion. You might also consider Iodopropynyl butylcarbamate or Chlorphenesin. But if you’re selling the product, it would also be a good idea to have a good lawyer ready should the need arise.
-
For ingredient safety the legitimate, science-based sources are
https://www.cir-safety.org/ingredients
https://www.fda.gov/cosmetics
https://cosmeticsinfo.org/
https://ec.europa.eu/health/scientific_committees/consumer_safety_en
https://www.thefactsabout.co.uk/Unfortunately, these things aren’t quite as user friendly & clearly written as things you stumble on Google. They are however, more accurate.
-
I would add that you shouldn’t use more than 0.25% Cetrimonium Chloride for a leave-in conditioner.
-
What type of product are you making? Steareth-21 is not really a cleansing surfactant. It is more of an emulsifier.
-
Have you investigated the ingredients on the CIR database?
https://www.cir-safety.org/ingredientsFor the non-technical see what the FDA says about 1,4 Dioxane in cosmetic ingredients.
https://www.fda.gov/cosmetics/potential-contaminants-cosmetics/14-dioxane-cosmetics-manufacturing-byproductThe EU regulators have also looked at the subject and concluded similarly. The bottom line is that if you use these products at the recommended maximum levels that the CIR suggests, they are perfectly safe to use.
-
I think if you stick with a % actives determination it doesn’t matter. Just figure out what percentage of the raw material is water, and the “extract” part is the solids left behind. This isn’t exact since anything that is volatile that isn’t water will not be counted but you have to figure this is a minor component of any extract.
Also, aloe vera extract has no definitive chemical composition. The definition is left as something like an extract obtained from an aloe plant. That’s why it’s so hard to formulate natural products consistently. One supplier of aloe may not be equivalent to another supplier of aloe.
-
“my main argument is that if you have 10% aloe 1x listed in a certain area on your IL, then putting 0.05% aloe 200x in makes the same concentration, so it should be able to go in the same spot.”
I would agree. But I would say that 10% of 1x Aloe should be listed as both “Water” and “Aloe vera gel” To figure out the correct position you would first determine the amount of water (98%) and the amount of aloe active (2%). Then use these numbers for figuring out where it would go on the label. 2% active aloe used at 10% in the formula is 0.2% aloe which falls below the 1% line.
-
It depends on how much you add. Glyceryl oleate will probably reduce foam. Panthenol won’t have much effect. Proteins may help stabilize foam or have no effect.
But in a shampoo, these ingredients will simply rinse out of the hair and will not have any lasting effect. They will not reduce drying effect of shampoo to any significant level (in my experience).
-
The point of ingredient labeling is to let consumers know their exposure to certain ingredients. It is not supposed to be for marketing.
Aloe juice is mostly water. In my view, it should be listed as such. But when you are specifically starting with a powder and mixing in water, you shouldn’t then be able to claim that you’ve added more aloe than you really have. This problem is solved by having companies list % actives of all their ingredients.
-
Anecdotally, no I don’t find these claims credible.
Evaporating alcohol does not take oils and water with them. That’s not how evaporation works.
No, a roughened cuticle is not caused by alcohol. The vast majority of hair cuticle damage is caused by hair getting wet, swelling, then not lying flat back on the hair when the water evaporates. Alcohol in hair products used after shampooing or conditioning will have no measurable impact on hair damage.
-
@nielrobertlim - that depends on the product but for creams and lotions, maybe moisturizing (corneometer study) or a subjective panel test for feel & rub-in. It’s not really an exact science.
-
It depends on the fragrance. Some go in fine if you just add them on the cool down phase. Others require something like Polysorbate to get them to go in.
-
Listing aloe like that is not appropriate and is basically lying. But if you have no problem lying, ignore the listing rules and put the ingredients in whatever order you want.
If you want to do the right thing, list ingredients based on their % activity. If you use 0.5% aloe in your formula, diluting it with water does not turn it into a new ingredient. Similarly, diluting powdered extracts with water doesn’t turn them into higher concentration ingredients.
Don’t use the ingredient list for marketing!