[Pharma]

So, you’re basically looking for someone to provide you with a formulation you can copy-paste?

Honestly, if you want real stimulation of hair growth, drop the oils and use minoxidil. The only essential oil constituent which is, AFAIK, said to stimulate hair growth is menthol…

Besides, oils on hair don’t do anything to the hair other than ‘greasing’ them (which isn’t a bad thing with your target hair type) but because hair is dead matter, this doesn’t do anything to promote their growth. Growth takes place in the skin and oils don’t do anything there in this regard.

[Pharma]

The way I understand theory, a lower viscosity dimethicone is more mobile (faster diffusion to where it’s needed) whereas larger molecules (high viscosity) have a greater impact as antifoaming agents once at the place of action. It’s an act of balance and a factor of 3 isn’t that much of a difference if you ask me.

[Pharma]

Absorption is good but spread ain’t thaaat superb, still feels great . Anyway, yes, basically it’s that plus the fact that it’s a hydrocarbon. Like undecane and co. it’s on the very end of lipophilic/nonpolar when neglecting silicones.

[Pharma]

Edible… well, I wouldn’t call them edible but some are approved food additives. I did use Tween 80 though it all depends on the type of lecithin you’re using, I used highly purified PC derivatives. Hydrogenated lecithin might work better with Tween 60 (that’s just a speculation!).

Anyway, the reason Tweens are a good partner is mostly due to the sorbitan moiety and all Tweens have that, Tween 60 and 80 align better with the fatty acid chains of lecithin than the shorter chained Tween 20 and Tween 80 is liquid because it’s made from oleic acid and that pairs even better with non-hydrogenated lecithin.

[Pharma]

In theory, Ecosilk and the like can’t do what silicones do with regard to soaping.

They do feel nice and somewhat ‘silicony’ (not exactly like silicones IMHO) but they are polar ester oils whereas silicones reduce soaping because they are even more lipophilic than common oils such as triglycerides, waxes, and petrochemicals. For that reason, silicones are used as antifoaming agents. That’s based on the rational explanation for soaping (which is actually ‘foaming’) though there are other effects observed which are colloquially described as soaping and with these, anything might help, some ingredients better than others. Isoamyl laurate and other polar ester oils which are highly spreading and quickly absorbing don’t reducing soaping per se, but do counteract two reasons why a potentially soaping formulation is brought to ‘foam’; they reduce rubbing force needed to apply the product and they reduce the time needed for the product to absorb. Again in theory, using squalane or better yet undecane/tridecane, would be a wiser strategy…

[Pharma]

Some emulsifying waxes (mostly the older ones) contain SLS or SLES as anionic co-emulsifier. The definition ‘surfactant’ is rather arbitrary (as is the HLD system) and these are ‘just’ a class of emulsifiers.

Back in the day of my studies, it was a common trick to add, the instant nobody was looking, some drops of dishwashing detergent to a cream which didn’t want to emulsify properly… a really old trick already in use during the pharmacy study (exams) of my grandparents generation.

[Pharma]

Thyme, cinnamon, and lavender is a blend known for its fairly broad spectrum bactericidal activity . Also, saponins show some activity and are likely to boost antimicrobial activity.

[Pharma]

15% ethanol plus 20% glycerol will definitively inhibit any microbial growth. Again, <20% ethanol won’t kill anything either (adding detergents might however render it *cidal). I’d go with the alcohol and would most certainly prefer such a blend over the salt version.

[Pharma]

Microformulation said:

No. I have the PET results to empirically say that.

Good to know! Got any other results for antimicrobial extracts by ActiveMicroTechnologies?

I’m sceptical regarding their products. It is entirely possible to get an extract or a fractionated extract from plants which can be used as preservative. However, it’s not simple and the plants commonly used are not amongst the ones where you’d expect a useful activity. Doesn’t mean you couldn’t use them but the yield is so low that I doubt that such an extract could be considered eco-friendly.

I did work with different extracts of plants which were expected to show some activity. It is possible but not a simple task mostly because of selective toxicity instead of broad spectrum. BTW magnolia were amongst the more active species and, look at that, 15 years later magnolia bark extract is now commercialised as antimicrobial/multifunctional ingredient (we should have patented our findings).

[Pharma]

If you were to live in Switzerland: CLICK

Else: CLICK

[Pharma]

Buy pharma grade extracts . You may however run into troubles because your product will no longer be a (by definition) inactive cosmetics product but a ‘drug’.

[Pharma]

@Abbot Who has an ultrasonic blender? Sure, it works wonders with lecithin… and yes, tweens at about 1/10 of lecithin can greatly increase success rate. I wonder if polyglycerol esters would work as neatly, too.

[Pharma]

africanbug said:

…france has progressed somewhat and nowadays emails are answered “most of the time”, except when they don’t want to address an issue. I wish aroma-zone has a number to call, would save me a lot of frustration and I would have lots of pleasure inflicting my bad French on them too ????

LoL True that! But it’s even more fun when they expect bad French and get hit with ‘argot’ (you may have to ask your husband what that means). :p

Apart from emails and a ton of paperwork, I miss the time in France ;( and hence we spend most every long week-end I can take over there.

[Pharma]

Depends on whom you’re bribing…. :smiley:

India isn’t really known for regulations, let alone controlling these. I would guess (I don’t know) that all you need is what you need for any business which doesn’t involve anything special like sewing clothes or selling paan at a street corner.

[Pharma]

Most microbes will be able to just barely grow in 10% brine. Fortunately, the faster growing ones are usually not spoilage germs but lactobacilli… however, there are a few exceptions such as Staphylococcus aureus. This being said, you have to add at least 20% glycerol or similar to further reduce water activity (which will then be, at a rough estimate, so low that only ‘extremophiles’ will thrive). Whether or not you’re fine with the risk of accidentally acquiring such microbes is up to you (these are likely to be yeast which otherwise spoil sugary foods). Given that it’s a mouthwash, additionally lowering pH to further reduce growth as would commonly be done is not a viable option.

Also keep in mind: Low water activity will only stop most microbes from growing but they will not die. It is therefore possible that different microbes will still grow, most of all yeasts and mounds in headspace especially once the bottle is not so full anymore.

Did you try to gargle with 10% salt water? Sea water has half as much… sure, diluting it 11 times will result in isotonic salt water and that’s barely noticeable but since you noticed 20% ethanol, you’re likely not diluting. Have fun with such a hypertonic salt solution *shudder*.

Menthol at 0.25%? Doesn’t sound safe. Besides, patent claims are often similar to cosmetics claims: they are unsubstantiated and sometimes more imaginative than actually working.

Just add some decent preservative .

[Pharma]

Niacinamide goes well together with nearly everything.

What do you mean with LAA? It can be several things. Would you mind using full INCI or IUPAC names instead of abbreviations, at least the first time you mention them?

And MAP may be suitable with arbutin if you adjust pH.

[Pharma]

africanbug said:

have you tried aroma-zone in France…
…been trying for a month now…

Have now seen this address being recommended in several places though I’ve never ordered there. The typical French homepage kept me from ordering… Dunno but French homepages make my eyes bleed and my brain hum. But shipment outside EU sounds nice .

Trying by email will get you nowhere with French people. Give them a call (only in good French, obviously). Seriously, I lived in France for 7 years and did send hundreds of mails with a success rate in to below 1% range. Not that my French wouldn’t be good, I just don’t like calling people by phone… which I usually had to do to get matters solved fairly quickly (I consider 30 min calls to 2-3 different people fast compared to weeks of waiting LoL). An even faster way is to visit them though in most cases you won’t find opening hours online (vive la France).

[Pharma]

If you haven’t noticed: This is a cosmetics formulation forum .

Even if you develop a tattoo printer for eyebrows, this is unlikely the right place to find useful help.

Why don’t you just buy some printer cartridge refill bottles?

[Pharma]

Arbutin is acid stable but alkali sensitive

MAP + arbutin may require pH adjustment because MAP is somewhat alkaline

Bv3?? What’s that?

Retinol and kojic acid are both fairly unstable but are not incompatible

Retinol + arbutin idem

Retinol + b3?? What is b3?

Retinol + AAC?? What is AAC?

[Pharma]

@Graillotion Coenzyme Q10 ain’t going to work because of your antioxidants which are strong enough to convert it to colourless ubiquinol (which is the antioxidant, not coenzyme Q10 as most believe ).

@Pattsi Again, the trick is not to add curcumin as colourant but to add turmeric extract as claim ingredient to ‘mask’ the addition of a yellow dye. It’s all a marketing ploy aka cover-up in order to hide eventual progressive discolourations of the product (which may be uneven and that’s why he can’t blamed ‘natural’ ingredients).

[Pharma]

Add also benzoic acid as an antibacterial compliment to sorbic acid.

Now, citric acid won’t have a flavour but the taste of a slightly acidic product will be different to a pH neutral to slightly alkaline one.

It has to be acidic or both these preservatives won’t work. Also, a low pH increases microbial stability.

Also, it is recommended to add a chelate. Citric acid won’t likely be strong enough… maybe add phytic acid or sodium phytate (which is also alkaline = more citric acid required)?

You could also add something to lower water activity such as glycerol or ethanol at sufficient %.

[Pharma]

Maybe it’s supposed to help as co-factor by increasing wetability of certain (hydrophobic) particles?

[Pharma]

Try to add lecithin to water and wait for several hours at room temperature so it can hydrate properly. However, the data (or rather lack thereof) you provided for your liquid lecithin aren’t helping.

Regarding preservation: I’d use a blend. Depends if you want it ‘natural’, ‘alternative’, or are okay with ‘traditional’… traditional would give you most safety.

pH won’t affect taste (you’re eating your emulsion?) but it might affect emulsion stability (to better or worse remains to be seen).

[Pharma]

Forgot to mention: You could also use carrot or sea buckthorn CO2 extract or carrot oil because these are associated with orange colours or add a citrus/orange flavour to elicit a yellow/orange colour association in your customers. For different red colours (which would also nicely mask your off-tan) or rather the association therewith, you could go with hyped CO2 extracts of pomegranate, rose hip, raspberry seeds, prickly pear cactus, or mangosteen. Obviously, you’d have to add a corresponding water soluble colourants/dyes because most extracts aren’t that colouring and/or are oil soluble (except for aqueous cactus fruit and mangosteen extracts).

@Perry: Thanks for the link… that list is really meagre ;( .

[Pharma]

Anti-histamine and anti-inflammatory is not a cosmetic, it’s a drug and it’s not a substantiated claim or require unphysiologically high concentrations.

What polyphenols such as flavonoids do is some sort of ‘tanning’ (therefore, several flavonoids are considered tannins) which strengthens for example blood vessels. They are also good antioxidants. This effect is shared by similar compounds like flavanoles (e.g. epigallocatechin from green tea and pomegranate) or flavanones (e.g. hesperidin and naringenin from citrus fruit peels) which are usually colourless. Unfortunately, being colourless comes at a price; the aforementioned effects are comparatively weaker.

BTW flavonoids have been given a name derived from latin ‘flavus’ = yellow for a reason .