[Richard]

You could try 0.2-0.5% SF-75H (hydrogenated lecithin) from the same manufacturer as the Xanthan gums.

[Richard]

For this type of product I think you need to consider a high melting point wax (Rice, Sunflower, Carnauba etc) also and not rely on just the one wax. I think you will get a better and more stable product.

[Richard]

The two preservatives you mention should product against yeast/mould. But i certainly would not consider them effective for broad spectrum. Since the sodium acrylates copolymer is the “emulsifier” it has to be neutralised to around 6 or more. At this pH these will not offer much efficacy. I suggest you check the pH of the product. Also I am not sure what is being used to adjust the pH, but first check the pH and they may tell you something.

[Richard]

Remove the urea and reduce surfactant level. Urea is going to keep the pH up anyway.

[Richard]

Have a look at Rheobyk-7590 which I found quite easy to use and gave a nice, soft oil gel.

[Richard]

Can you split Batch 21 into 3 equal part batches and then add each ingredient accordingly to the required amount so that you end up with 3 batches?

[Richard]

I’ve always considered it as refatting agent rather than viscosity increasing agent with the refatting coming from the glyceryl oleate part. So if you have access to glyceryl oleate itself you may choose to use that although you may need a bit of heat.

[Richard]

I would not expect you to experience any issues with this system around the Floratech product. A Siligel based system is always going to be cloudy anyway.

[Richard]

I made up a gel last week containing Trisolve P which is the vegan form of the Trisolve. I had no issues with the product going together. The gel was based on starch and tara gum and went together without any problems although I did wonder how the Trisolve P would go into the gel, especially since it was a reasonably old sample of the Trisolve P which was quite thick and gluggy. I also added a number of water based actives and in the end it was still ok. I have no idea at this stage of stability but will monitor it over time for any adverse affects. Time will tell, but I do think the Trisolve does seem to be a fairly robust ingredient despite it’s relatively short shelf life although I am not in a position to comment on efficacy.

[Richard]

I have always found the Innospec surfactants more tricky to work with than the information would indicate and have never really found that salt works particularly well to thicken them. In theory it does appear to be possible. When working with the Iselux and Taurates I have always found that slowly reducing the pH at the end has turned out to be the best way to thicken the end product.

[Richard]

Just a thought about Germall Plus from my days of using Diazolidinyl Urea. I assume the order you have listed the ingredients in is the order of addition. This would mean water phase is likely to be heated to around at least 70C. I wonder if the Diaz. Urea could be inactivated to some degree by the elevated temperature. So I wonder if it would be better added as part of the cooling process.

[Richard]

Milk products are seen as highly nutritious when taken internally. Is it the same when applied externally? One of the problems with milk products is the high bacterial loading which has potential to flow through into the finished product. And believe me, I have learnt the hard way about the bacterial loading of food grade raw materials being added to skincare products. But that doesn’t stop brands wanting to leverage off the “good”. If you are adamant about this direction, then I would look at adding a label claim amount of milk and I recall from some years ago that I think Croda had a milk powder they sold into personal care. Either that or you could consider using a small amount of UHT milk. And then depending on what claims you are interested in I would then consider adding a microbiome Bacillus ferment product that has been developed for personal care. And of course you would need to perform the usual PET and stability.

[Richard]

I agree pretty much with the above comments. It looks pretty much like a “sorbolene” cream with a little more glycerin. I don’t see much to irritate but the absence of a preservative is a worry. And with such a small oil phase I agree the emulsifier content could probably be reduced.

[Richard]

Ah the joys of clients bringing in formulations that may or may not work. As a manufacturer it would always be prudent for you to make it up anyway before production and possibly even doing some stability on it. However, that shouldn’t give your client access to some free development work. I would consider asking for an upfront payment for you do this work with an option to rebate all or some of it once you pack the first run. That being said they should also understand that if you need to do any modifications/improvements/changes/more stability then they should be prepared to pay for this also because at the end of the day it is in both of your interests to have a good quality product in the market.

[Richard]

For a water based mascara I would be aiming for a pH higher than where DHA is going to be effective. This would limit the preservatives to those effective around pH 7 - Phenoxyethanol, Phenethyl alcohol, diols. It just depends how natural you need to be.

For anhydrous formulations I don’t think I would use DHA although you should probably figure out if you need a preservative. But just because of where the product is going to be used I would give serious consideration to something fat soluble - Glyceryl Caprylate, Caprate

[Richard]

For me it would depend on the channel.
For FMCG I would go with SLES.
For “Natural” including FMCG I would use SCS.
So I guess in order of preference I would go with (if possible) SLES, then SCS and finally SLS.

[Richard]

Have you considered one of the liquid shea butters or tamanu oil? Although the smell of tamnu may be an issue.

[Richard]

Agree. There is a high solid content for it to be softish at low temperatures.

[Richard]

Herbnerd said:

My most challenging aspect of any formulation work is a micromanaging boss (only experience is in alcoholic beverages and ice-cream) micromanaging down to the point of ‘advising’ what ingredients he wants increased/decreased.

The other big challenge I have is a marketing team changing the brief constantly. We are literally 2 weeks away from the first production run of 6 new products - all stability tests completed, micro, abrasion, fluoride stability etc - and now they want to add natural colour and other ingredients to the range - and bring in new international markets for products where we have already completed regulatory checks and formulation changes to accommodate.

I love this one. Give them MBA and suddenly they know everything. Micro managing bosses, no thanks. And the ever responsive marketing team - another of my past challenges. Do what I did and don’t work for anyone again and those problems go away but perhaps replaced by some others such as who is my next client.

[Richard]

We had been producing an exfoliating wash off product for many years without any problems and would have made hundreds of tonnes in the past. 
And then one day we started getting the odd micro issue which soon became quite frequent.
The product was preserved with MCIT/MIT.
The suspending agent was Aqua SF1.
We spent ages looking at the environment and the equipment and cleaning everything up.

No other product was affected by this contamination issue and no changes had been made to the ingredients.
As you would imagine, when a batch was observed from start to finish there were no micro issues.

The problem was solved by accident some time later, after I had left the company.

The Aqua SF 1 requires (a sodium hydroxide) neutralisation step during the process.

So instead of adding the MCIT/MIT directly to the batch (as in the instructions) some of the manufacturers were adding it into the sodium hydroxide mixture so they didn’t need to walk up the stairs to add it. The sodium hydroxide solution would then be pumped in through the bottom of the vessel.
Unfortunately the preservative was being inactivated by the dirty shortcut.

[Richard]

I agree with the above comments regarding unremarkable and there being other (cheaper) similar ingredients. Plus there is also the down side of it’s apparent inability to withstand any heat and it’s storage conditions. Although I have used it in the past also, I would nowadays prefer to use something else that is a bit more robust and there’s tons of alternative ingredients available these days.

[Richard]

It is possible to get stable products with hydrogenated lecithin but always you will need to do some preliminary stability work.

[Richard]

Try contacting AS Harrison in Auckland as they are the agents for Inolex who have a number of similar conditioning agents.

[Richard]

100% agree with this comment. You don’t want to find a way to only just pass the test under controlled conditions. You want an effective preservative system that stops any growth from occurring.

[Richard]

Hi Benyamin, while I don’t have any specific hair straightening products that I have done, if oyu can email me and provide some more information perhaps I can assist you.