Zoya
Forum Replies Created
-
Niacinamide, under certain conditions like changes in pH or evaporation of water, can precipitate out of solution and form crystals. This is likely why you notice the residue when the product spills or at the bottleneck of the container, where the solution might be more exposed to air and evaporation over time. It might help, if you use an airtight container and increase the level of glycols you use (to prevent evaporation). Also, check the pH if there has been any shifts (it should be between 5-7).
-
Hello,
a few tips I usually use to reduce foaming, when making emulsions with Olivem1000:
- put Olivem1000 in the water phase (as mentioned above)
- Incorporate/increase a low HLB emulsifier (~1-2%) (I usually choose glyceryl stearate, but yes, it also builds viscosity, so you have to take it under consideration)
- incorporate/ increase Cetyl Alcohol (~1-2%)
- reduce the amount of Olivem1000, maybe back it up with 0.5% Glyceryl Stearate Citrate or Cetearyl Glucoside
- play around with the oil phase or change the oil phase if neccessary - I may suggest Octyldodecanol or Cetearyl Isonanoate in small %, they can help reduce foaming without adding dimethicone (of course it depends on the formulation, every case is different).
All of the advices might change the viscosity of the product, so you have to play around.
Have a nice day 🙂
-
It’s difficult to give proper solution without knowing the formula… But here’s a few tips you can try: either adding Glyceryl Stearate or Cetyl Alcohol (0,5-2%) - keep in mind, it does change the viscosity of the product- or changing the compositon of your oil phase. I also wouldn’t use that many emulsifiers, usually 2 is enough to have a stable emulsion.
-
Hello. There are a few things I don’t really get: why having that high level of tocopherol in your formula? Niacinamide or Vitamin C? The two behave quite differently. Did you run a stability test? Especially with Vitamin C (it’s not that easy to stabilize). What is your final pH? I would strongly advice adding a good chelating agent. Can you back up the claims for the Serum with appropriate testing? The overall effect of any product on the skin depends on the harmony of all ingredients, and without having it properly tested , it’s difficult to tell.
-
Try adding some Lauryl Glucoside and lower the amount of decyl glucoside you use or keep your formula but use a good grade of xanthan gum instead of salt. Here’s What I would try: Drop the decyl, lower the glycinate to ~ 13%, add some SLSA (~0.5-2%), maybe increase the CAPB if needed, and may add a little extra Lauryl if needed (~1-5%). Recalculate the ASM and adjust the formula to the desired ASM.
-
Usually anionic surfactants foam the best -such as Proteol APL, so one possibility is to reduce the amount of anionic surfactant(s) you use. Another way is to reduce the total ASM. If you use Lauryl Glucoside, it has more stable foam then other nonionic surfactants, therefore it needs more time to wash it off - in that case, you might use less from it or change the nonionic. As Perry said, without the full ingredients, all of theese are general ideas, nothing specific can be said.
-
Hello. It seems to me that you have way too much lamesoft PO, I’m also guessing that Glyceryl Oleate from Lamesoft PO and Hempseed Oil cause the issue. Try samples without them, if those look fine, try lowering the amounts of oily ingredients in the formula. I might suggest a good grade of xanthan gum instead of siligel, in my experience, in a wash-off-product, you can’t really tell the difference between a fancy gum like siligel and a cheaper one such as xanthan.
-
Thank you! Around what percentage propylene Glycol should work better? 50-60%? Could I replace it with water or do I need something else?
-
You might need to adjust the percentages of your ingredients. If one formulation works well with one viscosity modifier, it doesn’t mean that the exact same formulation would work as well with another viscosity modifier. High input of Aristoflex, Glycerin and Xylitol can also leave a sticky feeling on the sikn, so I would start with a knock-out test, cut down on the inputs of theese ingredients, one by one and see how it works. Sometimes only a small change can have a big impact on the overall feeling. If nothing helps, you can change the ingredients or add low amount of sodium Pca, sodium lactate-Lactic acid, etc. to help reducing the tacky feeling.
-
Sepimax Zen, HMW Hyaluronic Acid, Xanthan (there exist good grades which don’t leave a sticky feeling on the skin), Solagum AX (combination of xanthan and acacia for better skin feel), Caesalpinia Spinosa Gum, to mention a few. 🙂 Sepimax Zen is synthetic, has really great texture and skin feel and can handle low pH and even small concentartion of electrolytes. The others fits well into ‘natural’ formulations, also have great skin feel, they make different textured products than Sepimax. Try them out and see how you like them! 🙂
-
Hello!
HMW HA, Xanthan Gum (try Xanthan Soft, it doesn’t feel sticky at all) and Sepimax Zen would be your best friends, all of them can handle low pH.
Have a nice day!
-
Azelaic acid is poorly soluble in water and with the formula above I’m suspecting it is the one you see crystallizing. As recommended above, make a knock out test, one formula with azelaic acid, without niacinamide, and the other with niacinamide, without azelaic acid. Then, you will be able to tell which one causes the problem. With azelaic acid you probably have to use potent solvents to dissolve it in the water phase or incorporate it in a higher oil-phase containing, more robust emulsion.
-
Hello.
As Phil mentioned, check your country’s regulation and take your other ingredients under consideration, as they may reduce the efficacy of your product . Otherwise, this may be useful: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7132458/
but there are plenty more articles on this topic.
Higher concentrations usually sting when applied to a wound, but you probably need higher content of ethanol for proper efficacy, if this is the only desinfectant in your formula.
-
Hello.
I’m not completely sure about it, but maybe you are thinking of positive displacement pipettes. ?
-
It looks fine to me. Yes, polymerics can be on the pricier side and yes, decreasing them in the emulsion may reduce the stability of the emulsion, but you have to test it, it’s difficult to answer without testing it properly. Sepimax zen has a fresh sensation on the skin, while sepinov emt is ‘more greasy’ in high concentration, in my experience. Reducing them also affects product viscosity, so you should also take this under consideration. Have you also tested it for SPF?
-
Hello. I would use Glyceryl Stearate Citrate or Cetearyl Glucoside in small % ~ 0.25% to help emulsification. I hardly believe that xanthan can hold 1% oil phase on its own in the long term. Maybe if you increase pentylene glycol….a much….. it might help.
About the pilling effect… You have a small amount of an oil phase paired with high amount of gum, it is difficult to disperse it without a sufficient amount of lubricating substance. Increase the glycols up to 10% or more if necessary.
-
in my experiences, for building viscosity of a Salicylic Acid system, the best option is xanthan gum. Most of the polymers and many of the gums don’t stand that low pH for a long time period. Also, if you increase the pH of your system, they wouldn’t stand the electrolytes. I’d skip the acrylate and use xanthan gum alone. I’d also change the isethionate to another surfactant that can stand low pH, as it’s usually not stable under pH 5.5, as mentioned above. Try something like sodium cocoyl glutamate, if you don’t mind that it can’t build viscosity with CAPB and salt, but can stand this low pH and can be paired with xanthan gum. You can also use Sodium Lauroyl Sarcosinate at this low pH or Glucosides combined with amphoterics.
-
Thank you very much, Phil! I’ll just skip it then and do the tests without.
-
Hello Phil. Thanks for the quick answer. 🙂 The solvent is Propylene Glycol which contains ~2% water. Nothing else is added (except the preservative that I would like to incorporate at 1%).
-
Hello Mark! Could you please tell me what’s the reason of the incompatibility between HMWHA (~1000-1500 kDa) and Xanthan Gum and how should it look like? I’m curious, because I have used both of them in different tests and they seem to be fine together, but maybe it needs some more time to show and more testing. I’ve also used this combination (HMWH/xanthan gum) in a low pH formulation, and that was the only time I saw that something wasn’t right, beacuse most part of the serum became thick, jelly-like after a few months, and there was also a little part of liquidy something at the bottom of the container. The pH stayed constant though through the whole testing. I’m suspecting the HA and starting the knock-out tests now. Any explanation or idea would be appreciated. 🙂 Thanks!
-
Thank you, Matt! I definetly try your suggestions. I think maybe decyl glucoside was the reason I needed more Sodium Stearate (because it can make the formula thinner). I’ll play around with the PG/water ratio and leave out the glucoside.
-
Thanks for the tip graillotion, I check it out! 🙂
-
Thank you so much, ozgirl. 🙂 I actually ordered from them a few times, but the shipping cost is a bit high to me, that’s why I’m searching for possible alternatives (all I could find in EU yet is 10 kg MOQ which is too much for me)
-
Thank you Chemicalmatt. 🙂
-
Thank you, fareloz 🙂