So now we know how to combine (and why to combine) the different surfactants… but how to calculate the Active Surfactant Matter we want in our product? (which also mean: how much surfactant we have to add to our product to have the surfactant concentration we want to obtain?).
As I already explained the Surfactant Matter of a liquid surfactant which we buy is not 100%: the surfactant is made of the Surfactant Matter and Water (and probably other ingredients like glycerin, for example); therefore every surfactant we buy has a “Active Surfactant Matter” percentage which is what we have to consider.
As I wrote in the previous posts about formulation of detergents (shampoo, bubble bath, shower gel, face wash), the amount of the TOTAL Active Matter of surfactants has to vary according to the purpose of our detergent.
Generally this is the scheme:
– face wash: <10%
– detergent for intimate use: <10%
– shampoo: 10%-15%
– shower gel: 15%-20%
– bubble bath: 20%-25% (in case you really use it only to make bubbles in the bath tub and you never use it directly on your skin, you could even reach 35%… but I don’t suggest it).
Now let’s learn how to formulate the detergent.
Let’s say we want to make a shower gel, with an Active Matter (once again, the effective concentration of surfactants) around 18%.
We have also already decided which surfactants we want to use:
– Sodium Lauroyl Sarcosinate (Concentration 29%)
– Cocamidopropyl Betaine (Concentration 36%)
– Lauryl Glucoside (Concentration 52%)
There are two different approaches in the formulation to obtain 18% Active Surfactant Matter:
Approach n.1:
We can choose which share/quota of the total ASM (active surfactant matter) we want to give to each surfactant.
For example this is my choice:
Sodium Lauroyl Sarcosinate 10
Cocamidopropyl Betaine 5
Lauryl Glucoside 3
Total ASM = 18 (as decided)
Now we need to calculate the effective grams of each surfactant that we need to add to our shower gel formula:
We divide the quota of each surfactant by the ASM of the surfactant (in decimals: the ASM of each surfactant is a percentage so if it is 29% we divide per 0.29 OR we divide per 29 and multiply the result for 100… up to you).
Anyway it is easier done than said:
Sodium Lauroyl Sarcosinate (29%) = 10/29*100 = 34,44 (you can add 34.50 gr)
Cocamidopropyl Betaine (36%) = 5/36*100 = 13.88 (you can add 13.50 gr or 14 gr)
Lauryl Glucoside (52%) = 3/52*100 = 5.76 (you can add 5.5 gr)
Approach n.2:
You can also reason the other way around: you try to guess approximately how much grams of surfactants you want to add to the detergent and then calculate the effective total ASM; if the result is not close to 18% total, you change the grams and calculate again until you are satisfied.
For example this is my initial choice:
Sodium Lauroyl Sarcosinate 40 gr
Cocamidopropyl Betaine 15 gr
Lauryl Glucoside 5 gr
Now I calculate the total ASM of the detergent:
Sodium Lauroyl Sarcosinate (29%) = 40*0.29 = 11.6
Cocamidopropyl Betaine (36%) = 15*0.36 = 5.4
Lauryl Glucoside (52%) = 5*0.52 = 2.6
Total ASM = 11.6+5.4+2.6 = 19.6
I can either decide that 19.6 is fine for me or I can decide to lower a little bit the grams or one or all of them and recalculate the Total ASM.
I decide to calculate again changing the value of grams:
SLS (29%) = 35*0.29 = 10.15
Betaine (36%) = 14.5*0.36 = 5.22
Lauryl Glucoside (52%) = 4*0.52 = 2.08
Total ASM = 10.15+5.22+2.08 = 17.45
Now I decide it is fine and I can proceed in the formulation of the Shower Gel! 🙂
Here I post a list of the most common surfactants you can purchase online, with their average Concentration (ASM) and for the most common I will add also few words on how to use them:
(Notice that the value may vary of few points % so the best thing would always be to ask the supplier which is the precise percentage for the exact batch of surfactant you are purchasing: suppliers always have this information, so you are not asking for something impossible; however you can also use these data 😉 ).
IMPORTANT: surfactants may have different commercial names from the substance they are, therefore always check the ingredients list when you purchase 😉
Sodium Lauroyl Sarcosinate – anionic (29%)
One of the most commonly used eco-friendly surfactants. Improves the foam of other surfactants (specially betaines) making it more smooth and soft. It becomes viscous at pH 5, but only if used in high percentage in the detergent (so remember to acidify your detergent with drops of lactic acid or citric acid). It becomes liquid if in contact with oils (perfume oils included) so synthetic thickening agents or xanthan gum have to be used (you have to consider this in the formulation because the xanthan gum goes in the water phase). Not good in shampoos.
SLES – Sodium Laureth Sulfate – anionic (27%)
It becomes very dense once combined with betaine and salt (betaine can be enough). It is very good in shampoos because it has high wetting properties.
It is not eco-friendly.
SLSA – Sodium Lauroyl Sulfoacetate – anionic
It is not aggressive (this term of course is relative) and it is a powder. It is good if used in the making of Bubble Bars (recipe soon ok 😉 ?)
Sodium Lauryl Glutamate – anionic (36%-40%)
Very delicate and used in products for kids. Unfortunately it tends to melt down the viscosity of many other surfactants (therefore formulate accordingly).
Sodium Comopolyglucoside Tartrate/Citrate – anionic (30%)
Delicate and eco-friendly. Used in products for kids and for people who have very sensitive skin. Very low viscosity.
Cocamidopropyl Betaine – amphoteric (30%-38%)
Alone it is not delicate but it makes other surfactants more delicate (specially anionic surfactants) in a ratio of 1:3 or 1:4 with the primary surfactant of the recipe. It is eco-friendly. Combined with SLES it is a viscosity builder.
Disodium Cocoamphodiacetate – amphoteric (36%-40%)
Delicate. It is used in shampoo because it has conditioning properties to the hair (however for thin hair it might be too much). It doesn’t burn the eyes (therefore it would be good in a shampoo for kids or in a face wash). Usually it is used around 5%.
Lauryl Glucoside – non-ionic (50%-53%)
It is a thick, white paste so it needs to be heated a bit to be combined with other surfactants; the good news is that it helps the viscosity of the final product. It is quite delicate and it reduces the harshness of the primary surfactants. Usually added in low percentage.
Decyl Glucoside – non-ionic (63%-63%)
Good foam booster. Unfortunately it tends to liquefy the other surfactants. Usually added in low percentage.
Coco Glucoside & Glyceryl Oleate – non-ionic (50%-55%)
This is a combination of the surfactant Coco Glucoside with Glyceryl Oleate (Glyceryl Oleate is the ester of glycerin and oleic acid. It is produced from oils that contain high concentrations of oleic acid, such as olive oil, peanut oil, teaseed oil or pecan oil. Source Here), which limits already the harshness of the first. It is added in low percentages (3%-4%)
Lauryl Glucoside and Cocamidopropyl Betaine (43%)
This is made of already two combined surfactants
Coco Betaine (29%-33%)
Coco Glucoside (51%-53%)
Disodium Laureth Sulfoccinate – anionic (35%)
Hope this was clear enough 🙂
Next time I will show a full recipe of a detergent (I still have to choose between a shampoo and a face wash but anyway sooner or later I will post both).
If you want more posts about how to formulate Shampoos check HERE
Let me know if you have any questions 😉
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
It's all in my hands 
Thanks for the information. Please what can we combine with coco glucoside? I mean eco friendly surfactants. Or can you help me with any 3 eco friendly surfactants that can be used together.
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Hi Jessica, you can combine it with any other eco friendly surfactants 🙂 then follow the guidelines on how to formulate with the surfactants you chose.
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I used castile soap, sodium lauryl ether sulphate and cocamidopropyl betaine with Sodium coccyx isethionate and coco glucose and it foams but not quite enough. Am I missing something? Does water need to be added. You really know your stuff can you give me the perfect percentage for the above ingredients to make the best foaming body wash?
Thank you for your time.
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Hi,
I don’t like using castile soap with surfactants.
I believe SLES and CAPB already create a lot of foam, but there are better foam enhancers surfactants out there that need to be added just at 2-3% to increase the bubbles and make them stay.
Try adding Sodium Methyl Acyl Taurate.
Ps. What do you mean by asking “does water need to be added?”
Indeed it does, you need to understand the basics of formulation and do the calculations to know how much water to add.
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I want to make a face wash that has been discontinued for a long time. I have been trying to figure out the percentages. Any help or articles would be great. I have very sensitive skin and this made my face the happiest! Ingredients are: water, sodium Lauren sulfate, sodium chloride, cocamidopropyl betaine, polysorbate 20, glycerin, coconut oil, tea tree oil, dmdm hydantoin
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I used to do this as a job. Of course, without having tried this face wash I cannot really help with suggestions on the percentages.
Anyway coconut oil, tea tree oil are probably very low (I’d say lower than 1% together)
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I want to make a face wash that has been discontinued for a long time. I have been trying to figure out the percentages. Any help or articles would be great. I have very sensitive skin and this made my face the happiest! Ingredients are: water, sodium laureth sulfate, sodium chloride, cocamidopropyl betaine, polysorbate 20, glycerin, coconut oil, tea tree oil, dmdm hydantoin
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HI I’m trying to make a shampoo ‘as natural’ as possible. I’ve used Sodium Cocoyl Glutamate 8%, Decyl glucoside 7% and Lamesoft 5% with 4% oils. It’s not very foamy and it does not last. Is it possible to make a good cleansing, foaming shampoo with this combination. The shampoo is for really dry hair so didn’t want to remove the oils completely. Thanks
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For dry hair I would use maximum 1% oil. Dry hair tend to be dry on the length and oily near the scalp so you want to be able to wash the scalp properly without drying it. So add hydrating compounds instead (like glycerine, for example).
Adding oils will just make the hair dirty, the shampoo not foamy and the scalp oily.
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Hi,
Thanks for your articles. They are very helpful. Can you tell me if polysorbate 20 and disodium lauroamphodiacetate are both usually diluted when purchased? I can’t see the % active surfactant matter on the container or on the website I purchased them from. Also, I read here and on another website that face washes normally have less than 10% of active surfactant in their formulas. Yet, when I look at a number of free face wash formulations online, they seem to contain quite a bit higher % of surfactants. Just wondering why that would be?
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Yes if they are liquid they are diluted.
Having less than 10% of active matter is very different from having less than 10% of surfactants (exactly because of the dilution).
Also, please notice 10% is a guideline, not something that is strictly followed. I have even made face washes with 15% active matter 🙂
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Hi,
When you look at a pre made cosmetic formula and they list a % required for a surfactant in the formula and they don’t explicitly state the ASM for that version of the ingredient they used, are we to assume the % required that is listed in the formula is for if the surfactant was at ASM 100% and not diluted OR are we to assume the % listed as required for the formula is based on the typical average ASM concentration for that surfactant?? I tried to word my question as clearly as I could😊. Hopefully it makes sense. Thank you.
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Usually they include a specific brand for the surfactant (and so the formula is meant for that kind of surf which has a specific ASM%) or they are written for general surf (for example CAPB is usually 30-35%)
It isn’t that common to use 100% ASM surfs in a formula (though not impossible) but you will be able to see when it is the case by checking the procedure of the formula.
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Hi, I find your blog extremely helpful and super clear, so THANK YOU so much for it!.
I have a question regarding something you wrote above: why would sodium lauroyl sarcosinate not be so good in shampoos?
Thank you
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Well thank you for your kind words.
SLSarcosinate is not very good on hair as it doesn’t have the same wetting abilities of SLES for example. Is is ok if hairs are short, but with long hair it doesn’t give a satisfactory sensation in my opinion. They feel like they get tangled a lot, even if you add some conditioning agent.
That’s it 🙂
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I don’t think sodium lauroyl sarcosinate is BAD per se, but:
1. It’s expensive!
2. It’s not so efficient as the primary surfactant in a shampoo, for reasons like our host stated.
Sodium lauroyl sarcosinate, when wet, doesn’t FEEL LIKE it’s penetrating thru the hair. It doesn’t have much of a soapy-slippery feel to the lather. Whether it’s ACTUALLY weak at wetting I’m not sure, but it’s hard to tell, so you may wind up using an excess of it, especially with a thick head of even somewhat oily hair. I used a solution of it alone once to wash my hair, and it came out squeaky clean while giving the impression I’d used too much because I couldn’t feel it working. It was like I’d laundered my head in low suds detergent!
For those who like fluffy lather, sodium lauroyl sarcosinate is far from spectacular, although FUNCTIONALLY that’s neither here nor there. Still, it doesn’t get much use in shampoos, although it may be used in a lot of mild skin cleaning products as one of the surfactants in a mixture. It seems to work better in applications where it’ll be used at high dilution, such as toothpaste.
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Hi! Thanks for sharing all of this information!!
I have been learning and searching about all the ingredients, and I saw that Cocamidopropyl Betaine is sometimes allergenic to some people and the SCS is also irritating to some who have sensitive skin.. (The SLSa is not available in my country to buy).
So, it is so bad idea to use only SCI, coco glucoside as surfactants? Because I know that is necessary to mix two or more different surfactants as SCI and SCS/SLSA.. Or it is worst to use only SCI or to use both with this risk?
Any indications of posts/eBooks would be nice!
Thanks in advance!!
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Hi Adriana, I think that with SCI an even better mix would be an amphoteric surfactant (same family of CAPB but you can choose another 🙂 )
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Thank you for the reply!
Do you have some information about the maximum irritative potential of SCS? If I dont use SLSa, will be 40% SCI and 20% SCS but I dont know if 20% is irritative..
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It doesn’t work in these kind of percentages:
1) because a lot depends on the blend you create which can make things worse or better
2) because people have different scalps so what might irritate a sensitive scalp might not irritate a normal one.
3) what active matter % are you talking about exactly?
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hmmm.. I understand… It would be 53% of AM..
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So what are you trying to formulate?
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solid shampoo bar..
I have been trying some formulas..
Also 49% SCI and 25% SCS (ASM around 65) (if CB is not irritative depending on the quantity, I could try 4% – ASM also around 66).. There is something to be concerned with?
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Solid bars aren’t the easiest to formulate and they do tend to be quite aggressive simply because the ASM is so high (so if massaged directly on the head they can be absolutely much more irritative than a normal shampoo). If you are concerned with irritation, I wouldn’t formulate a shampoo bar.
Anyway I am all for “trying” and “experimenting” so you could try making one and simply seeing if it is ok for you.
CAPB can irritate, but so can SCI and SCS.
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Ok, I understand.. Thank you so much for the considerations!
It always nice to hear from who have experience.
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I’m trying to replace SLSA with Sodium Laurylglucosides Hydroxypropylsulfonate in a bath bomb recipe. The SLH has an ASM of @ 70%.
Is the suggested total ASM for bath bombs the same as you have noted for bubble bath, @ 20-25%?
Assuming so, is this right?:
25%/70% x 100 = 35.71grams of SLH?
My current bath bomb recipe calls for 12g SLSA, @ .62% of the total formula.
So how do I then figure out how many grams of the new Replacer SLH to use in my recipe?
I’m close! Please help! 😋
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I would keep with your 12 grams calculation and make a trial batch. If you want more bubbles you can increase the % BUT the point of a bath bomb is not necessarily to behave as a bubble bath so you’ll see and decide if you want more foam after the trial batch 😉
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Hi there,
Thank you for such an informative blog. I really enjoying reading them all.
I have a question to ask if you don’t mind. I have been trying to add some thickener/conditioner like Polyquat-10 in my shampoo formula and I’ve done more than 30 experiments but every time the gum sink to the bottom after a week or so. I’ve tried mixing it with glycerin then add to water, on the low heat and then added my surfactants. I tried stick blending it for 20 minutes then added it to my surfactant over low heat. I got finally disappointed, 🙂 Do you have please any suggestion for me please , thanks
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At what concentration are you adding the polyquat-10? It did the same for me but made also the shampoo too thick. When I lowered the concentration it didn’t behave the same way.
And when you say it sinks to the bottom: you mean the shampoo is thicker in the bottom or do you mean the gum itself sinks and is visible as separated and in the bottom?
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Hi,
Thank you for the quick response.
I’ve done 0.5 and then 0.2g but result was the same just the gum is less at the bottom and it is completely visible. I even tried with guar Conditioner and still the same result. The problem is. I can’t use peg-120 and peg-150 thickeners or polyquat-7 because they are not completely natural. I need a polymer in there to give a bit glide and stability. I am really stuck here. I like to get some suggestions on this please. I’ve done more than 30-40 batches with no luck.
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Change surfactants and work on those who thicken without an external gum. Polyquat 7 doesn’t even thicken, it actually tends to make shampoos more thin (but it has great conditioning properties).
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Hi,
Thank you for the quick response.
I’ve done 0.5 and then 0.2g but result was the same just the gum is less at the bottom and it is completely visible. I even tried with guar Conditioner and still the same result. The problem is. I can’t use peg-120 and peg-150 thickeners or polyquat-7 because they are not completely natural. I need a polymer in there to give a bit glide and stability. I am really stuck here. I like to get some suggestions on this please. I’ve done more than 30-40 batches with no luck.
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Hi,
My surfactants are,
– Sodium Lauroamphoacetate
– Sodium cocoyl isethionate
– Cocamidopropyl betaine
– Caprylyl/Capryl Glucoside
It is gentle and cleans well and the total active is 12, it has a generous high foam but it lacks of some glide. I added 1g salt to make it a bit thicker but it makes the formula cloudy. I have been working on it last 1.5 years. I’ve quite a few different surfactants and finally had to go with these 4 because I live in Australia and some of those popular surfactants that self thicken are not available here.
Thanks for listening to me, 😊
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Yes the missing glide is the surfactant mix, I would try the polyquat 10 at 0.1 then!
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Is it possible to use only one non ionic surfactant like lauryl or decyl or coco glucoside in shampoo, bath gel or facial wash formulation without risking skin sensitivity & dryness??
And maintain it’s mildness..
Coz we want to develop really an extreme mild & safe cleansers without irritability, drynesss to the skin including for the sensitive skin ones…
With non- ionic surfactants, we hv to play around with thickeners only to get optimum viscosity.. ??
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You can formulate pretty freely with surfactants… However you might not get the “extremely mild” result you are hoping for. It all comes down to trial and error: make a small batch of what you are thinking and see if it satisfies you. Tweak the formula until you are really happy about your product. 😉
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I am making bubble bath powder.
I tried to calculate a total ASM of 30% using CAPB and SLES.
I ended up with this calculation:
SLES 20/27*100 = 74.07
CAPB 10/32*100 = 31.25
this would mean a total of 105.32g. As I understood, it should be under 100g and after adding other ingredients it should be a total of 100g?
I am currently using:
SLES 6.6g
CAPB 5.3g
and mix it with 750g of other ingredients (Cornstarch, Citric Acid, Sodium Bicarbonate) which already gives a good foam in the tub.
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To make a bubble bath powder you would be better at using powder surfactants. Also, cornstarch won’t make your “powder” last as it is very “tasty” for microbes: I mean that liquid surfactants + cornstarch is not a good combination.
Finally: 30% ASM is just indicative. If you are happy with the results from using a lower amount of ASM, there is no reason to rise that percentage 🙂
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“I mean that liquid surfactants + cornstarch is not a good combination.”
Does that also apply to cornstarch in combination with essential oil, food coloring, and fragrances?
And for powder surfactants, what would you suggest?
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There are modified cornstarches which are less “edible” to microbes. Cornstarch is generally not a good ingredient to use in cosmetics unless the product is for home use, it is used up quickly and it doesn’t contain any water nor is stored in a way that it can come into contact with humidity.
SCI for example 🙂 but there are many!
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The problem with a particularly “foody” ingredient like unmodified starch is that the preservation system needs to work very hard in the presence of WATER. Oils, though liquid, aren’t watery. But it would be best to avoid mixing with ingredients that are delivered as water solutions, unless they’re in small enough amount that the water in them could be so completely adsorbed as to leave the mixture dry.
There are foaming surfactants that are practically impossible to deliver except in solution with some water (often water + ethanol), and that’s the case with the ether sulfate in your formula, as well as the cocamidopropyl betaine. Henkel did have an experimental spray-dried CAPB that I sampled to make a tablet bath foam, but it’s gummy and as far as I know never went into production. Unethoxylated alkyl sodium sulfates, such as the common sodium lauryl sulfate, are easily produced as powders, and have long use in bubble baths and other toiletries, but are not as mild to skin and eyes as the ethoxylated versions. You might be able to find powdered versions of some higher-alkyl ether sulfates, and you can expect them to be even milder but not as foamy. Calgon bubble bath powder for many years featured sodium myreth sulfate.
Sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate has long but somewhat troubled use in bubble bath powders: excellent foam but even more irritating than lauryl sulfate, so following 1970 their use in such products declined greatly. Sodium alpha olefin sulfonates, also very foamy, .are available as powders — at least the C14-16 class is, C12 I don’t know — and are certainly milder than alkylbenzene sulfonates, but how mild they come out depends on the irritancy model you use, with some results making them out to be among the most irritating and others making them out to be among the mildest.
The acyl isethionates such as the SCI suggested also come as powders in sodium salts and are middling in irritancy. Even milder sodium sulfonates available as powders are taurates, sulfosuccinates, and sulfoacetates. All of these to some extent are better at making fine lather than big bubbles, especially the sulfosuccinates and sulfoacetates, which work much better with some other surfactant to boost their foam. (For years Dove/Caress used mostly cocoyl isethionate and dodecylbenzene sulfonate, and now lauroyl isethionate and CAPB.) Taurates have been used to stabilize the foam of other anionics. The extreme example of anionic surfactants with similar properties are the sarcosinates, which are pretty expensive and tend to be used only in small proportion in such products, because they’re very mild but not too useful for producing high, fluffy foam as opposed to dense lather when they’re the main surfactant, but can take on a high degree of fluffy-foaminess as a small additive with other surfactants. I could also mention glutamate and lactylate powder surfactants as having similar properties that can make them somewhat useful but not good at producing high fluff as main ingredients.
The trick is getting foam stabilizers in a powder product. Cellulosic and starch-based foam stabilizers are available that keep dry very well, but their power as foam stabilizers is limited. The alkamidopropyl betaines, as stated above, can be used only in small amounts because of their hygroscopicity. Amine oxides don’t powder, and I don’t even know of their use even adsorbed onto any powder. Traditionally alkanolamide foam stabilizers such as lauramide DEA were the most commonly used with anionics in powders, but are relatively irritating and other concerns in recent years have caused the traditional ones to lose favor.
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can any one tell ingredients and composition for liquid laundry detergent.
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Hello, this blog is about cosmetics, laundry detergents do contain surfactants but they also contain enzimes which are able to eat/destroy dirt. I have never formuled a laundry detergent so I cannot be more helpful than this unfortunately. Maybe someone is more knowledgeable and can help you with this!
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I can’t be MUCH help, but I can say that sometimes such product formulations are surprisingly close to that of personal care products. A Safety Data Sheet for All Free and Clear (from Sun products), a liquid detergent made to be hypoallergenic, revealed it to be much like a very plain hair shampoo (laureth sulfate and cocamidopropyl betaine) , plus coconut soap, plus the ingredient you would NOT find in such a thing: an alcohol ethoxylate. This is an enzyme-less formula because of its hypoallergenicity.
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I am thinking of using Cocamidopropyl betaine as the primary surfactant and SLS/SLES as the secondary surfactant. Would this work? I want to make a gentle shampoo/ multipurpose wash and do not particularly care about foam stability or lather. Any suggestions?
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I’m certain that would work, because in the 1980s Rite Aid “Family” Shampoo was so formulated. Its first surfactant was cocamidopropyl betaine, and second was sodium laureth sulfate. It was in a squeezable tube and meant to be a knockoff of the Prell Concentrate of that time. You may not be looking for lather, but it did produce a very thick one for a shampoo, comparable to that of soap, but with less eye sting than soap.
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Hi, thank you for sharing your knowledge with newbies. I just wanted to know what can we use instead of glucosides? It’s really hard to get glucoside where I live in.
Thank you
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You can use whatever you want, I tend to not like glucosides that much anymore – to be honest… But they used to be fashionable in the “sustainable” surfactants when I wrote the post. However, nowadays there are many more “sustainable” surfs you can choose from, if that’s your interest.
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If you were looking for something that’s chemically close to the glucosides, there are sucrose ester surfactants. These might be even harder for you to get than glucosides, but you never know unless you look.
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Sorry forgot to mention, it’s liquid detergent.
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I am having a hard time figuring out how to add fragrance into my detergent formula. Is there some kind of secret? PLEASE HELP!
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Some fragrances are harder to solubilize than others. It might help to separately mix the fragrance directly with a splubilizer and add this mix to the rest of the detergent eventually.
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Wow I’m blown away! This is the most informative and succinct article I’ve read on how to work with and formulate with the different types of Surfactants. Great Job. You’re making a difference. Thank you
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Hello
I have a question
I am not the manufacturer of the products I’m discussing here. I am the person registering these products however upon testing some of our shower gels we got really high results for their TAMs (like 82 and 84%). Do you know what this could be due to?
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Sorry what do you mean with “TAMs”?
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Can I use only lauryl glucoside or decyl glucoside as a chemcial base for shampoo and shower gel? How many % need to use in one production? Now I am using ALES 11 % – total gm of the porduction (including PH7 water). Almost all of the ingredients are natures fruits and vegetables. I used NaCL as a nature preservatives. Please answer my questions because I want to make my products as a sulfate free.
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NaCl is NOT a preservative in ANY WAY, please use real preservatives because not preserving your cosmetics is seriously DANGEROUS.
You CAN use only one surfactant but it won’t make for a good product, expecially not a good shampoo (those glucosides are not the best surfactants for the hair, I definitely wouldn’t use them as a single surfactant in a shampoo). I explain how to calculate how much surfactant you need to use.
Just for your information “sulphate free” is mostly a scaremongering term and it is also pretty dated at that, as well. I would worry more at formulating a GOOD and WELL PRESERVED shampoo, I would spend time and effort in finding the best fragrance and maybe a good label appeal active ingredient… Than basing my formulation on “sulphate free” (there are anyway SO MANY good surfactants nowadays, even sulphate free, to make a great shampoo… But I just mean to say that I wouldn’t revolve a formulation around that).
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hello, I’ve been trying to formulate a shower gel using Lauryl G and Coco G but when I mix the two together my solution turns liquid. Even when I added them separately everything turned liquid. I’m really not a fan of using gums so I was trying to use Lauryl G to create the gel consistency. Do you have any recommendation or advice on how I should go about this?
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Can you change the surfactants? I am not sure why they would behave like that cause I don’t remember them becoming liquid when mixed, however, if you have tried many times and you get the same results the best option is to change surfactants. You could change one or both. Sodium methyl cocoyl taurate works great at thickening other surfactants mixtures (it is a surfactant with some salt, so it needs those surfactants that thicken with salts, like SLES+CAPB, but there are many different options to SLES nowadays).
Hope this helps
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