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Hello there! 🙂
I am back with a new, simple recipe for a shampoo without SLES (sodium laureth sulfate).
Just to make it clear: I am NOT against SLES in general (HERE you find a recipe of a SLES shampoo I posted a while ago). I still believe that the best shampoos include SLES (these shampoos have the best wetting ability, the best spreading ability, they feel great, they wash great: overall they give a satisfactory experience)… However this ingredient is not suitable for everyone, here the reasons why:
1) sometimes, specially if used constantly, it can irritate the scalp and it can make it itchy. Obviously if this happens, it is a good idea to stop using shampoos which contain SLES, at least for some time.
2) for people with thin hair it is not a great idea to use a shampoo with a strong Anionic Surfactant (like SLES) in the first position of the ingredients list. It has been shown through studies that Anionic Surfactants actually weaken the hair and the skin of the scalp (because this is, to make it very simple, the way they “clean”).
However please don’t read it like “omg I will stop using SLES all my entire life”: if it can make you feel any worse ANYTIME you wash your hair (even if you were washing them just with water) you are actually damaging them 😉 so chill: you have been “damaging” your hair all your life, and they are probably still there! 😀 (and PS I suggest you to keep damaging your hair by washing them 😉 ).
3) it is not an eco-friendly ingredient, therefore people who want to use ONLY eco-friendly ingredients should avoid SLES (as many other ingredients as well).
[Just to make it clear: there are no real studies about the hazardousness of SLES for health. This is why I didn’t include these rumors in the reason why one should avoid the ingredient. 😉 Not everything you find on the internet is true: most of the bad rumors about SLES were invented in order to scare people and make them buy (unreasonably) expensive shampoos that wouldn’t contain it].
This said 🙂 now a few words about this recipe!
I have made a Glucosides-based shampoo.
I admit that the first time I used it, it was not a great experience: I have very long hair and the detangling effect of this shampoo compared to my favorite SLES shampoo was just… not enough! However: my scalp stopped itching from the very first use, and this was a great feeling! 🙂 I learnt to love this shampoo eventually, so this is why I am posting this recipe today (I have finished one Kg of it! So I can say it is a tested recipe) 🙂
This recipe makes for a quite liquid shampoo, which is usually not something I would appreciate; however, it seems functional to the recipe in the way that if it was more thick, it would be more difficult to spread.
To make it more conditioning I added “Polyquaternium 7”.
FORMULA:
Phase A
Water to 100 (meaning HERE)
Glycerin 2
Epsom Salts 1 (this ingredient helps in giving volume to the hair)
Hydrolized Keratin Powder 0.4
Phase B
Lauryl Glucoside 10
Decyl Glucoside 6
Coco Glucoside & Gliceryl Oleate 3 (for a greasy scalp I would have lowered this to 1%)
Fragrance (oil based) 0.5
Phase C
Cocamidopropyl Betaine 10
Preservative (I added the preserving system I had available at the time which was needed at 1%. I do not use this preservative anymore)
Polyquaternium 7 – 1
Citric Acid to adjust the pH, if needed.
Now to the HOW TO:
1) I poured the Epsom salts in the Glycerin
2) I added the water and the proteins
(notice the color is given by the proteins)
3) Then I measured the Phase B in a separate becher
4) Heated it up a little in order to melt the Lauryl Glucoside (the white stuff)
Once melted it looked like the picture below
5) I mixed the two phases together
6) Measured separately the betaine and poured it in the mixture
7) I did the same for the Polyquaternium 7 and the preservative. Adding them one at a time and mixing carefully afterwards.
8) I checked the pH and adjusted it to 5 pH.
🙂 That’s all 🙂 Extremely fast!
IT'S ALL IN MY HANDS 
Aahh. . I see. . Well hi! I think im gonna omit the cetrimonium chloride. . Im also searching for other thickener and just found Hydroxyl Ethyl Cellulose. I bet you must know this. . It is non ionic charge, i think i would change with the guar gum since the texture of my shampoo actually clumpy. . Do you think it still gonna be okay? Since it is non ionic. . Actually im still trying to understand about the ionic things😣 i look at other people using Hydroxyl Ethyl Cellulose turn out the texture look nice.
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Hmmm it is not my favourite but it is a solution. You could also thicken using other surfactants that get thick together. A very foamy and good at thickening surf I am liking lately is sodium methyl cocoyl taurate (the salt in it helps thicken other surfactants and it is in paste form, which helps too).
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Awww thank you! I ll try to check if i.can find it on my country .
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Why so many glucosides mam.. Is it okay to have just one of them
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Cause at the time this formula was made glucosides were the “best” ecocert approved.
Now there are better surfactants for the hair that are ecocert approved.
You CAN use a single glucoside, but I don’t really think it will make for a good shampoo.
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Hi, love your blog, just found it!
What do you think of this surfactant system below? And how would I make it even more mild?
Coco Glucoside 5%
Decyl Glucoside 5%
SCI 1%
Glycerol Oleate 0.5%
I’m allergic to CAPB/CAP Hydroxysultaine so I’m leaving out those amphoterics.
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Well it all depends what you want to obtain, but with surfactants more or less any combination could work, it all depends if it works for the product you are trying to achieve 😉
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