Home Cosmetic Science Talk Formulating Help with leave in conditioner formula

  • Help with leave in conditioner formula

    Posted by Formi on July 31, 2022 at 5:05 pm

    Hi everyone :smiley:
    I’m a beginner formulator and I’ve made a few attempts at creating a leave in conditioner for my curly hair, but each time it “fizzes up” like champagne and bursts out of the container the day after I’ve bottled it up.

    These are my ingredients I got from the create cosmetics formula calculator:
    A

    water 85.9%
    glycerin - 4%
    guar gum - 0.5%
    B
    cetrimonium chloride - 0.5%
    cetyl alcohol - 4%
    argan oil - 1%
    Jojoba oil - 1%
    C
    silk protein - 2%
    panthenol - 0.5%
    fragrance -0.1%
    Germall plus - 0.5%

    I heat up phase A and B to 75% then add phase B to A under high sheer stirring at 700rpm for 3 minutes, then I mix occasionally under low sheer during the cool down phase and add my phase C when it’s room temperature. It’s fine the day of production but the following day it expands and looks weird :/

    Ive searched for every possible reason why this must be happening but so far I’ve got nothing. Considering replacing cetrimonium chloride and cetyl alcohol with BTMS-50 at 4% and removing guar gum 

    is there something wrong with my ingredients? I’m very careful not to allow too much air to get inside the product during mixing 

    Formi replied 1 year, 8 months ago 4 Members · 6 Replies
  • 6 Replies
  • lexi_dclabs

    Member
    July 31, 2022 at 5:50 pm

    Hey there!

    I hope you are doing well. 4C curly type here! BTMS-50 at 3-4% would definitely be a better option IMHO. Also, guar gum is fine, but I tend to lean more towards guar hydropropyltrimonium chloride. If you decide to try it, just make sure to adjust the pH below 7 after adding it to the water phase. I really like stearalkonium chloride in leave-in conditioners, especially for curly hair types. I hope this helps! :)

  • Formi

    Member
    July 31, 2022 at 7:51 pm

    Hey there!

    I hope you are doing well. 4C curly type here! BTMS-50 at 3-4% would definitely be a better option IMHO. Also, guar gum is fine, but I tend to lean more towards guar hydropropyltrimonium chloride. If you decide to try it, just make sure to adjust the pH below 7 after adding it to the water phase. I really like stearalkonium chloride in leave-in conditioners, especially for curly hair types. I hope this helps! :)

    Thank you so much! I also have 4c hair so this helps a lot. Will try the BTMS-50 formula this evening and see if there are any stability issues :)

  • lexi_dclabs

    Member
    August 1, 2022 at 3:23 am

    No problem at all. Happy formulating! :)

  • ketchito

    Member
    August 1, 2022 at 12:42 pm

    @Formi Cetrimonium chloride at 0.5% won’t be enugh to emulsify your system. As @lexi_dclabs mentioned, switching to BTMS-50 at higher levels could help, you need to balance it up your fatty alcohol to get the right viscosity. Also, you’re using too much glycerin; usually, you want to “waterproof” your hair to avoid frizz and unnecesary volume increase.

  • oldperry

    Member
    August 1, 2022 at 1:14 pm

    Also, the safety limit of Cetrimonium Chloride in a leave-in product is 0.25%. So, you probably shouldn’t use it.

  • Formi

    Member
    August 1, 2022 at 5:59 pm

    Thank you @ketchito and @Perry : ) 
    I tried the BTMS-50 recipe and it’s currently stable! I’ll also reduce the amount of glycerin in the formula as soon as I run out of my current batch.

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