Chemistry

Surfactants: Building viscosity – increasing surfactant concentration

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We’re getting ready to do some formulating, but we need to take a few moments to look at how to thicken our surfactant based creations. There are three ways to thicken a surfactant based creation – increase the concentration of the surfactants, make the micelles larger, or create a gel. (There’s a brief summary about...

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Surfactants: What causes skin tightness after washing?

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We all know the feeling – our skin feels tight and smooth after cleansing – but this isn’t a good thing. Skin tightness is associated with a marked decrease in the water content of our stratum corneum, and can be the first sign that repeated use of this product could lead to scaling, flaking, and...

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Surfactants: Incorporating mildness into your creations – overview

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Surfactants, by their very nature, are irritating to our skin. The goal when creating surfactant based products is to reduce the irritation to our skin by using milder cleansers, creating blends that enhance mildness, and adding ingredients like cationic polymers, proteins, or emollients. When a surfactant comes into contact with our skin, it can bind...

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What makes a shampoo clarifying?

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What’s the difference between a clarifying shampoo and a regular shampoo? Clarifying shampoos are intended to remove the styling agents you’ve been using while curling or straightening, so they don’t contain conditioning agents or silicones. You’ll notice I don’t tend to use conditioning agents or dimethicone in my shampoo recipes. The reason for this is...

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Cetrimonium chloride – even more awesome than before!

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Now, I know you don’t need another reason to include cetrimonium chloride in your conditioners, but here it is…it can help remove silicone build up on your hair! Yep, our beloved detangling and softening agent can actually help if you’ve been using enough cyclomethicone and/or dimethicone in your conditioners or anti-frizz sprays to de-static an...

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