formulating

Clarifying shampoos are generally used to remove build up and not condition our hair. They’ll help remove styling product build up and cleanse your hair well. Ironically, one of the best ways to remove above normal levels of silicone build up (from anti-frizz and heat protecting sprays) is to use cetrimonium chloride, a cationic conditioning...

If you want to make a basic or clarifying shampoo, just leave out the dimethicone and conditioning agents. That’s really what defines a clarifying shampoo. You can leave in all the lovely film formers – proteins, aloe vera – and the moisturizers, but you leave out the conditioning agents. (I tend to do this as...

In general, a shampoo contains surfactants, water, preservative, and thickener. Each one is a pretty obvious inclusion – the surfactants clean, the water thins the mixture, the preservative preserves, and the thickener thickens. But a shampoo is about more than just cleaning your hair. We want something that is bubbly and foamy, something that makes...

So what makes a regular shampoo a regular shampoo? (Click here for more information on shampoos in general.) A regular shampoo is intended to be used every 3 or 4 days, as opposed to the daily use shampoo which is intended to be used, well, every day. We want to formulate a shampoo that will...