Surfactants: Basic, general information

As I’m writing this series of posts on surfactants, there are a few things to consider when formulating… foaming lathering bubbling good skin or hair feel substantitive to skin or hair how it performs in hard water foamy resistance to soap and/or sebum how to thicken it These qualities will make it clear which one...

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Surfactant chemistry: Micelles

What are micelles? They are defined as “an aggregate of surfactant molecules dispersed in a liquid colloid”. So what’s a colloid? It is a type of mixture in which one substance is evenly dispersed throughout another. There’s generally two phases – the dispersed or internal phase and the continuous phase. In the case of oil-in-water...

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Surfactant chemistry: What are surfactants?

I wanted to write a few posts about creating cleansers for the different skin types, then I realized that I hadn’t done posts on surfactants for a while. I’ve got some basic stuff from last year, but I thought a more in depth series of posts on the various surfactants we use in our creations...

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Colouring surfactant mixes!

I know the kids who come to my craft groups think I’m being no-fun Susan when I suggest trying a drop of colour in the surfactant-y mixes and adding it drop by drop if you want a more vivid colour…but here’s the result. Take a look at this body wash. I admit it, I went...

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E-mail question: Thickening surfactant systems

In this post, Naomi writes…If I don’t have Crothix, could I substitute stearic acid? or Cetyl Alcohol? or another thickener – like Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose? So, you add in Crothix for thickening purposes? What do you suggest as possible substitutes?No, you can’t use stearic acid or cetyl alcohol. They will eventually separate out and leave a...

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