Surfactants

Surfactants: Cleansing descriptions and increasing mildness – micelles

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Micelles are a super important part of surfactant mildness, so let’s take a look at what they are and why we should care. Micelles are defined as “an aggregate of surfactant molecules dispersed in a liquid colloid”. A colloid is a type of mixture in which one substance is evenly dispersed throughout another. There’s generally...

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Surfactants: Cleansing descriptions and increasing mildness – introduction

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In this post, The new e-zine, Surfactants: Making Foaming Facial Cleansers, Marta asked: Would you explain the different cleansing descriptions in relative terms the next time you’re discussing surfactants? Is gentle less irritating than mild or the other way around? In “Surfactants: A Reference Guide,” sodium cocoyl isethionate has mild to gentle cleansing while Miracare Soft...

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Q&A: Incorporating SCI into a liquid shampoo or body wash?

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In yesterday’s post, we reviewed how we might use sodium cocoyl isethionate (SCI) in a liquid product. We found was poorly soluble in water – 0.01% at 25˚C – so we took a look at a few ways we might incorporate SCI into a daily shampoo. Let’s take a look at a few different formulas...

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Q&A: Can we soak SCI in water overnight to dissolve it?

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In the September Q&A, Melanie wrote: As an aside, I heard that an easy way to dissolve SCI chips is to soak them in the water overnight. I tried this and it worked well. Would you see any problem with doing this? I can’t seem to ever get it to dissolve, without grinding it, even...

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Q&A: De-ionized or de-mineralized water? Substitutions for liquid surfactants for oily hair? Corn starch in Neal’s Yard Products?

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I’m working my way through the August Q&A now, but it’s hard to answer in short paragraphs when I see all the wonderful things you’re asking that send me off down rabbit holes! In the August Q&A, Melanie asked, I used to be able to buy distilled water easily, now it is almost impossible where I...

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