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Sulfonates are very closely related, but not exactly the same as sulfates. In a sulfate, the sulfur is linked directly to the carbon chain via an oxygen atom. In a sulfonate, the sulfur is linked directly to a carbon atom (the R in the picture). What difference does this make? Tune into the posts to...
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...
Alkyl glyceride sulfates are produced by the transesterification of coconut oil, followed by sulfation with sulfur trioxide then neutralization with lye. They are great foam boosters and have similar foaming power to the amide ether sulfates. These are great combined with the alkyl polyglucosides, non-ionic surfactants derived from glucose. Alkyl glyceride sulfates will thicken with...
Amide ether sulfates result from the sulfation of ethoxylated amide and can be combined with sodium, magnesium, or ammonium to produce something like ammonium lauryl ether sulfide or magnesium PEG-3 cocamide sulfate. They have good skin compatibility and they are very mild cleansers to the point where they don’t remove a lot of the lipids...
Alkyl ether sulfates result from the sulfation of an ethoxylated fatty alcohol. Ethoxylation is the process by which ethylene oxide is added to a fatty acid alcohol to create detergent properties in a surfactant. If you compare the molecule above to that of SLS (from yesterday), you’ll see that little oxygen (O) atom is messing...