All these detergents are made starting from a family of

ingredients: SURFACTANTS.
Surfactants are compounds that lower the surface tension of a liquid and
therefore they emulsify the grease and the dirt on our skin and help us to
wash it off with the aid of water.
Surfactants can be divided in four groups according to their ionic nature:
– cationic – positive charge when ionized. They are mostly used in
conditioners.
– anionic – negative charge when ionized. They are largely used in
detergents and shampoos and provide good detergency and lather. In
this family we ding: SLS (sodium lauryl sulphate), SLES (sodium laureth
sulphate), ammonium lauryl/laureth sulphate, sodium lauroyl
sarcosinate, disodium laureth sulfoccinate.
– non-ionic – no charge (unionizable). They are lauryl glucoside, decyl
glucoside, coco glucoside, caprylyl/capryl glucoside. These are usually
not used in shampoos because they don’t leave a comfortable feeling on
the hair (it makes them feel dry) unless they are included in the
formulation in small amount (and therefore they work more as foam
stabilizers).
– amphoteric – both positive and negative (depending on the pH). These
are used a lot in shampoo formulation: specially if combined with SLES
they help the shampoo to be thick and they also decrease the irritancy
(read this in a relative way ). They are for example: cocamidopropyl
betaine, lauramidopropyl betaine, coco-betaine, cocamidopropyl oxide.
THE ACTIVE MATTER of a surfactant:
How “strong” do we need our detergent to be? This of course depends to
what we aim to make: if we are going to make a bubble bath it will need
to have a higher washing ability than a face-wash, which should, on the
contrary, be very gentle and delicate. The washing ability of a detergent
is determined by its “Active Matter” coefficient: every surfactant has an
“active matter coefficient” which is a number in percentage (for example
the SLES coefficient is 27%) and this tells us “how much active washing
substance there is in our SLES… and in this case it is 27%”. This is
because the liquid surfactants which we can easily find sold online are
usually made of the real surfactant and water (so the active matter is not
100%). You should find out this number from where you purchase your
surfactants (if they are not mentioned on the page, send an e-mail to the
supplier).
Generally the active matter of surfactant we want in our detergent
depending on its aim is this:
– Face wash – lower than 10%
– detergent for intimate use – around 5%
– shampoo – between 10% and 15%
– shower gel – between 18% and 20%
– bubble bath – between 20% and 25% (this is because the bubble bath
should go directly in the water while the shower gel is supposed to be
rubbed directly on the skin)
So now you might be thinking that to make a good shampoo you just
need 45% SLES and rest of water and tadaaa… well… NO
It is true that the 45% of SLES plus 55% water would give you a solution
with 12.15% Active Matter (45*27(which is the active matter coefficient of
SLES):100= 12.15) however there is something very important you still
need to know:

In a formulation a single surfactant results more harsh than an equal

“active matter %” formulation made with different surfactants.
To make it simple: if you mix surfactants together, you will have a milder
results than using the surfactants alone.
A particularly happy mix is SLES with a betaine (usually I have
cocamidopropyl betaine) because not only the betaine lowers the
harshness of the SLES, but it also thickens the solution.
Generally when formulating you should use:
– anionic or non-ionic surfactant; it is the surfactant which we will add in
our detergent at higher %.
– anphoteric surfactant; it will make the first surfactant more mild.
– extra surfactants: these are used in very low percentage and are
added to improve the lather or the consistency of the detergent.

To be continued…
[Theory of Formulating a Detergent Part 2]
Now we know the basics about our surfactants (if you haven’t read the
previous post, go HERE) now it is time to actually formulate a detergent.
Even if you don’t plan on making the detergent by yourself, reading this
might be useful to you in order to understand what’s actually inside your
shampoo or other detergents and you will be able to understand if these
products are delicate or not

There are not totally wrong combinations of surfactants: you can mix them
just by chance and eventually you will always get a detergent, whatever
you do. What could go wrong is that you might get a very liquid
detergent or you might get it more aggressive than you expected, but it
will still be a detergent!
However there are some rules that, if followed, will give you a good
detergent with a good density and the right washing-ability.
Controlling the DELICACY:
So far what we said is that mixing more surfactants will eventually give
us a less harsh detergent (of course than a detergent made with a single
surfactant keeping the active matter value stable).
We also said that when formulating, the best choice should be:
– an anionic or non-ionic surfactant; it is the surfactant which we will add
in our detergent at higher %.
– an amphoteric surfactant; it will make the first surfactant more mild.
– extra surfactants: (usually non-ionic) these are used in very low
percentage and are added to improve the lather or the consistency of the
detergent.
Making this kind of combination of surfactants will give, as a result, a
balanced detergent which will be delicate enough (this is of course also
related to the active matter %).
Always as a matter of delicacy, if you add certain substances, they act
as a protector to your skin (for example proteins, at 1-2%).
You could also think of superfatting your detergent and this low
percentage of oil will “use” some of the surfactants making your
detergent more mild on the skin. Notice, however, that some surfactants
don’t “bear” the presence of oils (even an extra drop of perfume oil can
disturb them) and get liquid immediately after you add them to the
mixture (for example it is the case of sodium lauroyl sarcosinate).
VISCOSITY:
The viscosity of your product is very important: a water-like detergent
gives to our subconscious the feeling that it cannot clean enough (even if
it is not so).
The negative thing is that some surfactants, when combined, give a very
liquid result.
Luckily there are few combinations of surfactants which work very well in
giving you a dense detergent:
– SLES + betaine (an amphoteric surfactant) + salt = very dense
detergent. Sodium chloride (salt) is often in commercial detergents, even
in shampoos. However if you add too much it can make your detergent
too harsh. In my shampoo I use SLES, cocamidopropyl betaine and I
never needed to add salt because it was dense enough (sometimes
even too much).
– SLS + a glucoside (this means a non-ionic surfactant: lauryl glucoside,
decyl glucoside are the most common for example).
– sodium lauroyl sarcosinate + pH 5 (acidify your detergent to pH 5, using
citric acid in a solution or lactic acid, and the sarcosinate will become
thick)
There are also other things you can use in case your detergent is too
liquid:
if you have already tried the recipe and you like the result as detergent
but it is too liquid, the next time you repeat the recipe you can
add xanthan gum to the water of the detergent in order to thicken it up a
little bit. However do not use xanthan gum at more than 1% or the
detergent will get an unpleasant slimy feeling.
There are also some synthetic thickeners exactly made for surfactants.
The best one so far is Tinovis GTC (Inci: Acrylates / Beheneth-25
Methacrylate Copolymer) because you can add it at the end of the
making of your detergent and therefore you can adjust the density little
by little.

Obviously if you don’t care how your detergent looks and you are fine
with washing yourself with a water-liquid detergent… you can use it as it
is!

Now finally to THE FORMULATION

Also the formulation of a detergent is divided in Phase A, B and usually
C.

Phase A:
this will be our water phase and usually it contains water and glycerin
(remember glycerin is important to keep our products hydrated, this is
because glycerin is highly hydrophilic).
In case you want to add xanthan gum you have to add it now (also some
synthetic thickeners have to be added in beginning so be sure to read
the data sheet of your raw material in advance! ).
You also add here any hydrophilic ingredient: for example you add your
preservative (ONLY in case it is hydrophilic of course), your hydrophilic
colorant (for example the food grade ones), and so on.
Phase B:
In our phase B we have most of the surfactants: usually we add the
surfactant at higher percentage (which is usually an anionic surfactant)
and one by one we add the “extra surfactants” which are usually the
non-ionic ones.
IMPORTANT: do not add now the amphoteric surfactants (generally the
betaine) or your detergent might get ruined (in the way it gets very
liquid… once again: a detergent cannot really get spoiled and it will still
clean your body even if you do something wrong).
Often I add the perfume and the lipophilic preservative directly here in
the mixture of surfactants (of course in case I am not using already an
hydrophilic one).
One important thing to notice is that once you add a surfactant to
another you are supposed to mix slowly and combine them very well
because you add a third one.
Now it is time to pour Phase A slowly into Phase B and mix.
This time we only use a spoon to mix, paying attention to not make too
many bubbles (however even if you get too many bubbles, they will
disappear with time).

Phase C:
This is the phase where you add the amphoteric surfactant and usually
your detergent gets thick here.
If this doesn’t happen you can always add here your synthetic thickener
(in case it is the kind that needs to be added in the end) or you can try by
adding 1% salt or… once again… you can just use your detergent as it is
and try to do better next time.
In case of shampoo you also are supposed to add at this moment all the
hair conditioner substances (which will help your shampoo to not feel
harsh on the hair)… but I will make a post specifically about hair
shampoo to explain this better
Next post will be a recipe for a detergent and I will also show you how to
calculate the ACTIVE matter of your detergent, so stay tuned!
Have a great day!