How to Make a Minty Shampoo?

We have earlier made Shampoo Bar with mild surfactants. Today, we will be discussing about the ingredients required to make a Liquid Shampoo. Surfactants (in cleansing products) are ingredients which remove the oil and dirt by reducing the surface tension. These are also called as detergents. Surfactants also include solubilizers, emulsifiers. There are many resources online if you would like to read more on this.

Surfactants are classified based on charge, positive- cationic, negative- anionic, no charge- non ionic and amphoteric- has both positive and negative charge. Anionic surfactants in shampoos help removing oil and keeping scalp clean. Cationic surfactants help in detangling and reducing frizz. Surfactants are often combined to increase mildness. But, anionic and cationic surfactants/ingredients should not be combined else will result in separation of product.

I have made facewash using AOS (Alpha Olfein Sulfonate- Anionic), Decyl Glucoside (ECOCERT- Non ionic) and Coco betaine (Amphoteric). This shampoo also includes the same surfactants but with different weights(percentages) since the active matter for Shampoo is a bit higher than face wash. 

To condition hair, Glycerin, Olivem 300, Hydrolyzed wheat protein, Polyquat 7 and Panthenol are added. Look at substitutions and usage rate section in last if you want to tweak this formulation.

For the minty feel, menthol crystals, peppermint essential oil and tea tree essential oil are included. Peppermint hydrosol can be included instead of water but I haven't added hydrosol.

I have chosen HEC for thickening the shampoo and Geogard ECT as the preservative.

Don't forget to test the pH of product after mixing everything. Add citric acid or lactic acid solution (20% or 50%) to bring down the pH to 5.5.

Adding oils in shampoo will reduce foam and may not serve purpose as a cleanser.

Let's check the ingredients required to make this.

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Ingredients required: (100g batch)

Phase A:

AOS (40% active) - 11% - 11g

Decyl Glucoside (51% active) - 6% - 6g

Coco Betaine (31% active)- 15% - 15g

Phase B:

Glycerin - 5% - 5g

HEC - 1.5%  - 1.5g

Phase C:

Water - 52.6% - 52.6g

Sodium Gluconate - 0.1% - 0.1g

Phase D:

Hydrolyzed wheat protein - 2% - 2g

Polyquat 7 - 2% - 2g

Panthenol - 2% - 2g

Geogard ECT - 1 % -1g

Olivem 300 - 1% - 1g

Menthol Crystals- 0.2% - 0.2g

Peppermint E.O - 0.4% - 0.4g

Tea Tree E.O - 0.2% - 0.2g

Citric acid solution - as per applicable

How to make the Shampoo?

1) Mix HEC in Glycerin (Phase B) until it is dissolved.

2) Add Phase C ingredients in a beaker. Mix it to dissolve or melt on double boiler. Once dissolved add Phase B ingredients and stir until properly mixed. Leave it for few minutes (30 minutes) to hydrate.

3)Measure Phase A and Phase D ingredients in separate beakers. (Grind the menthol crystals then add essential oils.)

4) Mix all the phases without stirring heavily, else it will cause foam and bubbles.

5) Check the pH of solution by diluting 10% of product with water. 

Add one or two drops of citric acid solution to the product. Again dilute it by 10% and test the pH. Do not add more than 3 drops at a time because pH reduces drastically even with a drop. It took total 15 drops of 50% solution for me to lower the pH to 5.5

(I was testing my pH meter in distilled water. pH was 5.7 for distilled water. I have added 3 drops of citric acid solution and the pH fallen down to 2.9 for 50g water. You can see how it can reduce pH with increase in drops. If the pH falls this low, alkaline pH buffer like TEA needs to be added which is not a good idea)

Shelf life:

This product would be good for an year if stored and used properly. 

(Get the product tested for accurate shelf life information)

Typical Usage rates:(These are provided by suppliers and not me)

AOS (Active matter- 40%): 4-30%

Decyl Glucoside (Active matter- 51%): 5%-40%

Coco Betaine (Active matter- 30%) : 4 -40%

HEC: 0.5- 3%

Geogard ECT: Upto 1%

Sodium Gluconate: 0.1- 1%

Hydrolyzed wheat protein: 1-5%

Panthenol: 0.5- 2%

Olivem 300: 1- 5%

Polyquat 7: 0.2- 5%

Substitutions: (Check for respective usage rates before substitutions)

1. Surfactants can be substituted with other liquid surfactants but charge and active matter need to be checked again. It differs with surfactants.
2. Propanediol 1,3 can be used in place of Glycerin.
3. EDTA is a good alternative for Sodium Gluconate
4. HEC can be substituted with Xanthan Gum or liquid thickener like Crothix
5. Hydrolyzed wheat protein can be substituted with any other hydrolyzed proteins but they might have different characteristics and results on hair.
6. Any broad spectrum preservative can replace Geogard ECT (check usage rate, all doesn't have 1%). Phenoxyethanol is not compatible with highly ethoxylated ingredients. It is better to avoid Phenoxyethanol or it's combination.
7. Menthol crystals and essential oils are chosen since it was a minty one. These can be swapped/ replaced with your choice.

Where did I get the ingredients?

I got all the ingredients from local supplier. I have listed the suppliers I trust in the page (https://makingskincareproducts.blogspot.com/p/where-to-buy-cosmetic-ingredients-and.html)