Why did I buy that? Some posts I've already written

I asked the question - why did I buy that again? - and you answered with your list of ingredients you purchased for some project or recipe, the reason for which is lost in the mists of time! I thought I'd take a look at an ingredient one day, then how we'd use it in a recipe (or a few recipes) to give you a few ideas on how to use it. We'll all be learning along the way, as I have my own list of ingredients I bought but haven't used! Let's take a look at ingredients you've bought and I've already written about on the blog!

Look to your right! There's a long list there of ingredients that might pique your interest. And as I cover various ingredients, I'll update that section to include them! Or look under the "links to lists" section, which is slightly above those links. I've tried to group things so we don't have a list of ingredients a mile long in that sidebar! Or do a search, using the box in the upper left hand corner. 


As a secondary note, I share this information to make it easier to find things!. I know there are a lot of posts on this blog and I don't expect you to go through all 1289 to find what you want! If I didn't have my search through the "manage posts" sections, I wouldn't be able to find things as easily as I do! 

Disodium EDTA: Chelating and sequestering agent.

Emu oil: An oil from emus that is reported to be good for pain.

Argan oil: An oil that you'll see in hair care products.

IPM (isopropyl myristate): An light, easily spreadable, non-greasy ester we use in our products to reduce the feeling of greasiness.

Cromollient SCE (Di-PPG-2 myeth-10 adipate): A PPG ester that is water dispersible and oil and surfactant soluble.  A lot of people get this product to make dispersible bath oils in the place of polysorbate 80, but it has so many other purposes!

PEG-7 olivate: A water soluble olive oil derivative we can add to water based products to offer emollience.

PEG-7 glyceryl cocoate: is a non-ionic, low ethoxylated monoglyceride that can behave as an emulsifier, emollient, foamer, and skin conditioner in our products. It is a thickening polymer, meaning it will thicken your surfactant mix when used with anionic surfactants. It is emollient, which means it will reduce skin irritation from other surfactants, and will re-fatten your skin when you are bathing or shampooing. It can make the foam feel slippery, which is a nice thing in a body wash. It's not really a detergent type surfactant - you'd never use it as the primary or even co-surfactant because it's meant to boost the qualities of your surfactant mix. Use it at 2% to 10% in cleansers and shampoos.

Lactic acid: It's a type of alpha hydroxy acid.

Laureth-4: It's a non-ionic solubilizer with an HLB of 9.7. It's used at 1 to 5%. This is mostly for surfactants, but it can be used in lotions in combination with a low HLB emulsifier. Laureth-3 is also a non-ionic solubilizer with an HLB of 7.9 or 8.1 (depending where you find your information) that should be used at 0.5% to 5%. Both of these are able to thicken our surfactant mixtures. Emulsifiers with an HLB of 8 to 10 will produce "stable milky dispersions" when not coupled with a low HLB emulsifier in an emulsion. In other words, if we use laureth-3 or laureth-4 in a surfactant mixture, it will solubilize our oils and possibly create a milky type consistency emulsion.

Polyquat 44: A cationic polymer is a positively charged or cationic polymer that we use in hair and body care products to increase conditioning and film forming. Because it's cationic, it will be substantive and adsorb to our hair our skin to increase lubricity and moisturizing. In hair care products, cationic polymers will help our cuticle scales resist uplift when stressed, which keeps our hair in better condition. Adding a cationic polymer to our products will increase the mildness of our surfactant based products. Polyquat 44 comes in a liquid form of about 6% to 7% active ingredient. It should be used at 0.1% to 0.2% for fine to normal hair and up to 0.5% for damaged hair in the water phase of your product. Polyquat 44 was found to produce the least build up and best conditioning on hair when tested against polyquat 7, 10, 11, and cationic guar gum

If you'd like to see the posts, click here and here. If you'd like to make a suggestion an ingredient, please click and comment in this post!


Join me tomorrow as we take a look at a few recipes that include some of these ingredients!