stearic acid/HLB playtime

[Guest guest]

Hi All,

As a follow-up to the discussion yesterday around stearic acid, HLB, ewax,

etc., I decided to take a quick minute (that's all I have) and try it out for

myself. Here is what I came up with and hopefully my math is correct. I did

it by hand, didn't re-check my math, and I am not the best mathematician in

the world

I decided to use my standard, basic polawax formula and compare it to one

that substitutes stearic acid for a portion of the polawax.

Here is the original:

polawax 5%

jojoba 3%

shea 2%

glycerin 2%

water 88%

I am assuming the polawax is 70% cetearyl alcohol and 30% polysorbate 80. I

am assuming the required HLB for shea is 8 and the required HLB for jojoba is

7. I am also assuming the required HLB for stearic is 15.

For this formula I came up with a total of 8.5% oils and a required HLB of

10.75. Assuming the emulsifier is polysorbate 80, I guess the HLB is 15.

Next, I used this one:

polawax 2%

stearic acid 3%

jojoba oil 3%

shea 2%

glycerin 2%

water 88%

I came up with a total of 9.4% oils with a required HLB of 9.3. I assume the

emulsifier HLB is 15.

So, if I did my math correctly, it looks like the stearic only increases the

required HLB of the lipid portion of the formula. I suppose this makes it a

closer match with the emulsifier HLB of 15?? Last year Dave tried to help me

understand HLB and I took a look back at my notes and he actually suggested

what now makes perfect sense to me. Add glyceryl stearate or some other low

HLB emulsifier to the mix....about 1.5%....then the HLB will balance out

almost perfectly.

Now, for the " feel " part of things. The formula with the stearic acid does

not have as much " glide " as the one more polawax. It also has a " stickier "

type feel and even feels a little " waxier " ...this is a surprise, since I

fully expected to find more " cushion " or emolliency as has been described to

me. Also, the formula with the stearic was much more runny than the one with

all polawax??? This would be more like a lotion consistency, whereas the one

with all polawax has a cream-like consistency. So, I don't know. It still

doesn't add up for me. Maybe my math is incorrect, as well as, my logic

I will still play with the stearic acid some more to see what I can see, but

I am at this point not convinced that it offers any improvement to this sort

of polawax formula.

I'm offering this for comments and thoughts (and corrections if I did it

incorrectly). My " playtime " is gone for this morning though, hope yall have

a good day!

Angie

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