Thickeners

One of the more challenging aspects of formulating personal care products is increasing viscosity. For systems like emulsions and gels, it’s fairly easy. For systems like cleansers and oils, the process can become frustrating. Especially, when a high fragrance load is being requested by the customer. Increasing the viscosity of product types is an art as much as it is a science. Maybe more so.

Thickeners come in various forms: liquids, powders, flakes, etc. There are a wide range for numerous applications. As technology has evolved and improved, greener options have become readily available. Nowadays, there are thickeners that are vegan, RSPO, halal, ECO-cert, and COSMOS approved certified. Which thickener or thickener system you employ will mostly come down to price. C’est la vie.

Here are some thickeners that are common employed; I’ll begin with what are termed hydrocolloids (polysaccharides with high molecular weights)

• Xanthan Gum: great for that extra viscosity boost in cleansers and emulsions
• Acacia Gum: great aqueous thickener for cleansers and emulsions
• Guar Gum: can be 100% USDA organic and fairly cheap; leaves an obvious color change
• Carrageenans: extracted from seaweed and used in various industries

Next are what are called waxes:

• Beeswax: traditional wax thickener and now can be sourced ethically
• Carnauba wax: from the wax of Palm trees; look for RSPO certified
• Candelilla wax: vegetable wax extract from the candelilla plant

Finally, there are polymeric thickeners:

• Carbomer: the staple go to for thickening skincare and some haircare products; easy to work with, just neutralize to pH 6.00-6.50
• Acrylates Copolymer: an acrylic polymer that’s great for suspension and stabilization; ideal for shower gels and hair gels
• Polyacrylate Crosspolymer-6: excellent thickener with a high electrolyte resistance; can trap a fair amount of oils as well
• Hydroxyethyl Acrylate: disperse in glycerin to facilitate mixing; can hold fair amount of oils at 0.5% and up

That’s a good list of the different kinds of thickeners in the world of cosmetics. Some of these cross over into food and other industries. My personal favorites are the Acacia Gum and polymeric thickeners; some of the polymeric thickeners give a nice afterfeel to your products. Like always, be as creative as you want, but keep price in mind. Until next time.