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Frequently Asked Questions About Making Hair Care Products

Q: My shampoo is too thick. How can I fix this?

  • If your shampoo is too thick you can easily adjust the viscosity by adding more warm water small amounts at a time and whisking very gently. Some essential oils have a tendency to cause surfactant-based products to coagulate.

    • Q: My shampoo is too thin. How can I fix this?

  • If your shampoo is too thin there are a couple of solutions. Some surfactants, like Bioterge and Steol CS-230 respond to sea salt as a thickener. Simply sprinkle in fine sea salts to your mixture, whisking to incorporate, until a visibly thicker result is produced. We usually use about 20 grams of salt per liter of shampoo. That being said, some surfactants do not respond to the salt technique. You can use Liquid Crothix as a thickener, adding in a small amount at a time and waiting an hour or so between doses. If neither of these solutions work you might want to consider re-formulating your recipe to include a thicker primary surfactant.

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    Q: My conditioner separated. What happened?

  • The most common cause of a conditioner separating is that emulsion was not maintained during the cooling stage. It is very important to whisk your conditioner very frequently (once every minute or two) to ensure that all the ingredients stay emulsified until it has fully cooled.

    • Q: My shampoo is cloudy. What can I do to fix it?

  • A cloudy shampoo is most likely due to the essential oils or fragrance oils added. To avoid clouding simply mix two parts Polysorbate 20, a vegetable based emulsifier, to one part fragrance oil before adding it to the shampoo.

    • Q: How do you get that pearly look in shampoos?

  • To acheive a pearly end product you would have to incorporate Glycol Distearate, or EZ Pearl, into your surfactants and heat it until all solids have dissolved.


    • Voyageur Soap and Candle has become one of the largest suppliers of specialty ingredients for the cosmetic and personal care industry in the United States and Internationally specializing in supplying formulators and small manufacturers with a wide selection of ingredients and packaging.  We do not have minimum orders and offer the sizes necessary for home crafters, formulators and cosmetic and personal care manufacturers to economically work on product development and small batch manufacturing.  With thousands of ingredients and packaging options to choose from we carry both natural and specialty synthetic ingredients for making cosmetics, skin care products, bath products and hair care products.  

    If you have any questions please use our online chat or contact us by email.  We are always happy to help

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