Valerie George02.22.23
Dear Valerie: Most of my career has been spent formulating skin care, but I have taken on a new role that requires me to formulate hair care products. What are the top five ingredients I should stock up my lab with?
—Stock Exchange
Dear Stock:
Stocking up a new lab can be fun! I recall my corporate days, when the lab I was working at was brand new. Our cupboards were empty and it was rather cathartic to be judicious while perusing UL Prospector. (I think it was called Innovadex back then… does anyone else remember that? It took me two years to stop calling it that!)
In terms of what you should carry for hair, I hope this comprehensive list gets you in a good place! It’s not five ingredients per se, but rather classes of materials.
Guar Gums. Unfortunately, there isn’t one quaternized guar gum that does it all, so I would request a multitude of cationic guar gums from a supplier’s range; if you aren’t sure what a cationic gaur gum is, look for Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride. This stinky yellow powder lends varying levels of cationicity, clarity and viscosity to formulations. Some are more appropriate for use on certain hair types over others. My February 2022 column helped readers select the right one for formulation.
Sulfate Free Surfactants. I hate using that term, but it’s not as catchy to say “surfactants other than Sodium Lauryl Sulfate or Sodium Laureth Sulfate.” While I’m on team “sulfates,” every chemist needs an assortment of other anionics and amphoterics to either cater to marketing demand or provide other foaming characteristics and thicken formulations. I personally like a stock of Sodium C14-16 Olefin Sulfonate, Sodium Lauryl Sulfoacetate, Sodium Methyl Cocoyl Taurate, and Cocamidopropyl Hydroxysultaine (or the betaine version if cost is an issue). There are a multitude of very cool surfactants you can use and I could go on (and on!), but I only get a couple of pages in Happi, so send me an email and I can pour my heart out over a shared bottle of wine.
Silicones. Yes, silicones. You need linear (like dimethicone) and functionalized types (like amodimethicone). There are many functionalized silicones that afford amazing properties to hair like color protection, frizz reduction and thermal protection, to name a few. While there are some silicone alternates that can arguably replace the feel of linear and cyclic silicones, you can’t really replace the functionals or elastomers to the same degree. If you are concerned about sustainability and silicones, more options that truly feel like the originals are on the horizon. There is an amodimethicone partially made from recycled silicone material from one company, and a polyurethane-based silicone elastomer type from another. More will come as time goes on.
Oils. You need some good oils for hair. These provide lubrication, one of the essential components leaving hair feeling conditioned. I personally like the feel of longer carbon chain oils on hair, with high oleic oils being most preferred. Examples would be marula oil and macadamia oil. Meadowfoam oil can feel nice and light in leave-on applications. Of course, nonpolar materials like squalane can be nice too but they’re a little too light in my opinion, so they need to be balanced out.
Conditioning Agents. Like quaternized guar, conditioning agents carry a positive charge and stick to negatively damaged sites on hair. Don’t fall into the trap of just using Cetrimonium Chloride and Behentrimonium Chloride, two widely-used conditioning agents for hair. You need conditioning agents that address both hair combing and hair feel, as well as consider the hair type the product is being applied to. I personally love using Dicetyldimonium Chloride, Olealkonium Chloride, Quaternium-75, Silicone Quaternium-3… the list can really go on. The last thing to consider with conditioning agents is that they shouldn’t be your only strategy for conditioning hair. Don’t forget to utilize the other ingredient categories I noted for a full consumer conditioning experience in the shower.
Dear Valerie: I need to find a supplier that sells organic squalane for a customer that requires an organic certification but am having an issue finding a source. Am I missing something?
—Olive Oyl
Dear Olive:
As a reseller of squalane, I get this question all the time.
I have a love-hate relationship with squalane because it feels so wonderful on skin or in hair, yet the story of its origin seems so twisted. I mean, squalane from sugar cane? As if we just squeezed squalane out of a sugar cane stalk or scummed it off the top of a vat of freshly pressed olives. If people only knew it was a product of chemical synthesis! The problem with organic squalane is that it simply doesn’t exist—and can’t exist—no matter the source.
Squalane is a saturated hydrocarbon and triterpene that is created from the catalytic hydrogenation of squalene (note the e in the suffix!). Historically, and still today (although less-so), the source of squalene that is converted to squalane comes from shark liver oil, or a similar fish liver oil, which is high in squalene content. Moreso, today, it comes from the remnants of the olive oil production process, abundant in squalene. Or it can be produced via fermentation of yeast (here is where the sugarcane comes in) that produce farnesene, which undergoes linear dimerization into squalene, and then—you guessed it—can be hydrogenated to form squalane.
Why can’t any of these be organic?
Organic speaks to a farming and cultivation practice. Therefore, mammalian sourcing of squalane is out. Biobased squalane, where the yeast’s gullets are stuffed with sugar from sugarcane, utilize genetically modified organisms, which will exclude it from an organic certification. Although, it’s important to note squalane produced in this manner doesn’t contain genetically modified organisms in itself and is chemically a few reactions away from the GMO yeast. Finally, even if olive oil-sludge based squalene came from organic olives, it could never be organic certified because it undergoes stripping, catalytic hydrogenation, catalyst recovery and fractional distillation to become the wonderful, slippy nonpolar emollient we know today.
As an aside, my preferred squalane is the biobased version. A bit of disclosure here—I am a shareholder in the main producer’s stock—but what I love is they use Bonsucro certified sugar and have achieved a USDA 100% Biobased Certification.
The olive oil version is also pretty good, but it contains a higher quantity of impurities than its biobased counterpart. If your customer is absolutely demanding an organic version, they may have to file a deviation with their organic certifying organization or go a different route all together.
Special thanks to Gay Timmons for confirming I wasn’t crazy that organic squalane isn’t a thing!
Valerie George
askvalerie@icloud.com
Valerie George is a cosmetic chemist, science communicator, educator, leader, and avid proponent of transparency in the beauty industry. She works on the latest research in hair color and hair care at her company, Simply Formulas, and is the co-host of The Beauty Brains podcast. You can find her on Instagram at @cosmetic_chemist or showcasing her favorite ingredients to small brands and home formulators at simply-ingredients.com
—Stock Exchange
Dear Stock:
Stocking up a new lab can be fun! I recall my corporate days, when the lab I was working at was brand new. Our cupboards were empty and it was rather cathartic to be judicious while perusing UL Prospector. (I think it was called Innovadex back then… does anyone else remember that? It took me two years to stop calling it that!)
In terms of what you should carry for hair, I hope this comprehensive list gets you in a good place! It’s not five ingredients per se, but rather classes of materials.
Guar Gums. Unfortunately, there isn’t one quaternized guar gum that does it all, so I would request a multitude of cationic guar gums from a supplier’s range; if you aren’t sure what a cationic gaur gum is, look for Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride. This stinky yellow powder lends varying levels of cationicity, clarity and viscosity to formulations. Some are more appropriate for use on certain hair types over others. My February 2022 column helped readers select the right one for formulation.
Sulfate Free Surfactants. I hate using that term, but it’s not as catchy to say “surfactants other than Sodium Lauryl Sulfate or Sodium Laureth Sulfate.” While I’m on team “sulfates,” every chemist needs an assortment of other anionics and amphoterics to either cater to marketing demand or provide other foaming characteristics and thicken formulations. I personally like a stock of Sodium C14-16 Olefin Sulfonate, Sodium Lauryl Sulfoacetate, Sodium Methyl Cocoyl Taurate, and Cocamidopropyl Hydroxysultaine (or the betaine version if cost is an issue). There are a multitude of very cool surfactants you can use and I could go on (and on!), but I only get a couple of pages in Happi, so send me an email and I can pour my heart out over a shared bottle of wine.
Silicones. Yes, silicones. You need linear (like dimethicone) and functionalized types (like amodimethicone). There are many functionalized silicones that afford amazing properties to hair like color protection, frizz reduction and thermal protection, to name a few. While there are some silicone alternates that can arguably replace the feel of linear and cyclic silicones, you can’t really replace the functionals or elastomers to the same degree. If you are concerned about sustainability and silicones, more options that truly feel like the originals are on the horizon. There is an amodimethicone partially made from recycled silicone material from one company, and a polyurethane-based silicone elastomer type from another. More will come as time goes on.
Oils. You need some good oils for hair. These provide lubrication, one of the essential components leaving hair feeling conditioned. I personally like the feel of longer carbon chain oils on hair, with high oleic oils being most preferred. Examples would be marula oil and macadamia oil. Meadowfoam oil can feel nice and light in leave-on applications. Of course, nonpolar materials like squalane can be nice too but they’re a little too light in my opinion, so they need to be balanced out.
Conditioning Agents. Like quaternized guar, conditioning agents carry a positive charge and stick to negatively damaged sites on hair. Don’t fall into the trap of just using Cetrimonium Chloride and Behentrimonium Chloride, two widely-used conditioning agents for hair. You need conditioning agents that address both hair combing and hair feel, as well as consider the hair type the product is being applied to. I personally love using Dicetyldimonium Chloride, Olealkonium Chloride, Quaternium-75, Silicone Quaternium-3… the list can really go on. The last thing to consider with conditioning agents is that they shouldn’t be your only strategy for conditioning hair. Don’t forget to utilize the other ingredient categories I noted for a full consumer conditioning experience in the shower.
Dear Valerie: I need to find a supplier that sells organic squalane for a customer that requires an organic certification but am having an issue finding a source. Am I missing something?
—Olive Oyl
Dear Olive:
As a reseller of squalane, I get this question all the time.
I have a love-hate relationship with squalane because it feels so wonderful on skin or in hair, yet the story of its origin seems so twisted. I mean, squalane from sugar cane? As if we just squeezed squalane out of a sugar cane stalk or scummed it off the top of a vat of freshly pressed olives. If people only knew it was a product of chemical synthesis! The problem with organic squalane is that it simply doesn’t exist—and can’t exist—no matter the source.
Squalane is a saturated hydrocarbon and triterpene that is created from the catalytic hydrogenation of squalene (note the e in the suffix!). Historically, and still today (although less-so), the source of squalene that is converted to squalane comes from shark liver oil, or a similar fish liver oil, which is high in squalene content. Moreso, today, it comes from the remnants of the olive oil production process, abundant in squalene. Or it can be produced via fermentation of yeast (here is where the sugarcane comes in) that produce farnesene, which undergoes linear dimerization into squalene, and then—you guessed it—can be hydrogenated to form squalane.
Why can’t any of these be organic?
Organic speaks to a farming and cultivation practice. Therefore, mammalian sourcing of squalane is out. Biobased squalane, where the yeast’s gullets are stuffed with sugar from sugarcane, utilize genetically modified organisms, which will exclude it from an organic certification. Although, it’s important to note squalane produced in this manner doesn’t contain genetically modified organisms in itself and is chemically a few reactions away from the GMO yeast. Finally, even if olive oil-sludge based squalene came from organic olives, it could never be organic certified because it undergoes stripping, catalytic hydrogenation, catalyst recovery and fractional distillation to become the wonderful, slippy nonpolar emollient we know today.
As an aside, my preferred squalane is the biobased version. A bit of disclosure here—I am a shareholder in the main producer’s stock—but what I love is they use Bonsucro certified sugar and have achieved a USDA 100% Biobased Certification.
The olive oil version is also pretty good, but it contains a higher quantity of impurities than its biobased counterpart. If your customer is absolutely demanding an organic version, they may have to file a deviation with their organic certifying organization or go a different route all together.
Special thanks to Gay Timmons for confirming I wasn’t crazy that organic squalane isn’t a thing!
Valerie George
askvalerie@icloud.com
Valerie George is a cosmetic chemist, science communicator, educator, leader, and avid proponent of transparency in the beauty industry. She works on the latest research in hair color and hair care at her company, Simply Formulas, and is the co-host of The Beauty Brains podcast. You can find her on Instagram at @cosmetic_chemist or showcasing her favorite ingredients to small brands and home formulators at simply-ingredients.com