Natural emulsifier for leave-in hair product?

So, I'm playing around with a leave-in detangler/conditioner for my hair, based off of this recipe. Only this time I added 1/8 cup each chamomile and calendula when I made the tea, used DI water to bring the level up to 1 cup when I didn't get that much out of the tea, used jojoba oil, and used 1/24th tsp citric acid instead of the ACV (I had done research and found that 1/16th tsp of citric acid in 1 cup of water was about as acidic as hair can take), and I added 2 drops lemon EO and 1 drop sweet orange EO, both for the scent and to help lighten my hair (along with the chamomile and calendula).

I just hate having to shake it before use every time! I used my SB to emulsify everything before putting it in the spray bottle, but of course without an emulsifier, it doesn't stay that way. Are there any natural ones that would work and be good for leave-in hair products? I only wash my hair every 2-3 days, and am putting this in my hair as I comb it out post-wash, amongst other times.

Also, I'm having a horrible time finding a sprayer that will apply it to my hair nicely. Every one I've tried just squirts it on like a squirtgun, which causes it to roll and drip.

I don't know if this is natural enough for you, but what about btms-50? It's vegetable based. I have been looking at it on Brambleberry as I am interested in making my own conditioner. The recipe looks fun. I might have to get some marshmallow root, or better yet maybe I can grow it
Good luck!
Cheers!
Anna Marie

Here's the link if you're interested in looking:
http://www.brambleberry.com/Btms-50-Conditioning-Emulsifier-P3623.aspx

That's still a bit more synthetic than I wanted to go, but I'll keep it in mind! It's still better than what I was seeing on WSP.

I use this site when I have concerns about an ingredient.
I understand wanting natural and non-synthetic.

http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/ingredient/700658/BEHENTRIMONIUM_METHOSULFATE/

and not that Chaz Dean is the master of anything but it's high on the list in this item

http://www.qvc.com/WEN-by-Chaz-Dean-Bamboo-Green-Tea-Cleansing-Conditioner.product.A238223.html

Also, would Otiphen or Otiphen Plus be good a good preservative for this? They seemed the best options to me out of what I could easily get. I was doing some more looking and saw Germall Plus is paraben-free, and cheaper than the Otiphens.

I'm currently taking this and trying to use it quickly and then throwing away what I don't use in a week or so, but that's creating a lot of waste for me... And in the amounts I would need to make to use an emulsifier (just to weigh it out!), I would be creating even more waste without a preservative.

Also, with the emulsifier and preservatives... Would I still be able to spray it, or would it be too thick for that? I'm trying to minimize skin contact due to the leave-in nature and the lemon EO (as a photosensetizer).

FlybyStardancer said:

That's still a bit more synthetic than I wanted to go, but I'll keep it in mind! It's still better than what I was seeing on WSP.

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Unfortunately if you want it to stay emulsified you are going to have to use an emulsifier and there are none that are 100% natural but rather they will have to be more manufactured. Beeswax has sometimes been used but you need more sheer that your SB can provide. I have heard of people using their blender at the highest speed to create the shear needed. I haven't personally tried because I am happy with emulsifiers.

That's what I was afraid of, Lindy. Sigh. I know egg yolk and mustard powder are good emulsifiers in the food world, but I doubt they'd be suitable for this application!

How thick would BTMS-50 make it? Still thin enough to spray, or thick enough that I'd need to pump it and work it through with my hands? What about which preservative to use?

If you use it at 2% it should remain quite thin. 5% is the amount usually used for lotion and that is the amount I use for my hair conditioner.

Would something like Polysorbate 80 work in this application? I'm still learning about it, so I might be way off base on this suggestion, but it seems that it might work. Not sure about the "naturalness" but wanted to toss it out for consideration.

Unfortunately...for a leave in conditioner, there are no "natural" emulsifiers that wouldn't leave your hair feeling and looking terrible.
Many years ago, I made my first lotion with beeswax and borax as the emulsifiers and it sort of worked but it produced a very greasy w/o (water in oil) lotion. It was nice as a massage lotion but I would never have considered putting it in my hair.
It's important to note that beeswax will not work as an emulsifier without the addition of Borax which is on the Canadian "Hot List"

I've successfully made a spay on lotion with 2% BTMS. There are many emulsifiers on the market but few of them work well for hair. You want one with a cationic (positive) charge. BTMS works beautifully and my other favourite is Incroquat CR.

I ended up ordering some BTMS-50 and Liquid Germall Plus last night, and will wait to make some more until I get it. I was looking at the spray I made most recently and it looks like it's ready to be tossed. Have barely used any of it! Bah.

Okay, now I have another question. How exactly do you mix the a small amount of emulsifier and oil in with the water-based liquid? I was looking over at Swift Crafty Monkey's blog and didn't find the answer. She has her lotion directions, in which the water and oil phases are heated up and held hot for 20 minutes... Then she had a visual tutorial for a hair spray that just heated up water and poured it over the ewax before blending... In that tutorial she said you could add a small amount of oil, but didn't say if/how the procedure would change any for that. It's left me so confused!

I heat my oil with the ewax in there to melt. Once it's melted I hold the heat for 20 minutes then add to my water phase. I use a bain marie (2 pots one smaller than the other with the large one containing gently boiling water and the top one with my oils, butters and ewax).

I'm just not sure it's even practical with this. It'd only be 2% ewax, and the oil is 1/2 Tbsp (I'll be weighing it out and taking note when I make it). I use 8oz of tea. It's a very small recipe

It will be 2% of the total volume so that would be .16 ounces.... IF the oil weighs 1/2 an ounce that is. And the difference in the feel and the ability to stay emulsified is totally worth it.

I have found that it can be difficult to make batches less than 500 grams (roughly double your recipe) due to the mixing and getting it emulsified not to mention how much gets lost in the container and on the mixer. All of my test batches are 500 grams. An extra 5 grams of BTMS won't cost too much.
The holding at 80 degrees for 20 minutes is to kill any possible bacteria but won't change the ability for the batch to emulsify.

For such a small batch and because you're not selling this product This is how I would recommend you do this:

A 500 gram recipe with your ingredients would look like this:

2% BTMS - 10 grams
2% Oil - 10 grams
95.5% Tea mixture -478 grams
.5% Germall Plus - 2.5 grams

Before starting make sure your work space and utensils are very clean and sanitary. Prior to formulating I place all of my utensils into a bath of water and a small amount of bleach. I'm also a Lysol wipes junkie.

1.Place the BTMS and oil in a small pot over a double boiler until fully melted.

2. Once it's fully melted carefully pour your very HOT tea over the mixture and mix well with (hopefully) a stick blender. if you don't have a stick blender yet, a blender would work fine with this recipe too. If you use a blender, do it bursts. Blend for about one minute. It will likely look very watery at this point but will thicken up on cooling. The finished product will still be quite thin though. Set aside to cool.

3. After your batch has cooled to below 50 degrees Celsius, add your Germall Plus and mix very well. At this point you can add a few drops of essential oils of choice.

Have fun!

Lindy and Anani have a good point -- make at least 500 g total. Think about it -- you're only risking about 20 g of emulsifier and oil. Less than an ounce by weight in total. Unless you have a scale that weighs to centigram accuracy (0.01 g), the smaller recipe you are proposing could have a large measurement error that would affect the feel and function of the product.

Please note -- the Germall Plus at 0.5% dosage is 2.5 grams for a 500 g total recipe, not 5 grams.

DeeAnna said:

Lindy and Anani have a good point -- make at least 500 g total. Think about it -- you're only risking about 20 g of emulsifier and oil. Less than an ounce by weight in total. Unless you have a scale that weighs to centigram accuracy (0.01 g), the smaller recipe you are proposing could have a large measurement error that would affect the feel and function of the product.

Please note -- the Germall Plus at 0.5% dosage is 2.5 grams for a 500 g total recipe, not 5 grams.

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Holy Smokes!!! Thanks DeeAnna for catching that!!! I do many things in 1 kg batches and was on a bit of an auto pilot I think. Yes it's 2.5 grams.

Good point! The scale I have is the Oxo 11lb. The smallest unit of weight is 1g. For the Germall, would that round up to 3g, or down to 2g?

It would probably be easier to scale up to 600g, to make the Germall amount 3g.

Round it up.