Making body wash but my sodium laureth sulfate is not mixing into the water?

[ShelbyHavok]

Hope this is the correct place for this. It's my first post. post moved

This is my first time working with SLES. I ordered it from Bulk Apothecary since it was out of stock from the sites I usually buy my surfactants from. Whenever I mix it with water, it forms a ball of goo and will not mix into the water. I've tried adding water into SLES, SLES into water, hot water into SLES, heating both the water and SLES together, mixing them together with a fork, etc. and no matter what I do it stays as a clump of goo. I've seen videos of other people working with SLES and it doesn't do this. So did I get a bad batch? Or am I doing something wrong?

 

[Quanta]

1. How much water, and how much SLES are you mixing together?

2. Where did you get the recipe you're using, and can you post a link to it?

3. Are you using tap water, or distilled?

4.Have you put anything else in the water before you add the SLES?

 

[justjacqui]

You appear to possibly have the version of SLES with a high percentage of actives which is difficult to mix. You will need a decent stirrer to mix this type of SLES with water and it will take some time. Try looking for a 25%-30% active version which should mix in with less effort.

 

[ShelbyHavok]

Thanks everyone! As justjacqui said, I was using a SLES around 50%-60% active. I let it sit in the water overnight and in the morning it had all mixed in.