Fixing the Viscosity of Body Wash & Shampoo

Viscosity Correction for Body Washes and Shampoos
Sometimes as we add ingredients such as essential oils or tinctures to a wash or shampoo, it can become too thin or watery. To correct the viscosity and bring wash or shampoo back to a gel follow the instructions below!

Equipment You’ll Need
• Kitchen Scale
• Stick Blender or high shear mixer

Ingredients
• Xanthan Gum
• Cocamidopropyl Betaine
• Fine Atlantic Sea Salt
• Deionized Water
• Phenoxyethanol

Directions
Too Thin
1. Weigh out the amount of Shampoo or Wash you are correcting and multiply by 2%
2. This will give you the amount of salt you can add. For example: if you have 5.28LBS of lotion the math would be 5.28 X 0.02 = .1056. So you could add up to .1056 LBS of salt. This may be enough to thicken your wash or shampoo back to a gel consistency, but it not there are additional steps you can take. Just be sure to never add more than 2% salt or you run the risk of thinning your wash or shampoo even further.
3. Another option if salt fails is to use Cocamidopropyl Betaine to thicken. Simply weigh out the amount of shampoo or wash you are trying to thicken and multiply by 1%. This will give you a starting point for adding Cocamidopropyl Betaine. Add 1% at a time until your wash is thickened.
4. If all else fails, you can add xanthan gum to thicken. Weigh out the amount of wash or shampoo you are trying to thicken and add 0.25% xanthan gum. It’s important to add the xanthan gum in a very specific way to avoid clumping. Begin by high shear mixing your wash with your stick blender. Slowly sprinkle in the xanthan gum while mixing. You may have to adjust your stick blender to increase speed as the wash or shampoo starts to thicken.

Too Thick
1. To thin down a Shampoo or Wash that’s too thick you will need Deionized Water and a preservative such as phenoxyethanol added at 1% to preserve your water. It’s important to use deionized water so that you don’t see any reaction between ingredients in your Shampoo or Wash and the minerals in tap water. Distilled water might be effective, but deionized water is preferred.
2. Weigh out the amount of Shampoo or Wash you are correcting and multiply by 1%
3. This will give you the amount of preserved deionized water you need to add. For example: if you have 5.28LBS of Shampoo or wash. the math would be 5.28 X 0.01 = .0528. So you would need .0528 LBS of preserved water.
4. If your Shampoo or Wash is still too thick, repeat the process until it reaches the correct viscosity.

If you need additional help, please contact us at [email protected] or 866-252-9639.