Blending Surfactants....

It's common to see commercial (big brand / store bought) products using multiple surfactants in their cleansers and washes. There is actually a reason for this.

Using a combination of surfactants will always produce better results. If I made a face wash with coco glucoside and foaming apple and you only have foaming apple, yes technically you can still make the face wash, but it won’t compared to the face wash with a blend of surfactants. You can even add in a 3rd or 4th surfactant if you wanted to. Have fun trying blends of different surfactants to create a very unique bubbly lathering experience. Raising the percentage of the surfactant isn’t always what you need to do to get bigger bubbles either. Sometimes you just need to try combining surfactants instead. Just like how emulsifiers work better when they are blended together, surfactants do as well. I mean, emulsifiers are surfactants anyways.

Also, blending surfactants together can help keep the, sometime more harsh surfactants, more mild. This is why you will always see anionic surfactants blended with some nonionic and or amphoteric surfactants.

My best recommendation is to order as many samples of surfactants as you can and try them out for yourself. Experimenting yourself is the best way to learn.

Here are a list of a few of my favorite surfactants to work with.

AOS 40 - Anionic

SCI - Anionic

Foaming Apple - Anionic

Coco Glucoside - Nonionic

Decyl Glucoside - Nonionic

Cocamidopropyl Betaine - Amphoteric

I have been ordering a bunch of, new to me, surfactants lately and will be doing a lot of experimenting with them. So this list might change. I'll make sure I share my new updated favorite list if that does change.

What are your favorite surfactants to work with?