Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride aka (GuarCat) is a yellow powder that can dissolve into water to thicken/gel your aqueous (water based) products.
Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride is Cationic, which means it can add some conditioning benefits to your product as well. Even though it is a Cationic Surfactant you can still use it with Anionic Surfactants. Links to blogs about Surfactants. Blog 1 / Blog 2
Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride is commonly used in shampoos, body washes, shampoos, face washes, shaving gels/cream, hair conditioners, lotions/creams.
Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride can be a bit tricky to work with at first. This is because if you add Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride directly into distilled water & mix it until it dissolves it probably won’t thicken. This often confuses first time formulators and I get asked about this ingredient a lot.
Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride is only active in a pH below 7. This is why, when you add Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride directly into distilled water it doesn’t thicken. Distilled water has a ph around 7. So you need to lower the pH of your distilled water to activate the Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride.
How to Use Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride
Add Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride into the distilled water and mix until dissolved. Make sure you are only dissolving it in distilled water first. Adding in things like Botanical Extracts, hydrosols, or any other ingredient with a lower pH than 7 will alter the pH and cause the Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride to clump. Distilled water has a natural pH around 7. Which is perfect to dissolve the Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride in. It will dissolve without thickening, that way we can then later raise the pH to get it to thicken into a smooth gel. If you add it into a product with a pH below 7 it will clump.
Once the Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride is dissolved in the distilled water you can add in any other water soluble ingredients and preservative. Depending on the other ingredients used you may still need to activate the Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride by lowering the pH with a 50% citric and 50% distilled water solution. If you don’t know how to adjust pH watch this video here.
Note; Non-Ionic Surfactants often have a high pH. So if you include that in your formula expect to have to lower the pH. So if you want to avoid pH adjusting pick surfactants with a lower pH.
Creating a Slurry
Alternatively you could also create a slurry by mixing the Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride with Glycerin first before pouring into water phase. If you do this, you can pour the Glycerin and Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride into a water phase with a pH less than 7. Since the Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride is mixed with Glycerin it prevents it from chunking up.
Step by Step Directions using Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride
Measure out distilled water (make sure pH is 7 or above, Most water has a pH of 7)
Sprinkle Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride on top of water and mix to dissolve.
Continue with adding in the rest of the ingredients.
If your product still hasn’t thickened from the Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride then you need to lower the pH below 7 using a 50% citric and 50% distilled water solution. Learn how to adjust pH HERE.
Step by Step Directions w/ Glycerin
Combine all water soluble ingredients in one container.
In another container combine the Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride with Glycerin to create a slurry.
Pour the Glycerin and Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride slurry into your water soluble ingredients while stirring. It should immediately start to thicken. If not, then you need to lower the pH. Learn how to adjust pH HERE.
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