Pomade Formulation Advice

Based on your current pomade formulation and observations, here's an analysis and suggestions for achieving a less shiny, easier-to-wash, and slightly more gel-like texture while maintaining hold.

Your current formula uses a high percentage of waxes and oils, which explains why it's solid at room temperature, melts with heat, feels oily/shiny, and is difficult to wash out. The high amount of Beeswax provides structure but contributes to the hardness, while the Olive Oil contributes significantly to the oily feel and shine.

Addressing Your Goals

• Easier Washability: To make a pomade easily washable with water, you need to incorporate an emulsifier. Emulsifiers help oil and water mix, allowing the oils and waxes to be rinsed away more easily. Products like Oilsify 15 or Oilsify Eco are designed for this purpose in oil-based cleansing products and could be explored for a pomade application. Adding an emulsifier will fundamentally change how the pomade interacts with water.

• Less Shine/Greasiness: The high percentage of Olive Oil (39%) is likely a major contributor to the shine and greasy feel. Reducing the amount of heavy oils like Olive Oil and potentially replacing some of it with a lighter oil, such as Fractionated Coconut Oil, can help decrease the greasy feel and shine.

• More Gel-like Texture/Easier Scooping: Your high Beeswax content (43%) makes the pomade quite hard. To achieve a softer, more gel-like texture that's easier to scoop, you could reduce the percentage of Beeswax. Increasing the proportion of softer butters like Shea Butter relative to wax can also help soften the texture. While you mentioned Fractionated Coconut Oil Gel, this is typically a pre-made base rather than an ingredient to gel existing oils; adjusting your wax and butter ratios is a more direct approach with your current ingredient types.

• Maintain Hold: Reducing the wax content to soften the texture might slightly reduce hold. You'll need to balance the amount of wax to get the desired scoopability without losing too much hold. Experimentation with small batches is key here.

Specific Ingredient Questions

• Swapping Shea Butter and Cocoa Butter: Shea Butter is generally softer and creamier than Cocoa Butter, which is harder and more brittle. Swapping their percentages (increasing Cocoa Butter to 13% and decreasing Shea Butter to 4%) would likely result in a slightly harder pomade with a potentially less smooth texture compared to your current formula.

• Adding Coconut Butter or Fractionated Coconut Oil:

  • Coconut Butter is a solid fat at room temperature and would contribute to the hardness and emolliency, similar to Shea or Cocoa Butter, but with a different feel. Adding it would likely maintain or increase the solid nature of the pomade.
  • Fractionated Coconut Oil is a liquid oil that is much lighter and less greasy than Olive Oil. Adding it would soften the pomade, reduce greasiness and shine, and make it easier to scoop. It's a good option if you want to decrease the heavy feel and improve texture.

• Essential Oil: A small amount of essential oil (like 10 drops in a typical batch size) has a negligible effect on the overall texture of a pomade primarily composed of waxes and oils. Adding a significantly larger amount might slightly soften the mixture due to it being a liquid, but the primary considerations for increasing essential oil concentration are scent intensity and potential for skin irritation, not typically a major change in the base texture.

Recommendations

To achieve your goals, consider these modifications:

1. Add an Emulsifier: Incorporate a suitable oil-soluble emulsifier (like Oilsify 15 or Oilsify Eco) to make the pomade washable. Follow the supplier's recommended usage rate for oil-based products.
2. Adjust Wax and Oil Ratios: Reduce the percentage of Beeswax and Olive Oil. Increase the percentage of Shea Butter and consider adding Fractionated Coconut Oil to soften the texture, reduce shine, and improve scoopability. The exact percentages will require testing to find your preferred balance of hold, texture, and feel.
3. Experiment: Start with small test batches, making incremental changes to the percentages of wax, butters, oils, and the emulsifier until you achieve the desired consistency, hold, shine, and washability.

By adjusting the ratios of your current ingredients and incorporating an emulsifier, you can significantly alter the pomade's characteristics to better suit your needs.