Improving Your Mild Hand Soap Formula

It's great that you're working on a mild hand soap formula using Sodium Lauroamphoacetate (Mild-Wash) as an alternative to SLeS. Your current formula is a good base with a blend of gentle surfactants.

You mentioned that the soap feels sticky during rinsing and leaves your hands feeling dry afterward. This can happen with surfactant systems, even mild ones, and the high percentage of Glycerine (15%) might contribute to the sticky rinse feel.

To improve the formula for sensitive skin, like for babies and children, and to address the dryness and rinse feel, here are some suggestions:

Suggested Improvements

1. Add a Conditioning Agent: Incorporating a conditioning polymer will significantly improve the feel during rinsing and leave a softer feel on the skin after drying. Poly-Conditioner 47 (Polyquaternium-47) is an excellent choice for rinse-off products like hand soap. It's compatible with anionic surfactants and helps provide a smooth, conditioned feel without build-up.

2. Include a Soothing and Moisturizing Extract: As you suggested, Aloe Vera Extract is ideal for sensitive skin. It offers soothing, hydrating, and anti-inflammatory benefits. Adding it can help counteract any potential dryness from the surfactants.

3. Adjust Glycerine Level: While Glycerine is moisturizing, 15% is quite high for a rinse-off product and might be contributing to the sticky feel. Consider reducing the amount to 5-10%.

4. Check and Adjust pH: For sensitive skin and optimal performance of some ingredients (like Sodium Lauroamphoacetate and preservatives), ensure the final pH of your handwash is between 5.0 and 6.0. You may need to use a small amount of Citric Acid or Lactic Acid solution to adjust it.

Revised Example Formula (Illustrative)

Here's an example of how you could modify your formula. Remember that these percentages are starting points and require testing to achieve your desired feel and performance.

• Distilled water: Adjust to 100% total
• Vegetable Glycerine: 5-10%
• Caprylyl / capryl glucoside: 8%
• Mild-Wash L™ (Sodium Lauroamphoacetate): 10%
• Cocamidopropyl Betaine: 8%
• Poly-Conditioner 47 (Polyquaternium-47): 1-2% (Add to water phase)
• Aloe Vera Extract: 1-3% (Add during cool-down phase)
• Essential Oil: 0.5%
• Preservative (e.g., Global Guard™ or Global Guard™ 221): 0.5% (Ensure pH compatibility - Global Guard™ requires pH < 5.5, Global Guard™ 221 works up to pH 7)
• SugarThick™ (PEG-120 Methyl Glucose Dioleate): 0.5%
• pH Adjuster (e.g., Citric Acid solution): As needed to reach pH 5.0-6.0

By adding Poly-Conditioner 47 and Aloe Vera Extract, and potentially adjusting the Glycerine, you should achieve a hand soap that is gentler, rinses more cleanly, and leaves hands feeling softer and more comfortable, making it more suitable for sensitive skin.