Croda Emulsifier Brunette Female Covering her Face with Purple Silk

Emulsifiers

Choosing the best emulsifier for your formulation can be a challenging task. There are a variety of options, creating a variety of emulsion types – all offering different benefits to formulators and the consumer – but all basically endeavouring to create a stable mixture of two or more immiscible liquids. The ability to provide stability is the basic role of an emulsifier.

In addition to ensuring the stability of an emulsion, emulsifiers influence the texture, skin feel and applications properties. So being well-informed on your options and what effects these will deliver, is key.

Basic Emulsion Types
An emulsion is a mixture of two of more immiscible liquids consisting of two phases – a continuous (or external) phase and a dispersed (or internal) phase. These then form various types of emulsions, the most common being oil-in-water (o/w) or water-in-oil (w/o).

Oil in Water image next to water in oil image showing difference between both emulsion types.

The HLB System – Croda’s Time Saving Guide to Surfactant Selection
When you’re faced with the task of creating an emulsion, you will be faced with a large variety of emulsifying agents and will need to select one or two that will satisfactorily emulsify your chosen ingredients. The HLB System offers a systematic approach to save time in non-ionic surfactant selection. It helps to assign an HLB value to the surfactant and an HLB requirement for the application; matching emulsifier and emollient values aids formulation development.

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Emulsifier Reference Guide

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HLB Guide

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SenStories™

Formulate your sensory story

Consumer demand for a pleasurable sensory experience extends to everything we touch, including our cosmetic emulsions. With the emulsifier heavily influencing the initial feel of an emulsion, understanding the impact emulsifiers have is important.

Discover SenStories™ for predictive selection of oil-in-water emulsifiers, to aid the development of formulations with a targeted sensory - saving the formulator valuable time whilst ensuring alignment with consumer expectations.

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Featured Emulsifiers