Among the most active ingredients found in house products nowadays is the surfactant. Surfactants are necessary for maintenance, safety and hygiene of the humans. Surfactants can be defined as amphiphilic molecules that contain both the lipophilic groups (typically long alkyl chains compatible with oils) and also hydrophilic groups (making these as water soluble). In the detergents they would also assist in dirt removal, microorganisms and contaminants through surface tension reduction and also interfacial tension.
In, simple words the surfactant or the substance surface-active agent when gets added with liquid it minimizes its surface tension while maximizing wetting and spreading properties.
Function of Non-Toxic Surfactant
A few surfactants are called emulsifiers and other ones are known as foaming agents (and a few would normally do opposite of these functions). Various natural and non-toxic surfactants also act similar to detergents and others like fungicides or insecticides. Surfactants help with solubilizing (little oil amounts in water, for example) and other ones would also be ideal for increasing viscosity.
List of Non-toxic Surfactants
Natural surfactants are derived through different plant types. Some common surfactant sources are palm and coconut, but these also get derived through other fruit and vegetable types. A lot of natural surfactants can be found in market nowadays, and with the steady incline in consume demand, a lot of these are predicted to be available in near future.
Selecting Non-Toxic Surfactants
You must keep in mind that a lot of these surfactants are not palm free, so you’ll need to source these through places for allowing methods of sustainability for obtaining materials through them. It is recommended to purchase surfactants that are certified as sustainable through RSPO (Roundtable or Sustainable Palm Oil) standards.
Another thing that must be kept in mind would be that the surfactants differ according to the manufacturer. The polymeric names are there and it doesn’t refer to any exact structure. A few places use plants as elaborating origin with surfactant and ways through which each surfactant solubilizes and clean would vary depending on from where you’re able to purchase these.
Coco Glucoside
The Coco Glucoside surfactant is non-ionic and is obtained through fruit sugars and coconut oil, but is also obtainable through either corn or potato. This is quite foamy and gentle cleanser and remains completely biodegradable.
Decyl Glucoside
This is similar to the non-ionic surfactant coco glucoside, but with short chain length. This adds to product viscosity by making lesser foam. The surfactant is derived through glucose and coconut oil and is biodegradable. It can be found in baby products, gels and different shampoos.
Lauryl Glucoside
The Lauryl Glucoside is quite similar to other 2 glucosides that have been mentioned. This is available with long chain length with added viscosity. It would take longer for foam compared to other two, but it also has stable foam. While this would be a mild form of cleanser, it isn’t quite mild compared to two other alkyl polyglycolides.
Liquid Yucca Extract
The non-ionic natural surfactant liquid yucca extract is derived through yucca plant which is desert grown and has naturally grown saponins. While this is added in homemade shampoos, the extract is also usable in gardening for helping nutrients getting to other plant roots after washing away the concentrated salts building up.
The above non-toxic surfactants are recommended as these are quite gentle and can be found simply, while they work well together. Also, these can be used in a lot of things from gentle shampoos to other shower gels, baby washes and facial cleanser.
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