# Poly 80 or SLSA Choice?



## dblbubble (Dec 21, 2016)

Hello everyone!

I'm a new member, but a long time stalker. I finally jumped into the deep end of bath bomb making 2 months ago and have been making sample bath bombs almost every day to see what works and what doesn't. I've been tweaking as I go along in order to find my "ideal" recipe. 

As part of this, I have made bath truffles from Soapqueen's recipe. Love the concept, but they definitely need an emulsifier/surfactant. I've tried Poly 80, which has worked and gives some foam in the water. If I use SLSA, I of course have more suds. Both disperse the oils pretty well.

My question is, what is the difference in choice in deciding on what emulsifier to use? Is there a reason to choose Poly 80 over SLSA other than one giving more suds than the other? They both seem to do the same job, but I know Poly 80 is better at breaking down the oils.


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## Dahila (Dec 21, 2016)

I use Slsa , I do not like poly 80, it is so sticky


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## shunt2011 (Dec 21, 2016)

I use both SLSA and Poly 80 in bath bombs, scoops and bubble bars. However, I don't use a lot of the PS 80.  Even a little helps with the oil slick that can be left in the tub.  However, I don't use SLSA in my bath melts.


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## dblbubble (Dec 21, 2016)

Dahlia, thank you! I had the same effect and thought the stickiness was a result of using a hard butter like coco butter. I thought the coco butter contributed to a waxy feel on my skin, as it hardens at room temp.

I do like what it does, but have definitely found the % amounts recommended in some recipes are WAY too much for my preferences and I know that Poly 80 and SLSA don't play well together in large amounts.

I'll experiment with just a pinch of Poly 80 and include SLSA, and the truffles made with SLSA only and see what happens!

Thanks!


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## TBandCW (Dec 21, 2016)

dblbubble said:


> Hello everyone!
> 
> I'm a new member, but a long time stalker. I finally jumped into the deep end of bath bomb making 2 months ago and have been making sample bath bombs almost every day to see what works and what doesn't. I've been tweaking as I go along in order to find my "ideal" recipe.
> 
> ...



I don't use either in my bath bombs so I can't help you there.  When I first started making bath bombs I also experimented a lot with different ingredients, so good for you!  (of course the most expensive oil was the winner:???         You will find your perfect recipe!


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## dblbubble (Dec 21, 2016)

Thanks Kathy. You know the old saying, "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over-and-over and expecting a different result"? Well, that seems to be the case, but I'm enjoying the process. 

I keep a notebook and take notes on what works, what doesn't, the results, suggestions for something better, as well as understanding what the ingredients are and what they do/how they react together, and what I want the "experience" to be for a user. 

I've been down the rabbit hole on Susan Barclay-Nichols' website and love it!


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## NOLAGal (Feb 1, 2017)

dblbubble said:


> Hello everyone!
> 
> I'm a new member, but a long time stalker. I finally jumped into the deep end of bath bomb making 2 months ago and have been making sample bath bombs almost every day to see what works and what doesn't. I've been tweaking as I go along in order to find my "ideal" recipe.
> 
> ...



I've only been experimenting for a couple weeks making bath bombs and still looking for that elusive magically formula. From the research I've done SLS or SLSA , if you google them, have been reported as being a skin irritant for some people. There are also claims of it causing cancer that I have found, but nothing credible from what I've seen. SLS is in a lot of everyday products, just looking at my own shampoo and toothpaste I can find it.  Poly 80 on the other hand is not regarded as a skin irritant and doesn't have any controversy. There is a decent amount of people who avoid any products with SLS / SLSA in it. 

There is also a big difference in cost, it appears that Poly 80 is about 10x more expensive than SLS / SLSA.


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## shunt2011 (Feb 2, 2017)

SLSA is milder than SLS.  I won't use SLS in my products at all.   Check out Swiftcraftymonkey.com Susan has so much valuable information on surfecants and emulsifiers.


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## missroxy (Nov 19, 2022)

NOLAGal said:


> I've only been experimenting for a couple weeks making bath bombs and still looking for that elusive magically formula. From the research I've done SLS or SLSA , if you google them, have been reported as being a skin irritant for some people. There are also claims of it causing cancer that I have found, but nothing credible from what I've seen. SLS is in a lot of everyday products, just looking at my own shampoo and toothpaste I can find it.  Poly 80 on the other hand is not regarded as a skin irritant and doesn't have any controversy. There is a decent amount of people who avoid any products with SLS / SLSA in it.
> 
> There is also a big difference in cost, it appears that Poly 80 is about 10x more expensive than SLS / SLSA.


Sls is the one that has problems not slsa they are very different products but do the same thing slsa was developed to be used in place of sls also sls is much cheaper


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## amyrhope (Dec 21, 2022)

Hello! Sorry I am new on the forum, but have been experimenting with bath bombs for the last few months. Are you telling me that I DON’T need both poly80 and SLSA? That in fact it would have a not-as-great effect having them both? I use poly80 in every recipe, at half of what my carrier oil is. Whenever I add SLSA it adds some foam but usually just plops into a ball of foam when I put it in the bath, they work better if held under running water. But does SLSA work the same as Poly80 in the sense that it will disperse the oils in the bath water so it doesn’t create a slick at the top? What about lakes, will they disperse these also?! Thank you in advance


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## AliOop (Dec 31, 2022)

Hi there @amyrhope, 

While I’ve made bath bombs before, I’m newer to really exploring different ingredients. I use both PS80 and SLSa in my bath bombs, at pretty low percentages for each. It doesn’t create any stickiness at all.

I haven’t tried just SLSa as the solubilizer, but I don’t think it would work as well as PS80 to disperse the oils, FO, and colors. But to find out for sure, make a tiny batch and see what you think.

If you want less foam and more spinning, try using much less SLSa. You can still get nice foam with only 5g of SLSa in a batch of 800g.

You can also make a dual-recipe batch, where some of the mix has SLSa, and some doesn’t. Apparently that’s how Lush formulates their BBs so that they float, spin, and foam.

I learned a lot about this from watching the whole BB playlist from Creative Bath Lab. While her voice is a bit monotone, and she uses volume measurements (I prefer weights), she really gives a lot of good information about ingredients, and how they affect BB performance.

Hope that helps, and let us know how it goes.


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