Ask for acid value and free amine with the assay. A dark, high-acid amide will show up in a clear base even when the name is CMEA.
The reaction leaves two leftovers
Amidification does not always consume every fatty acid and every alkanolamine. The leftovers are acid value and free amine. They are ordinary certificate items, and they move clarity and odor more often than a change in coconut origin does.
Esteem’s amidification guide is the chemistry. Your purchasing spec should turn it into numbers that goods-in can reject.
What the shampoo notices
High-acid amides can dull a clear base and shift odor. High free amine is a specification and odor issue of its own. Neither is fixed by more salt. If a new lot fails the clarity hold, compare these numbers before you reformulate.
Color is the third visible. A darker flake in an uncolored shampoo is a lot issue, not a preservative issue.
Spec line
Store flakes dry. Moisture and heat after delivery can change color even when the certificate was met at the plant.
Approve one lot in the full formula. A beaker of amide in water is not the shampoo.
| Number | High result suggests | Check in |
|---|---|---|
| Acid value | Residual fatty acid | Odor and haze |
| Free amine | Residual alkanolamine | Compliance and odor |
| Assay | True amide level | Viscosity dose |
| Color | Process or storage | Clear base |
Two leftovers from one condensation
An alkanolamide is the product of a fatty acid and an alkanolamine. Fatty acid plus monoethanolamine gives a monoethanolamide and water. Fatty acid plus diethanolamine gives a diethanolamide and water. The reaction does not have to consume both feeds completely. Unreacted fatty acid shows up as acid value. Unreacted monoethanolamine or diethanolamine shows up as free amine.
Those two numbers describe how far the lot went. They move clarity and odor more often than a change in coconut origin does. Foam marketing does not capture them. A dark, high-acid amide will show in a clear shampoo even when the name on the drum is CMEA.
How the shampoo notices
Residual fatty acid can dull a clear base, shift odor, and change how the amide sits in the anionic micelle. Residual alkanolamine is an odor and compliance issue of its own: residual DEA on a diethanolamide, residual MEA on a monoethanolamide. Neither fault is repaired by adding salt. If a new lot fails a clarity hold, compare acid value, free amine, and color with the previous lot before the formula is rewritten.
Ethoxylated CMEA does not inherit the flake certificate line by line. The EO step changes the molecule and the residuals that matter. Set limits for the grade you buy. Blending a high-acid lot into a low-acid lot to average a cosmetic specification is a quality decision, not a plant shortcut, and it should not happen without approval.
What goods-in can actually reject
Assay, acid value, free amine, and color are the four numbers that predict dose, odor, compliance, and a clear base. Approve them on a lot that has been put through the full shampoo or detergent, not on a beaker of amide in water. The micelle is where haze and viscosity appear.
Store flakes dry and cool. Moisture and heat after delivery can darken a lot that met the certificate at the plant. A smell change with no fragrance change is a reason to pull those four numbers, not a reason to reformulate the perfume first.
How to Specify with Esteem
- Name CMEA, lauramide MEA, EO-CMEA, or CDEA.
- Set acid value, free amine, assay, and color.
- Smell and color-check a lab shampoo, not only the flake.
- Do not blend a high-acid lot into a low-acid lot to “average” a cosmetic spec without approval.
- Keep the salt curve on the approved lot.
The process explainer is what is amidification.