Name CMEA or lauric monoethanolamide. “MEA amide” is not a purchasing specification.
Chain length is the keyword
Coco monoethanolamide reflects the coconut fatty-acid cut. Lauric monoethanolamide is the narrower lauric grade. In an anionic shampoo both boost foam and help viscosity, but the lauric grade is the one Esteem describes for stable, dense foam. Buyers who only write “amide” receive the grade the supplier prefers.
Personal-care and home-care both use these products. A hand-dish liquid and a baby wash do not share one irritancy or haze limit. Name the product.
Foam versus salt
Amides build viscosity by changing micelle shape and they slow foam drainage. If the brief is only salt response, say so. If the brief is a creamier lather that survives soil, the lauric versus coco choice matters more than another half percent of sodium chloride.
Betaine will not duplicate this. CAPB is an amphoteric co-surfactant. The CMEA versus CAPB article on this site is the decision note; this note is only the two monoethanolamides.
Handling
Dissolve flakes in the hot anionic phase. Adding a monoethanolamide to a cold, water-thin premix is how plants decide the amide “does not work.”
Report amide assay and free amine if they are on your certificate. A low assay looks like a weak foam booster.
| Grade | Published role | Watch |
|---|---|---|
| Coco MEA | Foam boost and viscosity, low irritancy | Haze if overdosed |
| Lauric MEA | Dense, stable foam and viscosity | Solubility of the flake |
| CMEA 3EO/5EO | Liquid alternative | Activity, not flake weight |
| CAPB | Not an amide | Different mildness and salt curve |
What the amide does in the foam film
A shampoo foam is a set of thin water films between air bubbles. Those films drain by gravity until they break. CMEA and lauramide MEA sit at the surface with the anionic surfactant and raise the viscosity of that film. Drainage slows, the bubbles look creamier, and the lather survives soil longer than the anionic alone. The amide is not the molecule that creates the foam. SLES, SLS, or another primary surfactant does that.
Chain length is why the two monoethanolamides are not the same booster. Lauric monoethanolamide is a narrow C12 cut. It packs into an ordered film and is the grade the viscosity-builder table describes for stable, dense foam. Coco monoethanolamide reflects the coconut cut, a mix of shorter and longer chains. It boosts foam and viscosity and is easier to dissolve. A purchase order that says only “MEA amide” lets the supplier choose which of those films you get.
Micelle shape is the viscosity mechanism
Below a threshold, SLES micelles are small spheres and the shampoo is thin. Salt screens the charge on the sulfate head and lets the micelles grow into rods. A monoethanolamide promotes that growth at a lower salt level because the hydrophobe joins the micelle core and the small head group changes the packing. Viscosity rises. Past the peak, more salt or more amide does not make more rods that help; the system thins or clouds.
Cocamidopropyl betaine also moves this curve, and it adds an amphoteric charge the amide does not have. It will not copy the film strength of lauramide MEA. If the brief is salt response only, say so. If the brief is a creamier lather that survives sebum or dish grease, the lauric versus coco choice matters more than another half percent of sodium chloride.
Why the flake sometimes “does not work”
Both grades are high-melting solids relative to a liquid detergent. They have to be dissolved in the hot anionic phase. Added to a cold, water-thin premix, the flake stays as particles, the assay never enters the micelle, and the foam and the viscosity look weak. That is a process failure, not a weak lot.
A low amide assay looks the same in the bottle. Ask for assay and free amine with the sample. A low assay under-doses the film even when the drum weight matches last month’s formula. Haze at the fill temperature is the other limit: coco is more forgiving than lauric, and neither grade is CDEA.
How to Specify with Esteem
- State SLES, SLS, or sulfate-free primary.
- Choose coco for solubility and cost balance, lauric for a tighter foam film.
- Give the target: flash foam, cream foam, or viscosity.
- Do not replace either 1:1 with CAPB and expect the same salt curve.
- Check haze at the fill temperature.
Both grades are on viscosity builders and foaming agents.