Start low beside SLES and CAPB, then plot haze and salt. Do not start at a dish-liquid amide level.
Four limits at once
Foam creaminess wants more amide. Clarity wants less. The salt curve wants a defined peak. Mildness files want a level you can defend. The dose window is the overlap, not the maximum that still foams.
Esteem can supply CMEA, lauramide MEA, or the EO liquids. The window is built in your chassis. A sample request that says “typical shampoo level” without the anionic active will be answered with a range, and should be.
Order of addition still matters
The best percentage, added cold onto a diluted base, never dissolves and is judged as a bad dose. Melt flake into the hot surfactant phase, then cool, then salt. The dose window is meaningless if the process strands the amide.
Fragrance last, then a final clarity check at the coldest temperature on the label.
Window
Baby and frequent-use washes often sit at the low end of the window and rely more on the amphoteric. Adult clarifying shampoos can sit higher if clarity allows.
Record the amide as activity. A switch from flake to 5EO liquid without an activity correction looks like a failed window.
| Signal | Meaning | Move |
|---|---|---|
| Thin foam film | Amide or anionic low | Small amide step |
| Haze when cold | At the solubility edge | Stop or use EO-amide |
| Salt overshoot | Peak moved left | Cut salt, replot |
| DEA-free label | CDEA not allowed | Stay on CMEA |
Four limits, one overlap
A little CMEA in an SLES and CAPB chassis tightens the foam film. More of it thickens the shampoo at lower salt, because it pushes rod-like micelles. Still more of it reaches the solubility limit and the bottle hazes when it cools, and the salt peak moves so far left that a normal salt addition overshoots. Mildness files add a fourth stop, because the level has to be one you can justify, not merely one that foams.
The window is that overlap. It is not the maximum that still gives foam. It depends on SLES active, CAPB, fragrance, and the coldest storage temperature. A request that says “typical shampoo level” without the anionic active can only be answered with a range. Baby and frequent-use washes usually sit at the low end and lean on the amphoteric. A clarifying shampoo can sit higher if clarity still passes.
Process can hide a correct dose
The right percentage, added cold onto a diluted base, never dissolves. Particles sit in the shampoo, viscosity never builds, and the trial is written down as a bad dose. Melt flake into the hot surfactant phase, cool, then add salt. Fragrance goes in after the curve is known, because solubilizers move both viscosity and haze.
Then read clarity at the coldest temperature on the label, not at the lab bench. A switch from flake CMEA to a 5EO liquid without correcting for activity looks like a failed window: the amide delivered per batch changed even though the formula percentage did not. Record the dose as activity.
What each failure is telling you
A thin foam film means the amide or the anionic is low, so take a small amide step and replot. Haze only when cold means you are at the solubility edge: stop, or move to an EO-amide, rather than adding alcohol first. Viscosity that falls when salt is added means the peak has moved left: cut salt and replot, do not add more salt. A DEA-free label means the top-up cannot be CDEA.
Pearl shampoos remove haze as a limiter and replace it with pearl grain. Viscosity can come from the amide and from the pearl ester together. CAPB can sometimes carry the formula with no amide, at the cost of the film strength CMEA was adding. That choice belongs on the CMEA versus CAPB comparison, made in this chassis, not borrowed from a dish liquid.
How to Specify with Esteem
- Fix SLES and CAPB actives first.
- Add CMEA in small steps on activity.
- Stop when haze or the salt peak arrives, even if foam could still rise.
- If DEA-free, do not “top up” with CDEA.
- Confirm mildness tests if the amide level moved a lot.
The chassis comparison is CMEA versus CDEA versus CAPB. Grades are on the viscosity-builder page.