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4.5
Keratin is a protein that makes up a large portion of your hair, nails, and outer layer of skin. I've been wanting to use it as an additive for my skincare and haircare products for some time now for the benefits it can provide. In my soaps, I use silk protein, which provides a really nice feel to the lather. While silk protein (aka fibroin) and keratin are similar, they are not identical.Keratin is practically insoluble in water. Most of the recipes I have found call for hydrolyzed keratin, which is not the same as the 100% keratin being offered here. In order to hydrolyze it, it needs to be broken down into amino acids by some type of strong alkali. I use lye to break down my silk protein and used the same for this keratin powder. It's important to keep the temperature of the lye solution low enough not to scorch the keratin and stink up the place something fierce. However, even in the best of situations, it will still stink like sulfur. Once the keratin is completely dissolved, the excess alkali in the solution needs to be neutralized if it is to be used in a skincare product. This can be done with any number of acids from citric to acetic to hydrochloric, but the product of the reaction will be different (i.e., sodium citrate, sodium acetate, sodium chloride, respectively).Once you have a pH neutral (for skin) or slightly acidic (for hair) solution of hydrolyzed keratin, you can feel free to add it to your skincare and haircare formulations as desired.
