Varisoft® EQ 65 (Distearoylethyl Dimonium Chloride, Cetearyl Alcohol)

I find Varisoft® EQ 65 doesn’t work very well compared to less natural alternatives like BTMS-50 and behentrimonium chloride (BTMC). I don’t like it and I don’t recommend it unless your product needs to be completely natural and you are ok with sub-par performance.

Non-cationic emulsifying waxes (Polawax, Emulsifying Wax NF, Olivem 1000, Ritamulse, etc.) are not good alternatives for Varisoft® EQ 65 as they are not going to bring that conditioning element to your formulation. They’ll emulsify the product, but that’s it. This is likely not going to ruin the product, but it will definitely negatively impact the performance. If it’s a hair conditioner you will definitely notice a decline in detangling and the silkiness of the hair. If it’s a conditioning body butter, there’s really no reason to use something Polawax in place of the Varisoft® EQ 65; the Varisoft® EQ 65 was included primarily for the conditioning element, not the emulsifying element, so using a non-cationic emulsifying wax in its place is somewhat useless. In an anhydrous application I’d probably try replacing Varisoft® EQ 65 with 50% cetyl or cetearyl alcohol and 50% soft or liquid oil (more of whatever is in the recipe). That will likely require some tweaking for proper consistency, though. You would likely be better off looking for a body butter recipe that doesn’t use Varisoft® EQ 65.

You could try incorporating a different cationic ingredient like a polyquaternarium into your formulation to replace the conditioning part of the Varisoft® EQ 65, and then using a non-cationic emulsifying wax. You will need to watch solubility and usage rates, though.

The pH of the final product needs to be below 5 as Varisoft® EQ 65 breaks down in higher pH environments. General recommendations for final products are in the 4–4.5 range.