Xanthan Gum

A natural gum made from the fermentation of sugar.

We can purchase three different types of xanthan gum: regular, soft, and clear.

• Regular/normal xanthan gum is the most common and the cheapest; you can often purchase this ingredient at health food stores as well as from most DIY suppliers. It creates hazy gels that I generally describe as slimy and snotty.
• Soft, clear, and transparent xanthan gums create far more pleasant gels than regular xanthan gum; they feel far less snotty and are are much more carbomber-like in terms of clarity and skin feel. I’ve worked with both soft & clear/transparent xanthan gums from a few different suppliers and can’t really tell a difference between the two. I’d feel confident using one instead of the other, and I’d say you only need one of them.

Xanthan Gum

Fine off-white granular powder. Regular xanthan tends to be a bit more cream coloured while soft, clear, and transparent varieties are a bit whiter.

0.01–2%

Regular xanthan gum is a more potent thickener, so you’ll need ~20–30% more soft/clear/transparent xanthan gum to get the same amount of thickening.

Regular/ normal: Once hydrated it creates slick, slimy, opaque, grey-ish gels.

Soft/clear/transparent: Once hydrated they create slippy, cushiony gels that are clear and nearly colourless.

Nothing strong

6–8

Anionic

Water

In gels, xanthan gum creates the body of the gel. In emulsions, it can be used to stabilize and thicken by thickening the water phase.

I don’t like the feel of gels thickened solely with regular xanthan gum; I find them to be slimy, stringy, and unpleasant. I will use regular xanthan gum around 01–0.3% in emulsions—at that low usage rate, it contributes additional slip and adds stability to the emulsion.

Soft/clear/transparent xanthan gums are far more versatile than regular xathan gum as the skin feel and consistency is far more appealing. They can be used in emulsions as well as in gels as the sole gelling ingredient.

No, but it’s a good versatile gelling ingredient.

Effective natural gelling agent and thickener.

Regular: Unappealing consistency, poor leave-on skin feel (options on this vary with personal taste & concentration/overall formulation).

Soft/clear/transparent: More expensive than regular, not as readily available.

Consider guar gum or hydroxyethylcellulose.

I find soft/clear/transparent xanthan gums don’t thicken as strongly as regular xanthan gum, so if a formulation calls for regular xanthan gum and you’re using soft or clear/transparent, you’ll want to use a bit more. I’d start with 20–30% more, so if a formulation called for 0.4% regular xanthan gum, I’d try 0.5% soft/clear/transparent xanthan gum.

If a formulation calls for soft/clear/transparent xanthan gum, and you want to use regular instead, I’d use 20–30% less. You’ll also want to keep in mind that the skin feel and appearance will be different. If you’re making an emulsion or serum that contains a small % of xanthan to thicken and stabilize you likely won’t notice a huge difference, but if you’re making a gelled product and xanthan gum is the star gelling ingredient, you definitely will.

Pre-disperse it in glycerin or oil (depending on what else is in the formulation) before combining it with water to fully hydrate. I usually choose oil as the pre-dispersing medium when it is available as xanthan gum cannot clump in oil.

Soft/clear/transparent xanthan gums will hydrate much more quickly than regular xanthan gum.

Stored somewhere cool, dark, and dry, xanthan gum should last at least two years.

The inclusion of xanthan gum in emulsions can amplify the soaping effect.

Not all xanthan gum is vegan—an enzyme derived from chicken eggs can be used as part of the production process. Simply Ingredients sells a vegan version of soft xanthan gum.

30g (1oz)

Buy it from an online DIY ingredient supplier or Amazon.