Teach Soap

I have been struggling constantly with my shampoos, because of viscosity problems.
Finally I decided to test one thing at a time.
I made a small batch of super thick shampoo using just the surfactants and water, nothing else.
Then I tried adding 1% of an aroma (almond) without polysorbate. The viscosity went down quite a lot
I had a thought: what does the polysorbate do alone?
To a second sample I added 1% of Tween-20. Shock, horror! The really thick shampoo turned to water
I've no idea how to get round this problem.

I would try a 2:1 ratio of Tween-20 to fragrance. Do you have access to any other polysorbates, like polysorbate 80?

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

No, unfortunately; only the Tween-20. I have an ever increasing selection of substances, but solubilization is something I have always taken for granted until now. I have some DEA that might work but anyway, it's not really acceptable these days to use it as an ingredient. Hmmm... could the solution (sorry for the pun) be, to use water soluble FO's? Do such things exist?
I have found that both the FO and the polysorbate both affect the viscosity and usually, adversely. The big problem is that the Tween immediately wrecks the mycelle structure and the lovely super-thick shampoo turns to water. 1% was plenty to do that. I like to use 1% of FO but now . . . ?
There is a supplier local to me, Colores Sabores y Perfumes, I think they have a large range of water or alcohol-based perfumes. Can't use alcohol in shampoo though. Or maybe a small amount?

A small amount of alcohol to help solubize the fragrance might help. Or try the water soluble fragrance. I know that some fragrances turn a thick liquid soap watery, like orange and thicken it like Lavender no matter whether or not any polysorbate has been added.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

I haven't tried it, but it makes sense to me; liquid soap is anionic, I think.
I've emailed one of my suppliers to see if they can get some info on this problem. It occurs to me that there must be more than one solubilizer aailable.. I hope!