the fundamental problem is that the two parts of your formula (HEC gel and surfactants) are not sufficiently mixed, and the large difference in viscosity makes efficient mixing very difficult
one way round it is to take advantage of the fact that the speed of hydration increases with temperature
the best way to do this is to add HEC to your room-temperature water, skip the hydration step, add the surfactants on top of your non-hydrated HEC dispersion, and heat it up with constant stirring
once it gets to 75°C it will hydrate within minutes, if not seconds, and you should get a more uniform gel
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