Cosmetic Your Ways Blog
Free Natural & Stable Body Lotion
In this post, I will share how to formulate a STABLE natural body lotion. I will include some percentages which you can customize. Lotions, at their core, are three different ingredients—water, oil, and emulsifier. As you know, water and oil do not mix. They need something to aid in dispersing one into another. The emulsifier we will use today is Ritamulse SCG (INCI: Glyceryl Stearate, Ceteryl Alcohol, and Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate). This emulsifier is a complete emulsifier that can be used in a pH range of 5-7.5. The max oil phase you can have is 25%. It is suggested usage rate is 2-10%. I have found from doing real-time stability testing that It should be 6% or greater. In this formulation, I am going to be using 6%.
Summer Cooling Mist
In the northern hemisphere it is really warming up. I wanted to formulating a nice refreshing and cooling mist.
I need to be careful
I am furthering the discussion from Instagram to the blog on if you need to be a chemist to formulate.
I have a broad audience that subscribes to this blog. From cosmetic chemists to brand owners to people who want to learn more. I need to be careful as I do not want to discourage people from formulating because they think they cannot do it. I want to encourage people to learn. I want you to refrain from following recipes. I want you to be able to learn and make your own formulations. It is such an empowering feeling.
Salicylic Acid Posts
Salicylic acid can be very hard to work with. It is not very soluble in water. In this post, will link to all my posts on salicylic acid for you to read through. I have learned a lot of tips to make it stay in solution and not crystalize out.
What Should the pH of Our Products Be?
In this post, we will discuss the ideal pH level for our products. If you are unfamiliar with pH, please refer to this post (link) for more information.
Thoughts on Body Scrubs
I have been playing around with body scrub formulations. I thought that I would share my thoughts on what I have noticed. I have been trying to make a lighter scrub for warmer months. My first iteration was way too hard, which would be good for a solid exfoliating bar. I then reduced the thickeners, and it became really soft. I have different versions with different oils used.
CO2 Extractions at Home
This was one of the organic chemistry labs we conducted. For context, we did steam distillation before. It required a lot of material and heating for over an hour. CO2 extraction is considered a greener method for obtaining essential oils. CO2 is non-flammable, readily available, relatively non-toxic, and easily removable from the product. CO2 is used in industry. Although it is a greenhouse gas, it can be captured and reused. This is still a micro scale. The yield will be quite low due to the small amount of essential oil that is in there anyway. As you will see, there is little to no heating in this experiment, which means there will be a significantly lower chance of oxidation during the extraction process.
Terpenes and Phenylpropanoids
For my organic chemistry lab, we performed steam distillation of essential oils. In my lab textbook, there is an essay on essential oils that I wanted to summarize for you.
Disclaimer:
You are at your own risk when making anything from this blog. I am not liable for any mishaps that may occur. I do my best to include everything in the procedure to minimize the likelihood of accidents. My recommendation is always to read the post entirely first and then make the product.
Please keep in mind that these recipes/formulations are NOT meant to be sold or reproduced in large quantities. None of my recipes has been appropriately stability tested. I recommend seeking professional help if you want to start your own line of business. (link)
Always test a patch of new ingredients before using them.
Comments and opinions written by authors on Cosmetic Your Ways are their own and do not represent the views of any past, present, or future employers.