Home Cosmetic Science Talk Formulating Improving lactic acid moisturizer

  • Improving lactic acid moisturizer

    Posted by georgiliolev on December 23, 2016 at 5:40 pm

    Hello, I’ve been making quite a good and likeable anti-aging formula , containing lactic acid and retinyl palmitate. I would like advice on how to improve the formula and also make it cheaper if possible.

    Clients want a thick, not too-oily cream, packed in a jar

    Formula
    Water phase 70%
     
    lactic acid - 6%
    glycerin - 2%
    propylene glycol - 3%
    allantoin - 0.5%
    acacia gum - 5%
    salicylic acid - 0.2% ( only as preservative)
    Aqua - qs

    Oil phase 28% (  maybe it should be lower %? )

    Tego Care 450 emulsifier - 3% ( INCI: Polyglyceryl-3 Methylglucose distearate)
    Stearic acid - 4%
    Cetyl Palmitate - 6%
    Shea butter - 3%
    Sunflower oil - 12%

    Cold phase - Retinyl palmitate 2%, fragrance

    Keep in mind that in my country I could barely obtain any ingredient, there are almost no cosmetic supply companies and I have to use lab suppliers

    markbroussard replied 7 years, 3 months ago 3 Members · 3 Replies
  • 3 Replies
  • georgiliolev

    Member
    December 23, 2016 at 6:02 pm

    Also, among the mentioned ingredients, which is best to increase for more thickness?
    I think I have enough solid fats , however viscosity is still low, i’m really wondering what is causing that

  • johnb

    Member
    December 24, 2016 at 2:00 pm

    You could try partially neutralising the lactic acid so that you have a mixture of lactic acid and one of its salts (sodium, potassium, ammonium).

    To increase viscosity you could try replacing all or part of the cetyl palmitate and/or stearic acid with cetyl, cetearyl or stearyl alcohol.

    The quantity of acacia seems rather high - what is its function in the mix?

    I would not rely on 0.2% salicylic acid as an effective preservative.

  • markbroussard

    Member
    December 24, 2016 at 2:22 pm

    @georgiliolev:

    I would recommend dropping your total oils/emollients (Cetyl Palmitate, Shea Butter & Sunflower Oil) to 15 or 16% … So, you might try dropping each of those proportionately to 4%, 3%, 8%.

    Yes, 5% Acacia Gum doesn’t make much sense and is probably also part of your problem.  You’ll only need 0.2% to 0.3% as an emulsion stabilizer.

    Ditto on replacing the Stearic Acid with Cetyl Alcohol to thicken it up.

    With that much Lactic Acid … I assume your pH is around 3.5 … you won’t need much, but as mentioned above, Salicylic Acid alone is not a broad spectrum preservative.

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