Home Cosmetic Science Talk Formulating Anhydrous Body Butter & Sugar Scrub- Adding Heat stability?

  • Anhydrous Body Butter & Sugar Scrub- Adding Heat stability?

    Posted by SolarMuse on January 9, 2017 at 11:03 pm

    Hi All!
    I have some great body butters and emulsified sugar scrubs that work and ship great in winter. Living in the South means that as the days get warmer, I will need to ship these items in coolers, or find a way to increase their melting point without turning them into a glob of wax. Can I add stearic acid to boost the melting point? Anything else I might do to help this problem?

    Body Butter
    55%mango butter
    15%shea butter
    5%cocoa butter
    25% oils
    5% Cetyl Alcohol
    4.5% Tapioca Starch

    Sugar Scrub
    25% Shea butter
    5% Cocoa butter
    65% oils
    5%Phytomulse (Cetearyl Alcohol & Glyceryl Stearate)

    johnb replied 7 years, 2 months ago 6 Members · 13 Replies
  • 13 Replies
  • johnb

    Member
    January 10, 2017 at 11:08 am

    You state “emulsified” sugar scrubs - where is the emulsion and where is the sugar?

    Anyway, that aside, I think that stearic acid may work for this but, probably better, would be a wax or a high melting glyceride such as hydrogenated castor oil (castor wax).

  • johnb

    Member
    January 10, 2017 at 11:28 am

    N.B. Please do not confuse hydrogenated castor oil with PEG40 hydrogenated castor oil as I have known people to do in the past. They are totally different.

  • SolarMuse

    Member
    January 10, 2017 at 2:44 pm

    Thanks @johnb- The sugar scrub emulsion isn’t really a true emulsion.  I am using Phytomulse (Cetearyl Alcohol & Glyceryl Stearate), with the oils and butters. When you use the scrub in the bath, it turns the water a lovely milky white and rinses from the body easier. And yes, I did not list the % sugar, I am playing around with the percentage, something like 140% of the base.  

    Would you use a wax or hydrogenated castor oil with the body butter as well?

  • johnb

    Member
    January 10, 2017 at 3:33 pm

    I’d try the same in both - no point in increasing your raw materials inventry without good reason!

    Please do test it first to ensure it does what you want and to work out how much you want in there to give the best effect.

  • chemicalmatt

    Member
    January 11, 2017 at 4:44 pm

    Add ceresine to these at 0.50% and you should be good to go up to 45C.

  • bobzchemist

    Member
    January 11, 2017 at 10:11 pm

    It might be worth looking into Cera Bellina as well.

  • tanelise

    Member
    January 11, 2017 at 10:57 pm

    Hi! I started a discussion “Need supplier for 110 degree coconut oil” (no replies yet) because I’m trying to achieve the same goal. I use 76 degree coconut oil in my emulsified scrubs but need to find some with a higher melting point. Shay & Co has 110 degree but you have to purchase 50 lbs.  92 degree is easy to find as well (www.soaperschoice.com)

    If you’re in the market for reformulating you might try adding coconut oil with a high melting point. I use about 8% and I also use stearic acid at about 7% as well, plus polysorbate 20 to give me the creaminess I desire.

    I broke your scrub formula down (assuming you added sugar equal to the amount of your batch weight):

    50% Sugar
    32.5% Oils
    12.5% Shea Butter
    2.5% Cocoa Butter
    2.5% Emulsifying wax
    100% 

    What if you:

    * cut some of your shea butter and add stearic (it’ll save you some $)
    * reduce your liquid oils and sub with coconut oil, and increase your sugar by about 6 or 7%?

  • SolarMuse

    Member
    January 14, 2017 at 5:13 pm

    Thanks @johnb, ; @chemicalmatt, @Bobzchemist, and @tanelise for your advice. I have started to research these waxes and am trying to balance my ‘natural’ claims with finding the most effective and closest to ‘natural’ wax. I am trying to find how these waxes are made and if any chemicals are involved that would make a ‘natural’ beauty girl frown. Which of these waxes do you think would fit my criteria? Ceresin/castor wax, Cera Bellina, or Emulsifying wax?

  • microformulation

    Member
    January 14, 2017 at 5:28 pm

    Chemicals are always involved. “Natural” is an undefined term. You really need to refine and clarify these terms.

  • bobzchemist

    Member
    January 15, 2017 at 1:22 am
  • johnb

    Member
    January 15, 2017 at 7:57 am

    I was unware, until your post of the 14th, that you had any requirement for your product to be “natural”.

    You should examine the “naturalness” of cetyl alcohol and of Phytomulse before you proceed.

  • SolarMuse

    Member
    January 15, 2017 at 9:11 pm

    Yes, @Microformulation and @johnb ‘natural’ is undefined and I am learning as I go. I know that it isn’t likely that I am going to product a 100% natural product that I like. I now that I need some refined ingredients. I am trying to find those processed ingredients that are the most sustainable and least offensive to a hippie. For instance, the acetyl alcohol that I have is produced from RSPO (Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil) palm oil. I should have stated that in my first post.  Sorry that I wasn’t clear.

  • johnb

    Member
    January 16, 2017 at 9:38 am

    (a)Cetyl alcohol may well have had its origins in a palm tree but natural, it is not. It is produced by the chemical reduction of the fatty acids in palm oil which in turn are produced by the hyrolysis of palm oil triglycerides. Similarly with cetearyl alcohol (even worse, that may have been produced from the fats in a dead cow).

    Glyceryl stearate could have had a vegetable or animal origin. Either way, it is produced by chemical processing.

    Using sustainable ingredients is a laudible philosophy but that doesn’t mean you must work on formulating inferior products to satisfy the whims of a very small section of your potential marketplace by insisting on “natural”.

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