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Castor Oil Replacement
Hello all! I am looking to replace castor oil (due to allergy issues) with a different oil in lip products (lip balm, lip gloss, lip oil). What oil could offer comparable thick consistency of castor oil with similar coating on the lips for long-lasting moisture?
Mineral oil, petrolatum, or animal-derived ingredients (ex. beeswax, lanolin) are not an option; but open to silicones, polyisobutene, natural oils…
Thank you! -
30 Replies
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I don’t work in this area…. But I am familiar with a supplier that carries lots of products for this segment, and maybe you are already familiar with them….. but maybe a good place to start.
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Have you considered one of the liquid shea butters or tamanu oil? Although the smell of tamnu may be an issue.
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I havent used but maybe Polybutene and a nice oil like Avocado and butters like Cocoa BUtter, Mango butter etc - Guess it also depends on what your budget is and quantity you are making. Anyway check out the link may help?
Polybutene — TKB Trading, LLC -
castor oil is hypoallergenic
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@natiyo123 - except it’s not hypoallergenic to the people who have an allergic reaction to it.
No chemical is free from causing an allergic reaction in some people.
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There are several papers one can find describe a contact allergy to Castor oil. With the most minimal effort here is just one; https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9284/4/1/5/htm
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well im confused now, because its labeled in the EPA safer choice list as a green circle, to be considered this, they cant be sensitizers
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Perry said:@natiyo123 - except it’s not hypoallergenic to the people who have an allergic reaction to it.
No chemical is free from causing an allergic reaction in some peopleMicroformulation said:
There are several papers one can find describe a contact allergy to Castor oil. With the most minimal effort here is just one; https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9284/4/1/5/htmI read both papers… is the first one a good reference? I mean the woman chewed on castor beans xD… the second one got me thinking
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These are both good references. They are case studies and represent people who actually have allergic reactions to castor oil / castor beans.
Just because something is labeled “EPA Safer Choice” doesn’t mean it is 100% completely safe for everyone. If you are a person with an allergic reaction to castor oil, it is certainly not the “safer” choice.
If the EPA safer choice used a criteria of being 100% safe for everyone, there would be no substances on the list because nothing is safe for everyone.
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Also, if you look at the EPA Safer Choice Program, it really isn’t a predominant standard in Personal Care. I generally only have to vet raw materials under this list when I do Vet Care Products.
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@natiyo123 I am diagnosed with allergic contact dermatitis to castor oil, which inspired my search for a replacement raw material. While it is considered safe for most, castor oil contact dermatitis certainly happens, as Perry & Microformulation explained.
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Diisostearyl Malate is what you are looking for. It is much better than castor oil in terms of pigment-dispersing properties too.
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Polybutene from TKB is a good ingredient, but it’s much stickier and thicker than castor oil. Get both if you can. Depending on the preferred finish, you might want to try octyldodecanol (satin/glossy finish) and isododecane (very matt and powdery finish, think mac powder kiss lipstick)
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@ngarayeva001 thank you for helpful suggestions.
Will octyldodecanol provide shine/gloss & occlusion sufficient for lips? I would prefer to use it over polyisobutene (I agree it’s very sticky).
I was looking into Diisostearyl Malate but couldn’t find it at a US-based small suppliers, like LotionCrafter, MakingCosmetics, etc. I never ordered from MySkinRecipes - do you know if they are reliable? Thanks!
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kivangel said:never ordered from MySkinRecipes - do you know if they are reliable? Thanks!
Many on this site order from there. Yes, they are reliable, hence why she recommended them. There are some tricks to ordering from them…..
Shipping is the same for 1 gram to 500!!!!
So, a small order will kill you. Get as close to the 500 as you can…and shipping amortized over all ingredients becomes very reasonable.
Aloha.
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@Graillotion thank you for the ordering tips! That’s good to know.
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MySkinRecipes - hell yeah! I ordered once, currently preparing another order. Once you order and pay, they send you all datasheets, COA, SDS’s etc … very good. They have decent amount of info on each ingredient.
And shipment was not crazy at all .. from Thailand to NZ was $50 and it took a week only!! For example from NewDirection (Australia) it is about $70!! And Trulux (also AUS) similar cost. So for me it is not brainer
And the option that you can order custom amount is just amazing.
I was super happy with them so far.
Happy browsing their website. I could not get enough and was spending waaaay too much time inspecting all ingredients they have
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If you are ordering from TKB, you can try their Tridecyl Trimellitate.
If you are considering to order from MSR, they do also have Tridecyl Trimellitate, but you can also consider Diisostearyl Malate (mentioned above), Pentaerythrityl Tetraisostearate or Di-PPG-3 Myristyl Ether Adipate (rich but less thick consistency).
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@Paprik thank you for all the info! I was wondering about raw material documentation, so that’s great to hear. I’m on their website & I can see what you mean by spending too much time browsing… haha…
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@jemolian thank you! I like Tridecyl Trimellitate suggestion & will try it. It seems like it will provide occlusion, shine & some viscosity, all of which I am looking for. If you have any tips on working with it in anhydrous formulas, I would love to hear.
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I ordered from myskinrecipes multiple times. It usually takes just one week to deliver to London. It’s cheaper to get ingredients from Thailand than Italy now (hello brexit). Ingredients are well packaged and they provide supporting documentation. The only thing I order from the US are preservatives (just to be safe).
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@kivangel i’ve haven’t tried it in anhydrous formulas, normally i use the ones i’ve mentioned in my o/w moisturizer, but i don’t think it would be too difficult or different for anhydrous processing.
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@ngarayeva001 thank you so much! That’s great to hear, especially about supporting documentation. I also found on their website some other exciting raw materials that I couldn’t find anywhere else!
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kivangel said:@ngarayeva001 thank you so much! That’s great to hear, especially about supporting documentation. I also found on their website some other exciting raw materials that I couldn’t find anywhere else!
I have also made few purchases from MySkinRecipes and have bought a lot of products that I cant buy anywhere else here (unless in bulk). You can also buy in very small amounts so for the more expensive actives etc you can buy a small amount to play with and doesnt cost the earth! With exchange rates depending on where you are you will likely find very reasonable plus once you order before you confirm your shipment they give you a shipping quote and what the final cost (with packing) is so you can change your order at any time before final shipping etc. Everything is well packed and all documentation they email to you once they have shipped so you don’t end up with heaps of paper in the package that you would be paying for in weight! It’s easy to convert their costs which are in Thai BAHT (Just use Google for your basic exchange rate depending on what currency you have where you live). If you email them and ask for a basic shipping quote (not worth buying less than total weight of package 500g) to your country. I highly recommend then anyway. Even with shipping costs to Australia I pay much less than I do for products in my own country (and a lot I cant buy here anyway in small amounts or at all!). Good luck with your formulating
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Thank you @Squinny for detailed info! With all the positive feedback I got here, I placed my order & I’m excited to receive it 🙂
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