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  • Baby Cosmetics Chemist looking for bath bomb help

    Posted by Soexcited on February 1, 2019 at 5:05 pm

    As a baby cosmetics chemist, I decided to take on a project that fits my level of knowledge. And because I have a talent for making easy things complicated I need your advice and recommendations. I understand that advice or recommendation may be, “don’t do it, there’s a reason it’s not done.”

    I would like to incorporate more than the 3oz or so per batch of Shea butter to a bath bomb recipe. I don’t want it to produce a layer of oil that sits on top of the bath water.
    So here are my questions.

    1. Is there an emulsifier I can add to the oil before adding it to the dry ingredients to do this?

    2. Is there a way to anticipate the ratio of oil to emulsifier needed?

    Thanks in advance for any advice you can give.

    gunther replied 5 years, 1 month ago 2 Members · 3 Replies
  • 3 Replies
  • Soexcited

    Member
    February 1, 2019 at 5:11 pm

    And I have done Google searches and looked at the ingredients list on many products being sold. I didn’t find any helpful information 

  • Soexcited

    Member
    February 1, 2019 at 5:40 pm

    Trying to see if I’m understanding what I’m reading as I search for information. 

    I would need something with an HLB somewhere between 8-12 to get the oil to disperse throughout the system?

    nope, I’m pretty sure I’m not understanding that correctly 

  • gunther

    Member
    February 1, 2019 at 7:09 pm

    Oils usually just hinder cleaning and don’t add much emollient activity to cleansing formulations.

    Bath bombs need to be bone dry, otherwise citric acid begins reacting with baking soda. So your emulsifier needs to be bone dry too.
    I was thinking Polysugamulse D9 as it quickly solubilizes oils, but it’s only 65-68% solids, so it contains water.
    http://www.colonialchem.com/fullpanel/uploads/files/poly%20sugamulse%20d9.pdf

    IMO you can drop oils/waxes to claims ingredients levels, and try a “water soluble oil”, i.e. PEG-7 glyceryl cocoate
    even so you’d need to conduct lots of stability tests to make sure the water soluble oils don’t make the bombs brittle or unstable.
    Best of luck.

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