Please check my formula

Lilyprincess

Hi everyone! Could you please let me know what is wrong with my formula? They turn too waxy while washing and if I fix that, it is soo wet:

Ingredients:Salt Scrub
Shea Butter	25	6.68%
Mango Butter	23	6.15%
Avocado oil	17	4.54%
Olivem 1000	8	2.14%
Arrowroot Powder	2.8	0.75%
Xanthan Gum	0.5	0.13%
Water	25	6.68%
Rose Water	8	2.14%
Aloe Water	26	6.95%
Salt	234	62.54%
Germall Plus	1.07	0.29%
Essential Oils	1.79	0.48%
Vitamin E2	2	0.53%
		100.00%	374.15

The other issue is that my lotion is a little too watery. I am trying to formulate a lotion that absorbs quick and has a thicker consistency:

Ingredients: Lotion
Shea Butter	50	15.63%
Mango Butter	30	9.38%
Avocado Oil	16.5	5.16%
Safflower Oil	14.4	4.50%
Grapeseed Oil	22.9	7.16%
Olivem 1000	12	3.75%
Arrowroot Flour	17.2	5.38%
Xanthan Gum	0.9	0.28%
Water	74.8	23.38%
Aloe	61	19.06%
Rose Water	15.5	4.84%
Germall Plus	1.5	0.47%
EO	1.2	0.38%
Vitamin E2	2.1	0.66%
		100.00%	320

Thanks in advance!

letsalcido

There are several things that are not quite right with your formulations.

The scrub:
- First and foremost, I don’t believe it’s possible to make a stable emulsion with 62% salt.
- Your water phase is smaller than your oil phase (~16% water phase vs ~20% oil phase), and you’re using an oil-in-water emulsifier when you should have a water-in-oil one.
- salt dissolves in water, your formula should be anhydrous instead, or some of your salt will be “wasted” by being dissolved in your water phase.
- it feels waxy because you’re using a lot of waxy , heavy fats (shea and mango butter) and the emulsifier.

My recommendation for this one is: go simple, and don’t make this any sort of emulsion. Ditch the water phase (xanthan, water, hydrosol...) and the emulsifier (olivem 1000). Then, before making the scrub find a ratio of butters to oils that creates a soft paste (like room temp butter maybe), and see how it feels on your skin (before adding the salt). To make that more rinsable, you’ll want to find a surfactant (think polysorbates, PEGs, etc) that is dispersible in oils. Or you can just omit this part but you’ll have to soap up a lot after using the scrub.

The lotion:
With > 35% oils and butters, I don’t think that lotion will absorb quickly by any means. Specially those you’re using which are very heavy and oily. It’s also likely that it’s not stable, you need as much emulsifier as ~20% of your oils. You have around 10% of your oil phase. I would recommend halving the oils and butters (specially if it’s a lotion) you don’t need that much. Or double the emulsifier if you really want to much oil. And add 5-6% of some combination of stearic acid, cetyl alcohol or cetearyl alcohol. You can play with that and do 2% of stearic acid and 4% cetyl alcohol, for example. That will thickening it up pretty good, without using so much oil. 

Lilyprincess

Thank you so much! For the surfactant we are looking to use Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate, what percentage would you recommend?

As for the lotion, will the formula below work better or would you recommend adding cetyl alcohol as well:

Ingredients:Lotion
Shea Butter	25	8.33%
Mango Butter	15	5.00%
Avocado Oil	8	2.67%
Safflower Oil	8.1	2.70%
Grapeseed Oil	13	4.33%
Olivem 1000	12	4.00%
Glyceryl Stearate	16	5.33%
Arrowroot Flour	17.2	5.73%
Xanthan Gum	0.9	0.30%
Water	80	26.67%
Aloe	70	23.33%
Rose Water	30	10.00%
Germall Plus	1.5	0.50%
EO	1.2	0.40%
Vitamin E2	2.1	0.70%	300
		100.00%

Thank you in advance! 

Lilyprincess

letsalcido said:

There are several things that are not quite right with your formulations.

The scrub:
- First and foremost, I don’t believe it’s possible to make a stable emulsion with 62% salt.
- Your water phase is smaller than your oil phase (~16% water phase vs ~20% oil phase), and you’re using an oil-in-water emulsifier when you should have a water-in-oil one.
- salt dissolves in water, your formula should be anhydrous instead, or some of your salt will be “wasted” by being dissolved in your water phase.
- it feels waxy because you’re using a lot of waxy , heavy fats (shea and mango butter) and the emulsifier.

My recommendation for this one is: go simple, and don’t make this any sort of emulsion. Ditch the water phase (xanthan, water, hydrosol...) and the emulsifier (olivem 1000). Then, before making the scrub find a ratio of butters to oils that creates a soft paste (like room temp butter maybe), and see how it feels on your skin (before adding the salt). To make that more rinsable, you’ll want to find a surfactant (think polysorbates, PEGs, etc) that is dispersible in oils. Or you can just omit this part but you’ll have to soap up a lot after using the scrub.

The lotion:
With > 35% oils and butters, I don’t think that lotion will absorb quickly by any means. Specially those you’re using which are very heavy and oily. It’s also likely that it’s not stable, you need as much emulsifier as ~20% of your oils. You have around 10% of your oil phase. I would recommend halving the oils and butters (specially if it’s a lotion) you don’t need that much. Or double the emulsifier if you really want to much oil. And add 5-6% of some combination of stearic acid, cetyl alcohol or cetearyl alcohol. You can play with that and do 2% of stearic acid and 4% cetyl alcohol, for example. That will thickening it up pretty good, without using so much oil. 

Thank you so much! For the surfactant we are looking to use Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate, what percentage would you recommend?

As for the lotion, will the formula below work better or would you recommend adding cetyl alcohol as well:

Ingredients:Lotion
Shea Butter	25	8.33%
Mango Butter	15	5.00%
Avocado Oil	8	2.67%
Safflower Oil	8.1	2.70%
Grapeseed Oil	13	4.33%
Olivem 1000	12	4.00%
Glyceryl Stearate	16	5.33%
Arrowroot Flour	17.2	5.73%
Xanthan Gum	0.9	0.30%
Water	80	26.67%
Aloe	70	23.33%
Rose Water	30	10.00%
Germall Plus	1.5	0.50%
EO	1.2	0.40%
Vitamin E2	2.1	0.70%	300
		100.00%

Thank you in advance! 

letsalcido

@Lilyprincess SCI should be fine I think. You’ll have to figure out how much you need by experimentation. But maybe 5-10% is a good start? I’ve never made a scrub like this one before. It will also depend on the skin feel you’re after.

And yes, I would add cetyl alcohol to the lotion.

Lilyprincess

@letsalcido got it! Thanks so much!