Can you make "heavy water" Deuterium Oxide?

General

Can you make “heavy water” Deuterium Oxide?

Posted by esthetician922 on May 28, 2020 at 3:20 pm

It’s called for in one of my formulations.

esthetician922 replied 4 years, 10 months ago 6 Members · 9 Replies
9 Replies

EVchem

Member
May 28, 2020 at 3:45 pm

short answer no you have to buy it. follow up question why is your formula asking for it?
esthetician922

Member
May 28, 2020 at 4:58 pm

Thanks @EVchem it’s in a toner formula. Now my follow up is why do you ask? 🙂 should I not use it??
OldPerry

Professional Chemist / Formulator
May 28, 2020 at 5:06 pm

@esthetician922 - I can’t imagine any benefit that a person would get using Deuterium in a cosmetic product. Deuterium is composed of an isotope of Hydrogen that contains a neutron. Standard Hydrogen contains no neutron. But the presence or absence of a neutron in water can make exactly zero noticeable difference to a cosmetic product user.

Relevant - “Extracting deuterium from seawater is a simple and well proven industrial process. “Heavy water”, or D2O (water in which deuterium substitutes for hydrogen), is separated from regular water by chemical exchange processes…” https://www.iter.org/newsline/167/631

Using this in marketing materials or as a treatment is a total cock & bull story.
esthetician922

Member
May 28, 2020 at 5:09 pm

Haha @Perry thanks. I am the OP not evchem . Would it change the feel of the product to add it?
Pharma

Member
May 28, 2020 at 7:04 pm

Heavy water is nearly identical to normal water in most regards, even biological systems. Only regular consumption of considerable amounts will slightly mess with some enzymes which ultimately will cause certain health issues.

One drawback is that it is heavier and water-oil emulsions will more easily show creaming or sedimentation. On the up-side, you can fit 100 g in a smaller jar…

As an anecdotal side note: I once had a neighbour who, back in the day, had a friend working at PSI. Said guy worked with D2O and one day, they had the glorious idea of making coffee with heavy water. According to my neighbour, said coffee was amazing because it tasted EXACTLY like coffee :smiley: .
OldPerry

Professional Chemist / Formulator
May 28, 2020 at 7:22 pm

@esthetician922 - it might change the way the product feels and behaves inside a particle super collider, but not when topically applied to the skin.
ngarayeva001

Member
May 28, 2020 at 9:40 pm

To be honest I would rather have hard water as a popular trend than not using proper preservatives and vilifying silicones.
alchemist01

Member
May 29, 2020 at 11:56 am

Buying a substantial quantity of deuterium might put you on an FBI watchlist
esthetician922

Member
May 29, 2020 at 3:59 pm

Hahaha @alchemist01

Can you make “heavy water” Deuterium Oxide?