Cleansing Balm leaves a grease

Formulating

Cleansing Balm leaves a grease

Posted by Twish on January 13, 2021 at 8:22 am

Hey everyone!

So, I formulated a cleansing balm with the following ingredients, but the wash off is not great. It leaves a film behind.

My earlier formulations were without soy wax but it would start to melt at 32 C. But wouls wash off quite nicely. Now it has a great texture and melts in my fingers but leaves a cast behind.

Also, do let me know will phenoxyethanol be stable in this formula.

Thank you all for your help!

Sunflower oil 25.5%
Castor oil 40%
Neem oil 5%
Soy Wax 10%
Emulsifying wax ( certaryl alc + cethareth 20) 10%
Cetyl alcohol 5%
Polysorbate 20 2%
Vit E 0.5%
Greentea extract 1%
Phenoxyethanol 0.5%
Ethylgexylglycerin + capryl glycol 0.5%

saraahsan replied 1 year, 10 months ago 6 Members · 13 Replies
- cleansing-balm-preservative
13 Replies

crillz

Member
January 13, 2021 at 9:15 am

I may be missing something but isn’t this all oil phase? If so don’t need emulsifying wax or polysorbate. Or preservative.
Twish

Member
January 13, 2021 at 9:31 am

Yes.. it is. The emulsifiers are for a wash off. So that it turns milky on contact with water and removes the make up, sunscreen and gunk without stripping the skin. And preservative so that it does not go bad if someone accidentally uses it with wet hands.
chemicalmatt

Member
January 13, 2021 at 1:51 pm

Cut that castor oil with some sulfonated castor oil and you’ll be in business. It won’t hurt the bath “bloom” you seek either.
Twish

Member
January 13, 2021 at 4:56 pm

Thank you @chemicalmatt any substitution for TRO? I would prefer something gentle and am not sure of the quality of TRO available here.
ngarayeva001

Member
January 13, 2021 at 6:53 pm

Remove castor oil completely, replace polysorbate 20 with polysorbate 80 and up it to 10%. Castor oil is used in lip care a lot. One of the reasons is that it has quite a unique fatty acids composition and leaves a barrier (I don’t want to use a word film because it would be wrong, but it is kind of a film) on the skin. What is good for a lip balm isn’t good for a rinse-off product. You also don’t have enough surfactants, polysorbate 20 is great for micellar waters not for oil cleansers and it’s definitely not sufficient at 2%. Ideally, replace all emulsifiers with Cithrol 10GTIS if you have it. If not, poly 80 and ceteareth 20 will do.
Twish

Member
January 14, 2021 at 2:43 am

@ngarayeva001Thank you so much! Let me get to work ASAP. Do not have cithrol 10GTIS currently so am going with poly 80 and a lighter oil to something like this:

Sunflower oil 30%
Grapsend oil 27.5%
Neem oil 5%
Soy Wax 10%
Emulsifying wax ( certaryl alc + cethareth 20) 10%
Cetyl alcohol 5%
Polysorbate 80 10%
Vit E 0.5%
Greentea extract 1%
Phenoxyethanol 0.5%
Ethylgexylglycerin + capryl glycol 0.5%
Twish

Member
January 19, 2021 at 9:32 am

Just an update: The cleanser worked like a charm! Thank you for helping out!!
Lee06

Member
January 28, 2023 at 12:24 am

Thank you for sharing, I did tweak it slightly because I want to use what I already have at home and more simple formulation.
I use this
12% soy wax
12% cetearyl alcohol

10% polysorbate 80
2% Peg 40 hydrogenated castor oil
30.5% olive pomace oil

31% grapeseed oil

0.5% vit E oil.

I’m planning to cut the soy wax to 6%, and add 6% mango butter for my next batch

ngarayeva001

Member

January 28, 2023 at 6:53 am

I am glad it worked. The only comment, grapeseed oil has a very short shelf life. Some suggestions:

Sunflower oil	68%	ok
Cetyl alcohol	5%	ok but you can just up your soy wax to 12-13%
Polysorbate 80	15%	Increased
Soy Wax	10%	ok
Vit E	0.20%	0.5% might be too much
Greentea extract	1%	I don’t have an opinion (not a fan of plant extracts)
Phenoxyethanol 0.5%	0.50%	Can’t comment on preservatives
Ethylgexylglycerin + capryl glycol 0.5%	0.50%	Can’t comment on preservatives

ngarayeva001

Member

January 28, 2023 at 6:57 am

The best of my cleansing balms (it is a commercial product reverse-engineered)

INCI	%
Ethylhexyl Palmitate	35.45%
Cetyl Ethylhexanoate	35.00%
PEG-20 Glyceryl Triisostearate	12.00%
PEG-10 Isostearate	10.00%
Perfume	0.50%
BHT	0.05%
Synthetic Wax	7.00%

I don’t think anything compares to this. It’s based on a popular Korean product. I know that sourcing materials might be challenging. I bought most from https://myskinrecipes.com/en
GTIS is from https://www.glamourcosmetics.it/it/

Lee06

Member
February 11, 2023 at 3:00 am

Thank you for sharing. Ethylhexyl palmitate, few other ingredients in the recipe aren’t readily available to sell in small batch for home crafter, at least in my country. But esters like c12-15 alkyl benzoate or coco caprylate are available. I might try tinkering to see the feel.
saraahsan

Member
February 12, 2023 at 2:09 pm

Hi dear can you plz guide when BHT should b added in the product can we add in start while melting all the ingredients or should we add in cool down phase and at what temperature actually i am planning to add BHT in my oil wax based cream foundation

ngarayeva001

Member
January 28, 2023 at 6:58 am

To clarify BHT is butylated hydroxytoluene - an antioxidant, not BHT salicylic acid.