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Emulsion or Suspension? Hmm
I’m an Esthetician (and chemist wanna-be) and the day spa where I work recently brought in a well-known Hungarian skin care line. After reading the ingredient declaration for their facial creams I noticed the only “emulsifier” is Xanthan gum. They utilize 2 or 3 vegetable oils, shea butter, extracts, and xanthan gum. That’s it - outside potassium sorbate and salisylic acid as their “preservative”. The textures are to die for. I didn’t realize one could make a cream this way. So is it really an emulsion or a suspension - or both?
I want to do a knock-off just for the heck of it. What do you think the starting point should be for gum in the absence of emulsifiers and fatty alcohols? I must say though, that the only thing I don’t like is the rub-out. Not very appealing to watch but feels good once rubbed in.
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7 Replies
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There are other types of emulsion systems beside the ones that are discussed all the time. Xanthan gum (or for that matter pectin and other polysachharides too) can make a very effective emulsion system when paired with small amounts of certain organic acids. I’d need to see the complete LOI to be sure. At any rate, gum used at a sufficient percentage will, just like carbomer, act as an emulsifier because it prevents the migration of polar from nonpolar.
You ask for a starting point. Well, first see if xanthan + salicylic acid + lipids is an emulsion system. Unfortunately I can’t give you a suggested ratio but you can find:United States Patent 119] Tezuka et a1.[11] 4,278,657 [45] Jul. 14, 1981[54] CREAMY OR MILKY SKIN COSMETIC COMPOSITIONS CONTAINING NATURAL MATERIALS AS EMULSIFYING AGENTS -
Start point: 1.5% gum to 0.5% acid.
And please I would appreciate it very much if you would let me know the results since these types of systems are quite interesting to me. -
Cool thanks Belassi! I sure will.
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Another possibility is a very interesting raw material from Kemin, called Lysofix. INCI name is Glycine Soja (Soybean) Seed Extract, but has a big chunk of lysophospholipids in it, which act as emulsifiers.
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Thanks Bobzchemist. I’ll look into that. Very interesting
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another possibility is that they are in fact using ordinary emulsifiers, and the ingredients list is incomplete
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Yes, I wondered if that was the case Bill-Toge.
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