Home Cosmetic Science Talk Formulating Heating and holding

  • Heating and holding

    Posted by Doreen on April 6, 2018 at 6:57 pm

    Does it really have a considerable advantage on preservation to heat and hold both phases for 20 minutes? It would kill “some non-endospore forming bacteria”.
    But if your water and raw ingredient quality is good, have Good Manufacturing Practices, adequate broad spectrum preservatives and take the hurdle approach, is that really worth the time and energy?

    Doreen replied 6 years, 7 months ago 4 Members · 4 Replies
  • 4 Replies
  • DRBOB@VERDIENT.BIZ

    Member
    April 6, 2018 at 7:28 pm

    In brief through experience-no

  • DAS

    Member
    April 6, 2018 at 7:37 pm

    It takes few seconds at 70° (pasteurization is 72° for 15 secs) and for the kind of products you make you are over that temperature. For 20 minutes is to kill spores. IMO it’s worth the time if you are going to make a marketing campaign with the word overkill on it.

  • Microformulation

    Member
    April 6, 2018 at 10:12 pm

    The Heat and Hold technique was never intended to increase the quality of your water or to provide any measure of increased sterility.

    In some emulsifiers (nonionics come to mind), the product was held at heat and mixed AFTER the oil and water phases were combined. It was felt to decrease the size of the micelles, leading to a more stable emulsion. It is a valid technique in some cases.

  • Doreen

    Member
    April 7, 2018 at 7:39 am

    @”DRBOB@VERDIENT.BIZ” @DAS @Microformulation
    Thanks a lot for your answers!
    I totally agree with you. In a time where we are supposed to save energy instead of waste it, I think it’s useless and also time consuming.
    I got confused because it is still advised on the new Making Skincare site for microbial reasons.

    So the original purpose was post-emulsification heating for emulsion stability for some emulsifiers like non-ionics. Makes a lot more sense.

    Erratum (in first post): instead of ‘both phases’, I meant the water phase only.

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