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Help! Sugar scrub separation 🥺
Please, I need help on the formula below. This is my 9th try if I’m not mistaken. Previous formulas included 7% plant based oils. I decided to reduce the % to 5 and add the polysorbate 80 to water phase instead of oil phase. Yet, it keeps separating. All procedures have been followed accordingly. The aim is to retain it’s pourable viscosity. It has this gel creamy consistency to it.
Phase A
Xantha gum 0.02%
Distilled water 10%
Glycerin 8%
Polysorbate 80 6%
Phase B
Boabab oil 5%
Dimethicone 350 2%
Soft and silky ewax 2%
Glyceryl stearate 1%
Phase C
Strawberry F.O 0.5%
Vitamin e 0.1%
Liquid germall plus 0.5%
Magenta pink mica. 0.1%
Sugar 64.78%
Procedure.
Step 1: Start by creating a slurry with xanthum gum and glycerin in a clean beaker. Add distilled water, followed by polysorbate 80. With the addition of polysorbate 80, the water phase looked a lot clearer but thicker which makes me wonder if it can be incorporated in a gel based serum.
Step 2: Weigh out all phase B ingredients in a separate clean beaker.
Step 3: Heat up both phases until phase B is completely melted.
Step 4: Pour phase B into phase A and mix with spatula (an immersion blender will be needed for larger batches).
Step 5: You should get this milky emulsion phase.
Step 6: Add all phase C ingredients once the temperature drops to 40°c and below. Mix until uniform.
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9 Replies
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Hello,
could you please confirm the input of XG? 0.02% Even though you said you are getting gel/thicker water phase out of this? Not sure what type of XG you have, but go at least 0.5%.
I am not familiar with Soft and silky emulsifier, but you might need to increase the input. Glyceryl Stearate is low HLB, this can perhaps destabilize it? Try Glyceryl Stearate SE.
I would suggest start very simply -
Water, XG, some lipid (avoid expensive ones as it is a wash off product or use them at 0.01% and the majority should be cheap lipid), emulsifier, sugar, preservative. Mix, test and add new ingredients after everything holds together nicely.
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Hi. It’s regular xanthum gum. 0.02% is enough to create a gel creamy scrub with as little as 10% water in my formula. In lotions, I make use of it at 0.3% and it isn’t gel like due to the high % of water I have in the formula. I believe this is why I have a creamy gel like scrub.
And I tried lots of KISS batches before arriving at this formula. It was simply water, glycerin, polysorbate, emulsifiers, and preservative. I had pretty stable scrub for up to three weeks (didn’t watch it after three weeks though. I just used it) before scaling up to formulate a 250g of scrub with the complete ingredient yet this keeps happening
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This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by  Jasmine2.
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This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by
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And in my very first KISS batch, I started out with 0.3% xanthum gum, the final viscosity was a thick and extremely slimy scrub. I could not even spread it. It felt like sugar coated in some sort of slime..
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This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by  Jasmine2.
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This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by
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Hi not sure why you want to add Water to your scrub (to add the glycerin?) - Do you want to stick to your formula or happy to change formula? I make a nice sugar scrub without water if you would like me to share? Do you intend to sell product or for personal use? Cheers
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Hi. The aim is to achieve a pourable scrub texture that’s easy to spread and glide smoothly on skin. It’s quite impossible to achieve that with an all oil soluble scrub with waxes and thickeners.
Water is there to create an emulsion. Glycerin is there as a cheap humectant which will also help in creating a slurry with the xanthum gum. I also did not want the scrub to feel oily like oil based scrubs. I’ve been able to achieve all of this and I love the texture and feel. My main issue is on its stability.
Between, I’ve formulated an anhydrous scrub. Feels quite lovely on skin. But I wanted to try something different atleast.
Picture 1 is the pourable scrub. Picture 2 is my anhydrous scrub which I’ve got no issues with. But the textures, they vary really greatly.
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Oh right - looks like a lovely product if you can get it right. There doesnt seem to be too much (that I found anyway) on the market to compare to to try dupe. I did find a few if you look at the INCI decoder that may be of interest that included gylerin but not water. One is called MOR Sugar crystal Sugar Scrub and lists the following active ingredients: Sucrose, Glycerin, Silica, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Glycine Soja (Soybean), Rosa Rubiginosa Seed Oil, Zingiber Officinale (Ginger) Root Oil, Macadamia Ternifolia Seed Oil, Prunus Persica (Peach) Oil, Persea Gratissma (Avocado) Oil, Althaea Officinalis Leaf/Root Extract, Mangifera Indica (Mango) Fruit Extract.
Sorry cant be of more help. Maybe adding some Silica to your formula?
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As @Paprik mentioned, I’d replace Glyceryl stearate by Glyceryl stearate SE…in fact, I’d remove (or drastically reduce) your polysorbate, and rely more on the Glyceryl stearate.
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Thank you. Was wondering if it wouldn’t affect the final viscosity of the scrub though as I still want it pourable. I’m specifically talking about increasing the % of the low HLB emulsifier present.
Secondly, can I pair lotionpro 165 with sorbitan stearate for this? Considering the fact that lotion pro 165 gives a light weight emulsion even at a higher %?
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Sorbitan stearate, similarly to Glyceryl stearate, Stearic acid and Fatty alcohols behave as structuring agents in these type of systems. That is, they will increase your viscosity (among other things).
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