Help with formulation (serum for acne)

Formulating

Help with formulation (serum for acne)

Posted by Wickers on July 20, 2020 at 3:17 pm

Hi everyone!

I am trying to formulate a water-based serum for my acneic/oily/dehydrated skin.

This serum is meant to encourage certain chains on skin bacteria to ferment naturally-occurring glycerol in the skin into SCFA, which in vitro has shown to kill P. acnes.

I included some plant ferments, lysates, prebiotics, and other by-products of fermentation that might encourage a healthier microbiome.

Deionised water (28.35%)

MC-Glucan (9%)

Dimethyl Isosorbide (9%)

Lactococcus Ferment Lysate (9%)

Ophiopogon Japonicus root extract (7%)

Inulin (6%)

[Fructooligosaccharides, Beet root extract, Water] (4%)

Amber Extract (4%)

Leucidal Liquid (4%)

ProBioBalance [water, milk proteins, bifida ferment lysate] (4%)

ECOSKIN [alpha-glucan oligosaccharides, P.S. root juice, maltodextrin, lactobacillus] (4%)

Gluconolactone (3%)

Hydrolyzed Yeast Protein (3%)

Bio Chelate [water, saccharomyces zinc, saccharomyces copper, saccharomyces magnesium, saccharomyces Magnesium, saccharomyces Iron, saccharomyces Silicon] (2%)

Hydrolyzed hemp protein (2%)

Sucrose (1%)

Sodium Phytate (0.5%)

Silverion [silver citrate, citric acid] (0.15%)

Please help! Am I missing anything? Preservatives OK? Chelators (sodium phytate OK)?

Is silver citrate compatible with the ingredients above?

Warmly,
Jamie

LincsChemist replied 4 years, 7 months ago 6 Members · 9 Replies
9 Replies

chemicalmatt

Member
July 20, 2020 at 9:29 pm

Looks like you have every pre- and pro- biotic under the sun in there, so I sure hope this works. Certainly will be expensive. Silver citrate should be compatible, so you may lose the Leucidal. The use of dimethyl isosorbide as a penetration aid comes up all the time in this forum: it is largely for use with lipid elements, and you have none in here unless that amber thingy is an oil. Lose it.
Wickers

Member
July 26, 2020 at 1:12 pm

Hi, thank you!

1) Could you please explain to me (roughly OR carefully) why dimethyl isosorbide acts as a penetration enhancer for mainly lipids?
I see it in water-based formulations, so shouldn’t it enhance to some degree the absorption of ingredients?

No, the amber thingy is a water-soluble extract.

2) Could you please let me know if you are aware of Silver citrate FAILING as a preservative with certain formulations? I am sticking to a pH of ~4-6 most of the time.

And yup, very expensive! But this is more about the process and the fun and grasping, so it’s not really about the result.
Pharma

Member
July 26, 2020 at 6:43 pm

Wickers said:

…Lactococcus Ferment Lysate (9%)

Ophiopogon Japonicus root extract (7%)

…

Leucidal Liquid (4%)

ProBioBalance [water, milk proteins, bifida ferment lysate] (4%)

…

Hydrolyzed Yeast Protein (3%)

Bio Chelate [water, saccharomyces zinc, saccharomyces copper, saccharomyces magnesium, saccharomyces Magnesium, saccharomyces Iron, saccharomyces Silicon] (2%)

Hydrolyzed hemp protein (2%)

…

Is silver citrate compatible with the ingredients above?…

Silver is neither compatible with proteins (see above ingredients) nor phytate and may interfere with your ominous Bio Chelate.

Hence, not a good choice as antimicrobial unless you add it for claims only.
Wickers

Member
July 27, 2020 at 5:38 am

Ahh alright.

Is a blend of phenoxyethanol and sodium benzoate + Leucidal Liquid good?

Don’t these basically work for everything?

Thanks!
lewhitak

Member
July 27, 2020 at 4:04 pm

Why do you want to use the leucidal liquid?

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/jf5063588
Pharma

Member
July 27, 2020 at 7:23 pm

@lewhitak Thanks for sharing! Now that’s the FIRST useful publication regarding antimicrobial Leuconostoc ferments… or rather what I was fearing. This explains quite a lot… more than one wishes to know… although it’s good that I now do. Thanks again!

Given that Active Micro Technologies has quite the array of antimicrobial plant extracts where I can’t find anything useful (apart from salicylic acid in ash tree extract), this one proof of fraud is enough for me to NEVER ever consider buying anything they sell and also to be very cautious regarding products which contain their preservatives. It’s disgusting, a shame, and a mockery of all the honest people who try to make as natural cosmetics as possible and end up with junk. They should be sued and shut down.

(@Perry: How do I post a vomiting smiley?)
lewhitak

Member
July 27, 2020 at 10:32 pm

@Pharma
You’re welcome! After the grapefruit seed extract debacle I rarely trust “natural” preservative blends ,unfortunately. I don’t get how these can be sold as preservatives either! They are frequently heavily marketed on DIY sites as well, which unfairly targets home crafters.
ngarayeva001

Member
July 28, 2020 at 12:01 am

@lewhitak, there’s one thing that makes it even worse, repackagers rarely know how to store ingredients properly. DIY ingredients are compromised from day one. Parabens and formaldehyde releasers are the only reasonable option for use at home. Saying it as someone who grew colorful mould on a product preserved by PE9010.
LincsChemist

Member
July 28, 2020 at 11:08 am

@lewhitak

Thanks so much for sharing this, it will be very useful.