• Formulating

  Improving lactic acid moisturizer

  Posted by georgiliolev on December 23, 2016 at 5:40 pm

  Hello, I’ve been making quite a good and likeable anti-aging formula , containing lactic acid and retinyl palmitate. I would like advice on how to improve the formula and also make it cheaper if possible.

  Clients want a thick, not too-oily cream, packed in a jar

  Formula
  Water phase 70%
   
  lactic acid - 6%
  glycerin - 2%
  propylene glycol - 3%
  allantoin - 0.5%
  acacia gum - 5%
  salicylic acid - 0.2% ( only as preservative)
  Aqua - qs

  Oil phase 28% (  maybe it should be lower %? )

  Tego Care 450 emulsifier - 3% ( INCI: Polyglyceryl-3 Methylglucose distearate)
  Stearic acid - 4%
  Cetyl Palmitate - 6%
  Shea butter - 3%
  Sunflower oil - 12%

  Cold phase - Retinyl palmitate 2%, fragrance

  Keep in mind that in my country I could barely obtain any ingredient, there are almost no cosmetic supply companies and I have to use lab suppliers

  MarkBroussard replied 8 years ago 3 Members · 3 Replies

  • cream
  • formulation
  • lactic acid
  • moisturizer
  • retinol
• 3 Replies

• 

  georgiliolev

  Member

  December 23, 2016 at 6:02 pm

  Also, among the mentioned ingredients, which is best to increase for more thickness?
  I think I have enough solid fats , however viscosity is still low, i’m really wondering what is causing that

• 

  johnb

  Member

  December 24, 2016 at 2:00 pm

  You could try partially neutralising the lactic acid so that you have a mixture of lactic acid and one of its salts (sodium, potassium, ammonium).

  To increase viscosity you could try replacing all or part of the cetyl palmitate and/or stearic acid with cetyl, cetearyl or stearyl alcohol.

  The quantity of acacia seems rather high - what is its function in the mix?

  I would not rely on 0.2% salicylic acid as an effective preservative.

• 

  MarkBroussard

  Member

  December 24, 2016 at 2:22 pm

  @georgiliolev:

  I would recommend dropping your total oils/emollients (Cetyl Palmitate, Shea Butter & Sunflower Oil) to 15 or 16% … So, you might try dropping each of those proportionately to 4%, 3%, 8%.

  Yes, 5% Acacia Gum doesn’t make much sense and is probably also part of your problem.  You’ll only need 0.2% to 0.3% as an emulsion stabilizer.

  Ditto on replacing the Stearic Acid with Cetyl Alcohol to thicken it up.

  With that much Lactic Acid … I assume your pH is around 3.5 … you won’t need much, but as mentioned above, Salicylic Acid alone is not a broad spectrum preservative.

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