Lotion Bar Formulation - Chemists Corner

Formulating

Lotion Bar Formulation

Posted by mikethair on October 28, 2022 at 12:40 am

I have been working on a dupe of the following Lotion Barormulation:

Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Seed Butter, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet
Almond) Oil, Prunus Armeniaca (Apricot) Kernel Oil, Persea Gratissima
(Avocado) Oil, Cocos Nucifera (Fractionated Coconut) Oil

The result should be a solid, but soft bar.

In order to get a rough idea of the Cocoa Butter / Oil ratio, I am using only one oil (Sunflower).

However, I am up to 98% Cocoa Butter/ 2% Sunflower Oil and the Cocoa Butter remains in a liquid form, albeit slight viscous.

Am I missing something here?

Thanks

ozgirl replied 2 years ago 3 Members · 9 Replies
9 Replies

ozgirl

Member
October 28, 2022 at 12:55 am

Are you certain it is cocoa butter. Cocoa butter should be a solid at room temperature. Melting point 34-38 C.

I know you are in SE Asia. Is your lab too hot?
Squinny

Member
October 28, 2022 at 1:18 am

Hi Mike - While I personally dont see the point of such a product maybe try a type of body butter bar and play around with percentages. I think you need to add something like Cetyl Alcohol , Stearic Acid? Anyway something like:this may be what you are after (or not) -
Cocoa Butter 60%, Mango Butter 10% (OR 70% Cocoa butter) Oils like coconut or sunflower as cheap about 10%, Cetyl Alcohol 9% and Stearic Acid 8%, Beeswax (or Vegan sub if thats what you are after? around 3%. Play around with such ingredients until you get the consistency you want. Just do a small batch like 50g to start. Assume you have a procedure for making these and a silicone mould?
mikethair

Member
October 28, 2022 at 2:41 am

ozgirl said:

Are you certain it is cocoa butter. Cocoa butter should be a solid at room temperature. Melting point 34-38 C.

I know you are in SE Asia. Is your lab too hot?

Always a good point…is it Cocoa Butter. To the best of my knowledge, it is. And yes, it is solid at room temperature.

Our formulation space has AC.
mikethair

Member
October 28, 2022 at 2:48 am

Squinny said:

Hi Mike - While I personally dont see the point of such a product maybe try a type of body butter bar and play around with percentages. I think you need to add something like Cetyl Alcohol , Stearic Acid? Anyway something like:this may be what you are after (or not) -
Cocoa Butter 60%, Mango Butter 10% (OR 70% Cocoa butter) Oils like coconut or sunflower as cheap about 10%, Cetyl Alcohol 9% and Stearic Acid 8%, Beeswax (or Vegan sub if thats what you are after? around 3%. Play around with such ingredients until you get the consistency you want. Just do a small batch like 50g to start. Assume you have a procedure for making these and a silicone mould?

I’m not quite sure what I would achieve by adding Cetyl Alcohol and Stearic Acid. Other brands in this space certainly do not use these ingredients, and the ingredients I have quoted in my original post comes from one of the biggest and most popular brands.

Yes, I do have an appropriate silicon mould. I was previously getting good results by adding a small percentage of Candelilla Wax. However, it tended to make the bars feel “sticky.”
Squinny

Member
October 29, 2022 at 12:42 am

Ok well I guess you wont know what you would achieve by adding the suggested ingredients if you dont try right? Anyway just trying to be helpful but I’ll leave it up to you. If other brands ae making what you are trying to emulate I don’t know why you are bothering unless it is to make same product for yourself but cheaper. Cheers.
mikethair

Member
October 31, 2022 at 1:06 am

Squinny said:

If other brands ae making what you are trying to emulate I don’t know why you are bothering unless it is to make same product for yourself but cheaper. Cheers.

We don’t produce “cheap products” and target the lower end of the marketplace.

The fact is that good quality Lotion Bars are not produced in our country, and we are hoping to target this sector with locally produced Lotion Bars.
mikethair

Member
October 31, 2022 at 5:52 am

ozgirl said:

Are you certain it is cocoa butter. Cocoa butter should be a solid at room temperature. Melting point 34-38 C.

OK, you have nailed the problem. The so-called Cocoa Butter has a melting point of 62 C. And once melted it won’t solidify on cooling in my AC formulating room (24 C).

Have just spoken to the local supplier. He has no explanation.
Squinny

Member
November 1, 2022 at 1:10 am

mikethair said:

Squinny said:

If other brands ae making what you are trying to emulate I don’t know why you are bothering unless it is to make same product for yourself but cheaper. Cheers.

We don’t produce “cheap products” and target the lower end of the marketplace.

The fact is that good quality Lotion Bars are not produced in our country, and we are hoping to target this sector with locally produced Lotion Bars.

I actually didn’t say you were going to produce “cheap’ products at all. To clarify I make top quality products also but as I make them myself I can make them for a 10th of retail price. The price you sell at has nothing to do with the price it takes to make products IMHO. I don’t have any issues with my Cocoa butter so didn’t think to suggest that as an issue so happy that someone else has worked that out to steer you in right direction. Anyway good luck and I hope your product does well.
ozgirl

Member
November 1, 2022 at 1:27 am

mikethair said:

ozgirl said:

Are you certain it is cocoa butter. Cocoa butter should be a solid at room temperature. Melting point 34-38 C.

OK, you have nailed the problem. The so-called Cocoa Butter has a melting point of 62 C. And once melted it won’t solidify on cooling in my AC formulating room (24 C).

Have just spoken to the local supplier. He has no explanation.

Strange. Hopefully a new supplier of Cocoa Butter will help solve the issue.