Mgnesium Chloride based deo formulation

Formulating

Mgnesium Chloride based deo formulation

Posted by kamalkm on February 19, 2017 at 6:27 am

Hello friends,

I am working on two deo formulations. One is aqueous based with Mg Cl2 as the active ingredient. Other RMs are Glycerine, Xanthan gum, fragrance+Polysorbate and water. I am wondering if someone could advise me about :-

- the min amount of the Mg salt here to be effective
- this formula gives quite burning feeling on recently shaved skin. Any suggestion for this?
- what to add to make the product dry fast on skin after application?

Please comment.

johnb replied 8 years ago 4 Members · 13 Replies
13 Replies

johnb

Member
February 19, 2017 at 10:30 am

Ever wondered why there are no commercial products that use magnesium salts as deodorant actives? The reason is that it doesn’t work to a sufficient extent that most users are satisfied.

- Min amount of Mg salt to be effective? Well, taking the above into consideration, who knows?

- Cosmetic products should not be applied to recently shaved skin.

- Alcohol will increase the evaporation rate.
kamalkm

Member
February 20, 2017 at 4:54 am

Yes you might be right but I tried with 12-15℅ and it seems to work good omitting bad odor for a day but still gives stinging at start. I don’t want to use alcohol as my this will add more burning feeling and I want to make the product alcohol-free as well.
johnb

Member
February 20, 2017 at 8:12 am

Does it cause stinging on intact skin or just on freshly shaved skin?

If the former then there is something fundamentally wrong with your formulation.

If the latter, take note of my previous recommendation and don’t apply to recently shaved skin.

Regarding alcohol, it only burns on recently shaved skin - see the previous sentence for my views on that. There is no other easily available cosmetically acceptable and compatible solvent that will improve evaporation rates.
kamalkm

Member
February 21, 2017 at 11:29 am

On normal unshaved skin it stings very little, sometimes negligible, but on recently shaved (even after a few hours of shaving) it stings quite high with burn type feeling.

Regarding alcohol : as I want this product to be ‘alcohol-free’, I can’t use it.

Trying to find an emollient/humectant or a water soluble silicone which could help me here…..
johnb

Member
February 21, 2017 at 1:39 pm

Emollient/humectant or a water soluble silicone will not increase evaporation rates to provide faster drying.

Are you really convinced that MgCl2 is effective as a deodorant? As I mentioned in my first reply here, as far as I know, there are no commercial products using magnesium salts as actives in deodorants/antiperspirants. If it really worked, I would have expected the market to be overflowing with products to counter the anti-aluminium mafia.
kamalkm

Member
February 21, 2017 at 2:05 pm

Dear John,

Emollient and some silicones help reduce surface tension at some extent which ultimately helps in drying a bit fast, still not enough though as you pointed.

MgCl2 does give good result in suppressing bad odour however the performance fluctuates at different pH and I am still working on it to optimize.

Sorry but I did not understand your last sentence (my native language is not english!).
johnb

Member
February 21, 2017 at 2:22 pm

OK, There are few (no?) MgCl2 deo products on the market. If it really worked, why are the aluminium containing products (with all their bad press) not being rapidly replaced by MgCl2 alternatives?
kamalkm

Member
February 21, 2017 at 2:32 pm

You are absolutely right. Still, based on my recent efforts and results I’m trying if I could do something good here!

Your suggestions and advises are always welcomed!
belassi

Member
February 21, 2017 at 9:00 pm

There are products available but only from the Etsy type of company in the main… there are plenty of notes that applying MgCl2 to the skin causes a burning sensation.
Ameen

Member
February 22, 2017 at 7:00 pm

@kamalkm,
I have heard of Milk Of Magnesium based deo’s. You might try that.
belassi

Member
February 22, 2017 at 9:23 pm

Magnesium hydroxide is insoluble and won’t stay suspended. Magnesium sulphate might be a possibility.
kamalkm

Member
February 23, 2017 at 3:41 am

@Ameen & @Belassi:
Yes, I tried this too but there were number of issues like suspension stability, emulsion stability (if made o/w type) due to alkalinity, stickiness, white powdery layer on skin & staining on shirt, etc to name a few….

Not sure about long term safety of the sulphate salt or its effectiveness for this application.
johnb

Member
February 24, 2017 at 8:51 am

Not sure about long term safety of the sulphate salt or its effectiveness for this application.

I’m yet to be convinced of the effectiveness (or esthetics) of the MgCl2 for this application.