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Natural Nappy Balm?
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IMHO, the effort of really sterilising a dispenser (if it can even be done without melting it) outweighs using disposable tubes on an economical and ecological level. If it were for shampoo for healthy adults, that’ll be fine but with baby butts, better not! We refill shampoo at the pharmacy and believe me, you don’t want to A: have to clean (on a rudimentary level, far on the opposite side of sterile) those bottles and B: give a discount after you went through all the trouble getting these things “clean”. Charge them twice, no better trice, for cleaning! What we do is simply closing our eyes, refill hopefully without getting all the grime on our hands, and don’t think too much about them getting sick from contaminated shampoo. Seriously, people are disgusting! The dirt we find on those breast pumps we rent… I’m not going to imagine what would be on a dispenser used during a diaper change!!!
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Oh yikes! Yeah I can imagine. I thought that would be the case, no problems. I’m just making sure that the dispensers are recyclable instead. Got my GCMY today, is there any special way to keep it until the other ingredients are delivered please?
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Rather than build sustainability by reusing components (a dangerous practice), why not address it in the selection of packaging materials. You can source components that are X% of recycled materials and there are even cellulose-based plastics available ($$$). No offense, but I see marketing trumping safety and best practices when it comes to reusing components.
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GMCY is fairly stable, no need to do anything special (unless you’re planning to keep it for years to come
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@Microformulation that’s such a shame. I certainly won’t be doing anything that’s not absolutely 100% safe for my parents and babies. I absolutely have their best interests at heart and I want to be able to stand by my product and be proud of it. I want to be sure that I would be totally happy to put on my children, or it’s not being sold, end of. I just thought it would be a cool thing to offer for the planet, but as soon as Pharma explained, the idea has been immediately dropped
@Pharma perfect, thank you!
I’ve also ordered nitrile gloves and hair nets for when I’m making the cream, besides long sleeves, trousers and closed toed shoes, is that all I’ll need to wear? Are goggles a good idea?
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LOL! … Closed toed shoes and goggles? … Thanks for the laugh @PetalPoppet2309!
… Just wear the gloves … you’re not working with anything caustic so the only precautions you need be concerned about are sterility. After all, your product is designed to put on babies’ butts.
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Lol
oh god, sorry! I was watching videos on the PPE they use for cold process soap making (for lye water) and thought it might be needed for what I’m doing haha! How embarrassing. I’m obviously overzealous lol.Are there any “natural” skincare certifications that I could apply for for my product? I’ve seen the COSMOS certification, and that the Soil Association now adheres to COSMOS guidelines, but is it something that my product might be able to get? It seems like something that may help it to stand out?
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There is nothing to be embarrassed about … better to ask the question in advance than take a risk … that’s how accidents happen.
I just had an image in my mind of someone wearing steel toe workboots and safety glasses to melt shea butter. You probably do want to consider wearing a mask to cover your mouth and nose when you’re working with the Zinc Oxide as you will invariably breathe in some powder if you don’t.
In the US there’s the Natural Products Association NPA seal … I’m not absolutely convinced that these certifications necessarily register with consumers. I think they pay more attention to your list of ingredients in making a purchase decision, but I could be wrong.
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Lol
this is true! No problems, I’ll add a couple of masks to my list.Interesting! The only one I really look for when buying products is a cruelty free label, or the leaping bunny symbol. I presume that’s just another certification you would pay for your products to be looked at to get?
Out of interest, when you work with business owners/brands to formulate for them @MarkBroussard, do you tend to focus on one product at a time or do people regularly launch a brand with multiple products? I certainly would like to add more products, and I have preliminary formulas for them, but I was just wondering whether I should be working on them too? There’s obviously no rush, I was just curious!
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There you go … Leaping Bunny is an easy certification to get.
It varies … I have had clients launch 10 to 16 products near simulatenously and other who develop the products in sequence. It all depends on your target market … if it’s Acne, for instance, best you launch a 3 to 4 product suite simulatneously because that is what those consumers need.
For a baby line you could go at it either way. There are successful launches of just one product … Boudreaux’s Butt Paste and Anti-Monkey Butt Powder come to mind and others that are a line of products.
If you are a new entrepreneur, I would recommend starting off marketing one product while you are working on formulating your other products and rolling them out is a logical sequence.
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@PetalPoppet2309
A good airless dispenser is also protected from air and contamination around the opening/’outlet’ of the pump:
If you’re a homecrafter, Aliacura in Germany sells these at very reasonable prices. They ship worldwide. The company is run by two pharmacists and their price - quality ratio is simply outstanding.
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@Petal Poppet go to bulk apothecary get optipen ND use at 1% of your total formula, instead of bentonite, use tapioca starch aka arrow root. You don’t need much. Also your zinc oxide may be decreased as not to irritate. Mix it with the arrowroot. Kaolin clay is a fine product that you can get from bulk apothecary also. I have been using them four 4 years. I have sensitive skin and cocoa butter/ Shea over coconut as coconut may irritate also. Lanolin is great for baby butts and mommy’s nipples.
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@Doreen, that’s great. Thank you for that! I am a homecrafter currently, so I’ll definitely have a look!
@Chemistrygirl, thank you for your insight! I’ve already removed the bentonite clay from the formula. How much zinc oxide and arrowroot powder would you suggest using? I have got organic cocoa butter, I could certainly add it and decrease the amount of coconut oil.
@MarkBroussard would the formula start getting too complicated by adding two more ingredients? Am I getting into territory where I may not be able to price the finished cream competitively?
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Ask yourself this simple question: What additional benefit do you gain from adding two additional ingredients to your formula, if you are referring to the suggestion that you add arrowroot powder and kaolin clay to your concoction … oh, and, yes, let’s also add a water-soluble preservative to an anhydrous formulation instead of an oil-soluble preservative … great advice!
I think you’ll find that the answer is: Nothing but a more complicated formula.
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Got you. Thank you
no benefits to adding cocoa butter then I presume? I’ve not heard of coconut oil causing irritation honestly, but I’m in no way shape or form someone who would know that for certain! I definitely don’t want lanolin in it. -
Contact dermatitis from coconut oil is rare … no matter what you put in a product, someone, somewhere my react to it … you cannot prevent that. Cocoa butter is certainly an ingredient you can include.
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Of course, as long as it’s rare, I’m happy. I’ll see how cocoa butter does in the formulation. I bought a stand mixer especially for product, but I wonder whether I’ll end up with a more whipped consistency that will struggle to be pumped through an airless dispenser top. I wonder if it would be a better idea to return the mixer and buy an immersion blender? Would that be more similar to the mixing equipment they use in production facility vats on a much smaller scale?
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Unrefined cold pressed coconut oil (mostly lower grade non-food quality or uncontrolled manufacturing where the nuts lay around for several days before processing) may sometimes contain too much free fatty acids which can cause skin irritation.The aforementioned kaolin poses the same issues as bentonite.Arrowroot flour or any other starch may help absorbing moisture (pee, rash exudate) but the effect is greatly reduced when starch is incorporated into oil -> oil does repel water and hence, greasy starch grains won’t do much apart from increasing surface and turning oil into a paste. That’s exactly what zinc oxide does too. Assuming that you don’t “crush” the zinc oxide crumbs enough, replacing some with starch will have the advantage of change consistency, resulting in a somewhat softer, smoother and lighter balm. Personally, I wouldn’t start using it during early learning curve but you can give it a try and see whether you like the result. BTW wheat starch has traditionally been used to replace ~50% zinc oxide in pharmaceutical preparations (probably for economic reasons more than anything else): EXAMPLE 1, EXAMPLE 2, EXAMPLE 3 (only in German and French, though).
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Ahh I understand. I’m using pure fractionated coconut oil, so hopefully the fact that some of the fatty acid chains have been removed means that this type doesn’t cause the issues very often?
Hmm, interesting. I think I’ll stick with Zinc oxide for now, and see where I get to. I just worry with too many variables it will take me far longer to get to a formula I really like. -
Fractionated means that there is as good as no free fatty acid left, hence a very well tolerated product!Correct, especially starches show high variability by themselves and from batch to batch. They do have advantages but starting simple is really the better and safer option and it doesn’t mean that you will be stuck with simple, adding and experimenting can be done any time.
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Ahh brilliant. That’s good to know, thanks Pharma
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Hey all! Just got my sterols in the post, and the pots are leaking a little, gahh! Never mind. Are they just going in a cool dark cupboard until tomorrow when I can start playing? The fridge?
so looking forward to this! Just another thing, if I use a stand mixer, will it “whip” the cream too much for it to be dispensed by the pumps? Am I better off getting an immersion blender perhaps? -
Hey @MarkBroussard, @Pharma
hope you’re both ok! Going to make my first test batch tomorrow. Hoping it’ll be liquid enough to pump through a dispenser lid!25g Fractionated coconut oil
22.5g Zinc oxide
20g Shea butter
15g Cocoa butter
13g Sunflower oil
3g Açai sterols
1g Glyceryl caprylate
0.5g Vitamin e oil
I just found glyceryl monocaprylate is on a “frowned upon” list of what to avoid in “natural products”. I presume it’s different in structure to glyceryl caprylate, I was just wondering why it might be so scary in their opinion?
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It’s the same and then again it’s not. Glyceryl caprylate does refer to monocaprylate as well as tricaprylate or mixtures of mono-, di-, and tricaprylate. In chemical nomenclature, it refers to the triglyceride i.e. tricaprylate whereas in cosmetics it stands for monocaprylate aka GMCY. Why it is frowned upon, I do not know nor have any idea why this could possibly be. I haven’t even heard so before but then again, what isn’t frowned upon?True, it’s not exactly natural although it does exist in nature (your body contains traces of it!) but it’s synthesised either by simple thermal, catalysed (acid or base) or enzymatic esterification. These are all eco-friendly and use glycerol and caprylic acid, both for example derived from coconut oil. The small quantities of added acid or base is either sulphuric acid or potassium carbonate (recyclable or reusable as fertiliser) and the enzymes come from microbes. Nothing dangerous about it, fully and quickly biodegradable, no off-target effects, it’s even digestible (sure, too much caprylic acid might result in mild diarrhoea 🙂 ).
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Ahh, it’s all so interesting! Thanks as always Pharma. I’m not worried about using GCMY. I believe it may be that it is made synthetically and is not “totally natural”. On further investigation it’s a blog attached to an American aromatherapy based beauty and skin care brand. They’re selling a couple of baby care items with essential oils in (from the research I’ve done we shouldn’t be using essential oils on newborn babies at all, and there are age milestones for each oil based on skin structure. I’d love to know what a chemist thinks about this if anyone has any interest in it!) and no preservatives.
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