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Oil cleansing balm separation
Years ago, I made a cleansing balm for myself using BTMS-50 and Argan oil. After a while, some oil separation occurred. I didn’t really care too much at the time as it was only for myself and I just remixed before use. Now, I am looking to formulate for sale with BTMS-25, but it still separates. I looked online for recipe inspiration and no formulator seemed to mention separation issues, but then when I searched for commercial oil balm separations, I found plenty of customers complaining of this with various brands. I then went into Sephora to take a look and found separated oil cleansing balms. I haven’t been able to find any reason online for why this happens, and clearly even large brands have this issue. I’ve always wondered if it was because it is an oil-in-water emulsifier and it is missing its sufficient water phase to stabilize it?
Recently I’ve tried 25% BTMS, 75% Argan oil, and after a while there was a little oil separation and it went grainy (due to slightly heating and re-cooling over time).
After learning from the Institute for Personal Care Science that below 5% water doesn’t require a preservative, I tried:
4% neroli floral water (which has some light preservatives included by the manufacturer), 25% BTMS-25, 75% a mix of Argan and Caprylic/Capric triglycerides. This also separated, but in a weird way. There is a layer of what looks like oil, but if I dip into it, it smells like the neroli. The rest is a balm texture that also smells like the neroli floral water. So somehow the oil either mixed with the water yet stayed liquid, or got scented from close contact?
When I make an actual lotion, it works wonderfully with no separation even after years. But without that larger water phase, it always seems to separate. Any thoughts on why, and how to avoid it?
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