Product Dupe Q: Are any of the ingredients in Vanicream Gentle Face Cleanser unnecessary?

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Formulating

Product Dupe Q: Are any of the ingredients in Vanicream Gentle Face Cleanser unnecessary?

Posted by MJL on May 28, 2019 at 7:42 am

Hi, so I have heard that Vanicream Gentle Facial Cleanser is one of the gold standards for very dry/sensitive skin. I’m trying to find out if I could dupe it, but wondering if there’s any ingredients in this cleanser that aren’t really necessary and could be removed? I was hoping it might be possible to reduce/remove some ingredients in it that have a history of being irritating to my skin, and it would be a plus if I could simplify it overall and reduce ingredient costs.

This is the ingredients list:

purified water, glycerin, coco glucoside, sodium cocoyl glycinate, acrylates copolymer, caprylyl glycol, mica, sodium chloride, 1,2-hexanediol, titanium dioxide, sodium hydroxide, disodium EDTA

Ingredients I would be interested in removing in an ideal world (and why):

Acrylates Copolymer - b/c I’m legitimately allergic to it.
Caprylyl Glycol - b/c it causes redness, stinging, and acne for me.
Mica and Titanium Dioxide - b/c aren’t they only added for colour/aesthetic purposes, and I don’t care if my cleanser is white?
1,2 hexanediol - b/c I’d just rather remove it if it’s not necessary.

What are your opinions?

MJL replied 4 years, 10 months ago 5 Members · 10 Replies
- formulating
10 Replies

markbroussard

Member
May 28, 2019 at 10:40 am

@MJL:

Acrylates Copolymer: you could sub Xanthan Gum or Sclerotium Gum as the thickener

Caprylyl Glycol, 1,2-Hexanediol: This is your preservative blend. Note that they also add NaOH … do you know the pH of the commercial product? Best if you keep the pH in the 5.0 to 5.5 range and choose an appropriate preservative.

Mica/TiO2: Not necessary. Just leave them out.
MJL

Member
May 28, 2019 at 10:15 pm

Thank you @MarkBroussard for your comments and input. Yes, the product pH is 5.5, so would keep it around there. Thanks again!
MJL

Member
May 28, 2019 at 11:06 pm

@MarkBroussard Do you know if the sodium hydroxide in the formula is used to adjust pH or is there another purpose?

I don’t have any issues with it, but was just wondering.
oldperry

Member
May 29, 2019 at 3:26 pm

Sodium hydroxide is a pH adjuster
MJL

Member
May 29, 2019 at 10:06 pm

Thanks for confirming, @Perry.
Aziz

Member
June 2, 2019 at 2:26 am

Perry said:

Sodium hydroxide is a pH adjuster

Is it better to replace NaOH with TEA ?
oldperry

Member
June 2, 2019 at 11:49 pm

@Aziz - you will probably have a better error factor with the TEA meaning you can miss adding the right amount and not have as significant an impact on pH. But NaOH is usually the less expensive option and also less likely to have some other reaction with ingredients in your formula. In sum, it depends on what’s important to you.
Aziz

Member
June 3, 2019 at 3:30 am

Thank you @Perry for your valuable comment .
chemicalmatt

Member
June 6, 2019 at 9:50 pm

The NaOH was in there just to neutralize acrylates copolymer, so it goes out of the formula with that rheology additive. Problem solves itself.
MJL

Member
June 7, 2019 at 8:54 pm

Thanks @chemicalmatt!