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Separation of new lotion recipe
I’ve made this 2x now, and both times I get a cream on top, and a milky water on the bottom as my separation issue
. I tried to work out the HLB needed for the recipe, but it does not make sense, so I shall ask you people for suggestions.The pH of the lotion is around 3.5.I held the oil & water phases in separate containers & heated them to around 73 Celsius for 20 minutes in a water bath. The 2 phases were within 2 Celsius of each other when I poured the water phase into the oil phase for mixing.I mixed for a total of 19 minutes with 1 minute breaks interspersed for the hand mixer’s motor to rest.I used this same emulsifying wax (E wax NF) just last month and the cream is fine. It was bought last year in March.If I add the 2 grams of essential oils to the oils phase for figuring out emulsifier mass needed, the total mass of oils is then 16 grams. Taking 25% of that to calculate the emulsifying wax needed would mean I need 4 grams of emulsifying wax, I used 5 grams.The recipe doesn’t come to exactly 100% b.t.w.WATER PHASELavender hydrosol 71%Disodium EDTA 0.2%Vitamin C 1% (It’s not doing much here, I know)Propylene Glycol 2%Aloe vera 200X powder dissolved in glycerin 2%OIL PHASESweet almond oil 8%Arrrrrgan oil 4% (New, unopened container, but expired as of Feb. 5th. I got it for FREE because it was about to be thrown in the garbage)Cetyl Alcohol 1%Vitamin E (MT 50 in soybean oil) 1%E wax NF (cetostearyl alcohol & polysorbate 60) 5%COOL DOWN ADDITIONSDry Flow (INCI: Tapioca Starch (and) Polymethylsilsesquioxane) 2 %Optiphen Plus preservative (INCI: Phenoxyethanol (and) Caprylyl Glycol (and) Sorbic Acid) 1%Essential oils mix 2%,Other emulsifiers I have are:laureth-23 HLB # 16.9polysorbate 20 HLB 16.7peg-40 hydrogenated castor oil HLB 15glyceryl stearate (made at home with glycerol, stearic acid and white vinegar. Maybe it’s NOT glyceryl stearate?) HLB 2.9?soy lecithin HLB 4 - 6 -
4 Replies
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I mixed for a total of 19 minutes with 1 minute breaks interspersed for the hand mixer’s motor to rest.
From Akzo Nobel: “While the biopolymer is tolerant to shear, it should not be extensively homogenized due to potential
degradation of the starch.” This of course only applies if you did all that mixing after adding the starch. As for me, I don’t think you have sufficient emulsifier. -
Margreat, so you can work out the HLB, here’s a handy calculator http://www.makingskincare.com/hlb-calculator/ The pH seems quite low and that could be contributing to instability so I would aim for the pH to be somewhere between 5 and 6.Caprylyl Glycol can also cause instability issues - see this webpage for tips on how to deal with this - http://www.makingskincare.com/preservatives/Hydrosols and aloe vera can be challenging to preserve so I would drastically reduce these - see the link above for more info.I would increase your % of cetyl alcohol - it’s a great thickener and stabiliser. Also add 0.3% xanthan gum to stabilise.The vitamin C you are using, is that l’ascorbic acid? If so, it’s highly unstable and I would remove it and replace with an oil soluble more stable form instead.btw I’d stick to buying the glyceryl stearate for now rather than trying to create it at home.
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Belassi & MakingSkinCare folk,
Thanks very much for the suggestions & the links!I did only about 2 1/2 minutes of mixing BEFORE adding the dry flo (tapioca starch) because the temperature got into the appropriate range to add the cool-down ingredients. The rest of the mixing was afterwards, to ensure everything got mixed well.I will omit the Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) because it is not stabilized in this formula AND 1% isn’t adding much benefit anyhow.I am using pump bottles and have been frustrated by my lotions being TOO thick. I made several batches of lotion/cream in November, trying to find the right % of thickener to use so the pump will do its job. 1% cetyl alcohol was found to be good, not too thin, not too thick, for the pump.I will cut back on the lavender hydrosol as well. I have a lot of it because I distill the volatiles from my lavender plants in July. I just want to use the stuff up and I do not make toners or other things where I could throw it in. It really is quite stinky stuff, quite surprising actually.I will try the xanthan gum. I have a bag of it. It did NOT occur to me to try it. What a dope!The arrrgan oil & using disodium EDTA to the water phase are the only things I have changed, ingredient-wise versus the last time I made lotion. -
Argan is related to mamey and I have found mamey to be a very heavy oil in creams. With the amount of lipids you have in there, I would expect it to be quite a thick cream, possibly almost like a butter.
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