Home Cosmetic Science Talk Formulating General The PH of my formulations is always acidic- 3 to 2

  • The PH of my formulations is always acidic- 3 to 2

    Posted by Divine on October 8, 2020 at 2:16 pm

    Good Afternoon 
    I really need to know what I am doing wrong. At first I thought it was the actives and botanical powders I was using, but I got know that is not what is affecting it.

    Distilled water 
    Glycerin 4%
    Xanthan gum 0.2%
    Propylene glycol 1%
    Allantoin 0.5%
    Niacinamide 5%

    Ewax  4%
    Cetyl alcohol 1%
    Sunflower oil 15%

    Liquid germal plus 1%
    Tocopherol 1%
    Fragrance 1%
    Alpha arbutin 2%
    Giga white 5%

    PH: 3.17

    Please I need to know what I am doing wrong

    Pharma replied 4 years ago 4 Members · 5 Replies
  • 5 Replies
  • Divine

    Member
    October 8, 2020 at 3:46 pm

    Or could it be the ethanol I am using to disinfect my beakers?

  • Graillotion

    Member
    October 8, 2020 at 7:37 pm

     When you check the pH of distilled water….what do you get?  (Just checking to make sure the tester is working.  ;)

    Alpha arbutin is 4.9 pH. 

  • David

    Member
    October 8, 2020 at 7:45 pm

    Best way to find out: measure, add an ingredient, measure, add an ingredient, measure. Or the knockout method. It is difficult to say which ingredient it is, even for chemist,  since the list above is a mix between trade names, INCI and chemical names. 

  • Divine

    Member
    October 8, 2020 at 9:28 pm

    Thanks a lot Graillotion and David, I will try your suggestions out

  • Pharma

    Member
    October 9, 2020 at 11:37 am

    Several cosmetic ingredients come with a certain pH depending on manufacturing methods, due to impurities, or for stability reasons. That pH is often (approximately) listed on the spec sheet or the MSDS.

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