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Thickening my charcoal scrub
There is a charcoal scrub that I like and and thought I would try to make something similar for my own personal use. Here is my formula; listed amounts are percentages:
A water 46.80
A Sodium Lauroyl Sarcosinate 10.00
A Sucrose cocoate 5.00
B C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate 15.00
B Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride 15.00
B Tocopheryl Acetate 2.00
B Cetyl Alcohol 1.00
B Behenyl Alcohol 1.00
B Glyceryl stearate 1.00
C Fragrance 0.20
C Phenoxyethanol/EHS 1.00
C Charcoal Powder (Activated) 2.00
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I mixed A together and warmed to melt the sucrose cocoate while stirring
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I added B, one at a time, to A and heated to 75C to melt the solids
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Hit it briefly with the stick blender and then let cool. I also added approx 3% lactic acid to bring the pH down to 5.0
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Added C, one at a time and stirred together.
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Let sit overnight before evaluating
The first time I made it without the glyceryl stearate and it was quite runny. Second time with GMS and it is thicker, and kind of bouncy. Not bad but it’s still not as thick as I would like.
I have questions:
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Would it be better to increase the fatty alcohol(s) or the GMS first to further thicken?
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From what I’ve read on this forum, the tocopheryl acetate isn’t doing much here. Is there a reason to keep it in that I’m missing? It’s really sticky stuff so I kept the amount low.
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The product I’m working from includes “volcanic ash”, I assume as part of the scrubbing matter. I’ve never seen volcanic ash offered for sale anywhere. Might that be pumice?
Many thanks in advance for your advice.
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3 Replies
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You will probably get ambivalent Awnsers on that . The use of GSM and Cetarlyalcohl as stabilizers is a decision made on personal experiences :). I myself would suggest increasing the Cetaryl alcohol instead of the GSM maybe 2 to 3 %. Your emulsion seems already fine so I would increase the structure viscosity instead of the Emulsion Droplet size Viscosity.
Caracole and Vulcanic ash are 2 Different things one is made out of Organic Wood Material burned and grinded up. The other is Made from Molten Stone grinded up . The number of electrolytes as well as the Particle behavior would be very different in my opinion. I think volcanic ash is way heavier because it is denser than charcoal and the surface absorption will be not as good for Vulcanic ash I would guess (never worked with it).
2 % Tocopherylacetate is not a low amount. 0,2 -0,5 I would say is a normal amount for a Skin Care Product but in your case, it is a heavy material and will be washed off anyway if you perform a cleansing after scrubbing so if you don’t need it for Marketing reasons take it out and if you need it for marketing reasons use a low amount 0.05 to 0.1 % should be enough.
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Many thanks, @gordof — you’ve shed light on all my questions! Given that it is rinse off, I have been thinking about going with a single fatty alcohol anyways, so this helps.
With regard to the tocopheryl acetate, I was wondering if it was there more for thickening, though it probably isn’t enough to make a difference. But if it were to be, then I thought about substituting with castor oil. But at 2%, maybe it makes more sense to just leave it out, as you suggest.
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The tocopheryl acetate is not used as a thickening agent normally never heard of that. the Viscosity is not that high and never heard about the possibility of structurally influencing another molecule with that.
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