Home Cosmetic Science Talk Formulating Skin Vaseline

  • Vaseline

    Posted by Anonymous on December 3, 2014 at 3:37 pm

    Hi everybody,

    I’m going to make an ointment and I would like to use natural products.
    Does anyone know what can I use at the place of paraffin and vaseline? I used coconut oil and beeswax but it looks still not very thick.
    Ah.. I can’t use water..
    Thanks,
    Cheers
    MarkBroussard replied 9 years, 11 months ago 6 Members · 17 Replies
  • 17 Replies
  • OldPerry

    Member
    December 3, 2014 at 4:14 pm
    What do you want the ointment to do?
  • ozgirl

    Member
    December 3, 2014 at 4:46 pm

    Beeswax and Castor Oil can be combined to create a Vaseline type product.

    Here is an example

    https://www.voyageursoapandcandle.com/Non_Petroleum_Baby_Jelly_Recipe_s/433.htm

  • Anonymous

    Guest
    December 3, 2014 at 5:31 pm

    Hi Perry, I would like a lipophilic ointment for the skin. 

    I would like to use only vegetable oils…
  • Anonymous

    Guest
    December 3, 2014 at 5:34 pm

    Thanks Ozgirl!!!

     
  • OldPerry

    Member
    December 3, 2014 at 5:56 pm

    Well then the beeswax / castor oil combination should work for you.

  • Anonymous

    Guest
    December 4, 2014 at 9:24 am

    Ok, thanks!

  • Bobzchemist

    Member
    December 4, 2014 at 10:21 am

    Question - do people consider beeswax and related products animal-derived, vegetable derived, or neither?

  • OldPerry

    Member
    December 4, 2014 at 1:56 pm

    I know Vegans consider beeswax to be animal derived.  Not sure about other natural philosophies.  It hasn’t seem to hurt Burt’s Bees’ natural standing.

  • MarkBroussard

    Member
    December 4, 2014 at 9:48 pm

    Most natural philosophies consider products “manufactured” by animals such as milk, honey, beeswax, etc. to fall within the realm of acceptable natural products or ingredients since the “host organism” (animal, insect, etc.) produces these “animal extracts” as a natural consequence of the host organisms’ earthly existence.

    Bees make honey and beeswax … it’s part of what they do for a living … it’s sustainable.  If the product or ingredient is a by-product derived from the death of the animal, it is heresy.
    But, I wonder, if a bee happens to pollenate from a GMO plant source … is the honey still natural?
  • Bobzchemist

    Member
    December 5, 2014 at 9:15 am

    @MarkBroussard, that’s a good question.

    @Perry, the vegans make my life very difficult. It would be fine if they were OK with synthetic material, but no…
  • azzja

    Member
    December 5, 2014 at 10:26 am

    @MarkBroussard 

    Bees make honey and beeswax … it’s part of what they do for a living … it’s sustainable.  If the product or ingredient is a by-product derived from the death of the animal, it is heresy.”
    -> actually, vegans are against keeping and breeding animals for the purpose of utilizing the fruits of their labor. it doesn’t matter that bees produce honey and beeswax anyway, they’re against it. i am myself not a vegan, nor a vegetarian, but i have read about the subject and their philosophy.

    also “NATURAL” is a very misleading and unclear term, it can mean a lot of things. that’s why it is so commonly used when trying to misrepresent cosmetics contents. very often manufacturers write ingredients and then in brackets they say “derived from natural source” like that even matters if the final ingredient was so heavily processed that it can’t really be considered “natural”. but people seem to buy that stuff, and everything that says “natural” will have a lot of buyers.

  • MarkBroussard

    Member
    December 5, 2014 at 11:00 am

    @azzja:

    I was not referring to Vegans, I am referring the the definition of “Natural” by ECOCert and the Natural Products Association.
    Natural is not at all misleading nor unclear.  It is defined the same exact way by both ECOCert and NPA.  In addition to the source of the ingredient from a sustainable plant source, the processing methodology to extract the ingredient is evaluated.
    Vegans are an extreme segment of the natural community … I doubt that they can even come remotely close to living a life that strictly adheres to their principles.
  • azzja

    Member
    December 6, 2014 at 6:21 am

    @MarkBroussard

    sorry, i thought we were talking about vegans and what people generally think when they say “natural”
    of course there are regulations that define what is meant by the term
  • MarkBroussard

    Member
    December 6, 2014 at 8:34 am

    No problem Azzja.  The real problem with the term “Natural”, as you point out, is that it currently has no legal meaning from a labelling perspective.

    If you follow the bouncing ball, you will see that ECOCert is the “natural” standard that is clearly taking the lead, as many, many major cosmetics ingredients manufacturers are investing in the development of new ingredients that comply with the ECOCert standards and getting their products ECOCert certified.
    I suspect we’re not too, too far away from an FDA definition of “Natural” for cosmetics and it will be based on the ECOCert standard.
  • OldPerry

    Member
    December 7, 2014 at 11:37 am
    I suspect we’re not too, too far away from an FDA definition of “Natural” for cosmetics and it will be based on the ECOCert standard.

    @MarkBroussard - The FDA wasn’t able to get a definition for “hypoallergenic” so I doubt very much there will ever be an FDA definition for “natural”.  But maybe in the EU that might happen.

  • chemist1

    Member
    December 8, 2014 at 12:29 pm

    There are also products from Sonneborne that they consider petrolatum replacements.

  • MarkBroussard

    Member
    December 8, 2014 at 1:12 pm

    Yes, Perry, you could could right on that.  Generally, regulations are not created unless there is a compelling need to protect consumers.

    The EU is well ahead of the US on the creation of Natural standards and related regulations.  And this is certainly spurring companies to develop new ingredients … Dr. Straetmann’s, Schulke, Evonik, Solabia that are quite interesting.
    It may well be that Natural in cosmetics may follow the path of Organic in foods.

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