Home Cosmetic Science Talk Formulating W in O emulsion

  • W in O emulsion

    Posted by lookoutitscaleb on June 23, 2021 at 8:46 pm

    Hi, I make skin care products. 

    One of the products I make is an oil based scrub with an emulsifier in it to help with feel. I use vegecide in the product to help reduce the chance of contamination. 

    Vegecide from all distributors is out of stock. 

    I don’t really like using just straight Oil and an exfoliant as a scrub. Leaves the oil left behind on the skin. 

    I use Leucidal complete along with other plant extracts to preserve water based products (IE aspen bark powder). 

    At the moment I am using Olive M 1000 to emulsify my products and as the sole emulsifier in the scrubs. 

    I’m trying to come up with a way to preserve my emulsified scrubs since they will come in contact with water. I have seen a few INCIs with Oils, Leucidal Complete, and an emulsifier. This doesn’t make sense to me since the emulsifiers used aren’t W/O they are O/W emulsifiers. 

    Any ideas? I’m trying to avoid phenonip and phenoxythanol. Trying to stick with as plant-based (I know) a product as posisble. 

    PhilGeis replied 3 years, 2 months ago 4 Members · 8 Replies
  • 8 Replies
  • Henry

    Member
    June 23, 2021 at 9:53 pm

    how much water is in your system?

  • Microformulation

    Member
    June 24, 2021 at 12:00 am
    1. Vegecide is not the greatest stand-alone preservative. It requires rigorous technique and would still need to be proven by PET. Aspen Bark is not as well.
    2. Leucidal also is a horrible preservative. Search in the group.
    3. The amount of water in the aqueous phase has no impact upon if it is O/w or W/O.
  • PhilGeis

    Member
    June 24, 2021 at 10:41 am

    Mark is spot on - thatn is a garbage, green-salad preservative system.  Preservative(s) is the ONLY ingredient used exclusively for safety - prevent contamination in use.  Please don’t let your marketing objective corrupt its purpose.

  • lookoutitscaleb

    Member
    June 25, 2021 at 7:25 pm

    @Henry the only water soluble ingredients would be the preservative. 

    @Microformulation the combination of preservatives holds it down in the products. I’ve tested it up to 1 year with an incubator. It’s not JUST Leucidal complete and Aspen Bark. It’s a mix of the two and other plant based preservatives depending on what is needed and hurdle technology. 

    @PhilGeis Thanks for the insight. 

    My question still stands if anyone has any ideas of how to reformulate my Oil based emulsified scrub. How to get a small amount of water soluble ingredients into it for the sole purpose of preserving it. 

  • Microformulation

    Member
    June 25, 2021 at 8:31 pm

    You don’t do preservation testing in an incubator. It is a micro test.

  • lookoutitscaleb

    Member
    August 29, 2021 at 2:56 am

    @Microformulation I introduced organisms to the sample and incubated them for different periods of time. 

    Is that not the correct procedure? 

  • Microformulation

    Member
    August 29, 2021 at 12:53 pm
    @PhilGeis can weigh in better but I will say that it is more involved than that. There are protocols. Also, I would ask if you have the background as a microbiologist to interpret the results.
    All I know is that the buyers my clients work with would reject that testing.
    Send your testing to a testing facility.
  • PhilGeis

    Member
    August 30, 2021 at 10:55 am

    Please stop this “testing”.  It is meaningless, 

    Use real preservatives, not than green scams.  Safety is no place to invest political correctness and green sentiment.  Whatever you think your customers want - YOU are responsible for the safety of your cosmetic.  

    You have fallen in to the trap of so many - and many here - in trivializing  micro safety.  It is not a DYI hobby either in testing or preservation.  Failure risks folks who use your products and that will be 100% on you. 

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