[belassi]

I am beginning my own development of a vitamin C serum at the moment using Apprecier (Trisodium ascorbyl palmitate phosphate) and research I have already done shows me that there is no way you can expect it to be stable at 45C. In fact even at room temp it will degrade in weeks rather than months. The graphs in the published data show that these formulations do degrade and that temperature is a major factor as is free oxygen in the mixture.

It is recommended to include dihydric alcohols in the formula. For some reason I can’t locate it at the moment but I have a document from Showa Denko recommending two types, e.g. propane 1,3 diol, may have been one, unfortunately I can’t obtain them here.

I intend making ours in small batches, keeping them in refrigeration and recommending the customer does likewise and use within 3 weeks. 

[belassi]

With decyl glucoside, test for allergic reactions.

[belassi]

I apologise for not answering the original question. I will do that now.

You have powder form AV concentrate at x200.

First, it is inconvenient to handle as a powder when adding to a formula, partly because the weighing amounts will be so tiny with x200. 

Therefore I suggest as your first step, you make up some ready-use solution at x10 concentration. This is a simple dilution in distilled or deionised sterile water. Sterilise the containers with alcohol prior. If you’re not sure how to calculate it, then I or another forum member could no doubt reply.

Keep the solution in the refri at 2 to 4C. If you will be keeping it more than a day or two you will need to preserve it.

When you use it as an ingredient, it works like this. I’ll use a reference weight of 1 Kg, you can scale accordingly.

Say I want a formula which is 50% aloe vera. OK that implies that if I were using x1 (simple extract) I would need 500g of aloe vera … 50/100 * 1000

And the rest of the ingredients would total 500g.

Since you now have x10 solution, we will only need one-tenth of that amount to achieve the same dilution. Therefore we use 500/10 or 50g of the x10 concentrate. The rest is now all the other ingredients.

I think the conversion makes sense even at concentrations >100% because that’s normal in chemistry. 

Since you have access to the powder I suggest you might try finding a dilution that will yield a jelly or salve consistency, perhaps add binding, plasticiser and design a terrific burns/bruise treatment.

[belassi]

Thank you, David. I do actually have a product like that, we make it with 10x concentrate. I once got a nasty burn off the lab hotplate and put the 10x concentrate on it, straight from the bottle in the refri. It worked amazingly well, the pain disappeared pretty much completely. I find myself wondering just what is the optimum concentration for burn relief.

[belassi]

Ah! I’m sure you must be right! Grain alcohol. Don’t know why they didn’t use the term ethanol.

[belassi]

I’m doing my preliminary research into formulations. I found this article which is of considerable interest. However they talk about “cereal alcohol”. Despite searching for this term I do not understand what they mean. Could it be simply, ethanol?

[belassi]

Great information, thanks for that. So you recommend I add alcohol to prevent the foaming problems?

[belassi]

Perry, if I were to make a product that contained say, 90% aloe vera juice and 10% some other stuff, wouldn’t it be correct to begin the LOI with “aloe vera”?

[belassi]

Good question. And difficult to answer. It depends on the overall concentration.

[belassi]

It’s as Bob already said. The formula is … weird. It resembles a primitive hand cream found on some Etsy site. I don’t see it as a start point for a cleansing product.

[belassi]

That’s not going to work. It’s neither a natural soap nor contains surfactants. And including phosphate… anti environment, phosphates cause algal blooms in wastewater runoff. Take a look at swiftcraftymonkey’s blog for some ideas. If you’re interested in natural soap bars see http://www.teachsoap.com/

[belassi]

Update: We’ve been in touch with the supplier and they are sending us two samples of the types that they think are good for the purpose. Minimum order is 20Kg, well, I already have 80Kg of kaolin so I had better make sure I can design this product.

[belassi]

Do you mean a synthetic soap bar? Or a natural soap bar? Please explain further.

[belassi]

Thanks for that

[belassi]

Dixie, Lush is a company that has been enormously successful and if I could ever do as well I would be delighted. However… it’s all based on clever marketing. I encourage you to dig deeper and find out exactly what’s in their products.

[belassi]

You will need to experiment with a mix of solubiliser such as Polysorbate-20 and fragrance oil or essential oil, and probably adding a gum thickener also.

[belassi]

When formulating, you have to talk about ingredients as percentages otherwise it’s meaningless.

[belassi]

Jojoba oil is actually a liquid wax, and essential oils are not really oils but a combination of things including terpenes, aldehydes, etc.

[belassi]

Lush? “Natural”?  )

[belassi]

Weights are a bit meaningless … we normally use percentages. 

[belassi]

Good idea, thanks. I failed to find any relevant information in the usual places.

[belassi]

If nobody can advise I will have to see if the supplier will sell me a kilo of each so that I can begin testing … I want to make a combination with kaolin and bentonite clays that can be put on like a thick paint, and then sets and can be peeled off.

[belassi]

There are far better surfactants to use than that, for household cleaners.

[belassi]

Kirk, yes, Emulgin VL 75. For the Lamesoft, I was using it at 1%, the recommended level. I am going to remove it and am now looking for a suitable replacement. Suggestions welcome! 

[belassi]

Happy Evacuation Day to the USA members!