Bobzchemist
Forum Replies Created
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The first things I ever made in the cosmetic industry were perfume dusting powders - highly fragranced talc/fragrance mixtures that were lightly colored, usually with some mica added. These had to be pulverised several times to get them to be free-flowing, and the pulveriser room was not well-ventilated - so the powder went everywhere. Nobody liked doing these, because at the end of the day, you would just reek of perfume, so the job always went to the lowest level - me.
I always tried to schedule these batches in the afternoon, because if I did them in the morning, I wouldn’t be allowed into the cafeteria for lunch.
My girlfriend at the time made me take most of my clothes off in the foyer and bag them up before she’d even let me into our apartment. Fortunately, a shower would wash it all off, or I might have had to sleep in the car.
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You have nothing to lose by emailing and asking for samples, either.
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Cosmetic science needs to be experimental. Try it and see.
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You can only get glycerin when you saponify a triglyceride.
Lauric acid is C12H24O2. Add NaOH to saponify and you get C12H23O2Na + H2O. Where in there do you see glycerin (C3H8O3)?
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You need more than formula help. You might want to take a course or two before starting a business.
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The folks just up the road from us make a solubilized Zinc Ricinoleate product:
Flexisorb OD-120ZnR - but this is for household cleaning, not personal care. This strongly suggest that the ingredients required to solubilize/stabilize it are much too harsh to use on skin.http://www.ictchemicals.com/media/1361/flexisorb-od-20130225.pdf
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I don’t think it’s available in less than 25kg quantities.
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Well, what kind of budget do you have for a heated water bath?
http://www.globalscientificsupply.com/product/polyscience-wb02a11b-general-purpose-water-bath-2-liter?gclid=CjwKEAiA6OnFBRDcgt7YmPKI33ESJACJoTJYNdsnOw31dYY51E_lBuXncnBV2djRbph0tDMIMi9T-RoCkLvw_wcB -
Also, your emulsifier system is much too weak - the large drop in viscosity is a large clue for this. It looks like most of your viscosity is coming from your wax - the breakdown in viscosity with shear, and the reforming of viscosity with heat are clues for that. You need to reformulate so that most of the viscosity comes from the emulsion structure itself.
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Ummm…if you’re trying to make something similar to a tube lipstick, why aren’t you starting out with a tube lipstick formula? And where did you get the formula you’re using? It’s not missing just one thing, it’s missing half-a-dozen.
It is actually very difficult to formulate a good, safe lipstick/lipgloss base formula, and the potential for a bad outcome is high - not all cosmetic ingredients are safe for use on the lips. I would very strongly suggest that you start with a pre-made base, like these from Making Cosmetics: http://www.makingcosmetics.com/Makeup-Lipstick-Bases_c_148.html
It could very well save you from a trip to the ER.
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I’m a bit confused. You say that BTMS is your favorite cationic conditioner, yet you can only get it as BTMS-50, which you are sensitive to due to the presence of cetyl alcohol? And it leaves your hair a frizzy mess?
How is this your “favorite”, then?
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Please don’t misunderstand - if you are formulating to make a prototype, or for your own personal use, then by all means use food materials.
Once you start specifying materials for commercial cGMP production, though, you’re going to need, at the very least, a COA and micro testing results. Food suppliers don’t usually supply these. Some haven’t ever even heard of them, since they’re not required for food manufacturing.
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The only reason not to do this is if you’re formulating for commercial sale. Food-grade-only suppliers aren’t typically set up to provide the needed documentation.
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Stephenson’s has some great clear soap bases as well.
When we ran the numbers, we needed to make more than/at least 5,000 pounds/week of our own soap base before it was cost effective not to use their base.
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For cleaning, we were directed to only use Alcanox products by our FDA compliance consultant. https://alconox.com/
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Try LinkedIn for SCC and other cosmetic groups.
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Maybe Laponite will work?
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The only other advice I’ll give for free is to make sure your slats come from California Cedar and that they’re stored in a temperature/humidity controlled room before use.
I ran R&D there for four years, and I know a lot about all aspects of a pencil-making operation - if you want to move up to the next level, I am available for consultation.
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Well, when I talk about scale up, I talking about going from 1 kilo to a couple of hundred. If you’re making a kilo or two, it doesn’t matter hugely which one you use. The differences are minor.
Unless, of course, you’re making something very thick, like mascara. In that case, you need the paddle, because the stress on the anchor configuration will break the impeller.
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OK, I know that everyone calls them “mechanical pencils”. I’m letting my bias show. But I still don’t like them as much as wood pencils, they’re too finicky.
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There are very few “natural” pencils on the market because it is almost impossible to make a functional “natural” pencil, let alone a high-quality one.
What third-party “natural” standard are you planning on using to be sure that your pencils will be considered “natural” by consumers?
Those are very, very small quantities. I can’t even begin to imagine a business model that would let this be profitable.
Were you planning to make wood-encased, lacquer-coated, extruded-core pencils? Or are you planning on making cast-core, propel/repel plastic case “pseudo” pencils?
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I’m reluctant to answer your question about the powder press in much detail on this forum, since this is exactly the area I consult in.
The only advice I can give you (publically, at least) is not to disregard the used equipment market.
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If you do not already have a paddle and/or anchor impeller, you should definitely get at least one of them. They are invaluable for emulsion making, particularly for scale-up uses. Homogenizing/sawtooth mixing during cooldown can disrupt the structure of a cream/lotion.
The ebay impeller you linked to does not have straight sides. This is bad for mixing/heat transfer. I wouldn’t recommend it.
Also, cooling in an ice/water bath after emulsification can dramatically improve stability and texture of lab batches. Unfortunately, rapid cooling like that isn’t a very scaleable technique over 10 liters or so, and has been the source of a great deal of embarrassment over the years when formulating chemists try to get manufacturing facilities to replicate their wonderful lab formula at a much larger scale. (This, by the way, is why you should always insist on making a pilot batch. In the long run, it saves a lot of trouble)
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Try it for yourself and find out.