[EVchem]

There are also different grades of xanthan gum that have different viscosities/ properties if you can get your hands on them. Something like Keltrol CG-SFT  can be used to produce lower viscosity but smoother  formula

[EVchem]

Are you in the US? I know a couple but  they usually have ~50lb minimum order which is a lot of fragrance to go through.

Yeah that would be so beyond difficult. There is so much variation between essential oils. For example there is french lavender, bulgarian, linalool content probably varies not only by region but season

[EVchem]

- for stability you want oils high in saturated fats, its the unsaturated fats that are able to oxidize. Cheap easy replacement would be MCT. You can also get high oleic versions of sunflower. 

You could easily cut beeswax in half if you do add some carnauba/candelilla. 

[EVchem]

Your assumption isn’t entirely wrong. In my most technical scientific explanation: science is hard and there is so much at play even in  simple formulas. I attached some references I like.

Check out HIPE (High internal phase emulsions) too.

Also keep in mind the end goal is to create a stable product. Pomades are thick and you might be able to get away with an unconventional emulsifier choice and have a product stable enough to sell.

From the ICI attachment the author says

 In other words, you use a “water-soluble” emulsifier when you want your final product to exhibit aqueous characteristics, i.e. to dilute readily with water”

Maybe this emulsifier is helpful in washing that pomade off at the end of the day

[EVchem]

You’re looking for small quantity?
https://www.formulatorsampleshop.com/Glyceryl-Caprylate-p/fssm19000.htm

[EVchem]

@PomadeCraft  not sure what you have, but if you have a scale, you can get a weight of the container you mix in. When you have added every ingredient, weigh the container +batch and subtract the weight of your container. Whatever remainder you have is your actual batch weight, and you should add back enough water to reach your original intended batch size.

Ex. a 400g container and a 300g batch
if  you  weigh the batch + container at the end and it doesn’t weigh 700g (say 690g), add 10g of water  and mix it in before pouring. Hope that makes sense!

[EVchem]

tocopherol (not tocopheryl acetate) is an antioxidant  that should help combat oils going rancid. The ideal thing to buy is  a mix of natural tocopherols, and that typically gets used at ~0.1 % 

The blends of oils you’ve suggested shouldn’t separate, most oils will stay as one phase unless you have some thing like coconut oil that solidifies on a cool day.  Grape seed is notoriously unstable just fyi, because it is high in polyunsaturated fats its prone to oxidation. There’s no credible evidence that oils that have gone rancid will be unsafe for your skin, they just won’t smell nice and you’ll lose the benefits that the unsaturated oil could provide. 

[EVchem]

That hasn’t been found conclusive (Sodium benzoate + ascorbic acid) as far as I know

In November 2005, FDA received reports that benzene had been detected at low levels in some soft drinks containing benzoate salts and ascorbic acid. CFSAN immediately initiated a survey of benzene levels in soft drinks and other beverages. The vast majority of the beverages sampled to date (including those containing both benzoate salts and ascorbic acid) contained either no detectable benzene or levels well below the 5 ppb EPA MCL for benzene in drinking water.

Never hurts to have a chelator though (though if it is a salt it can interfere with emulsion)

[EVchem]

So the brush ‘cleaners’ are usually alcohol because it a cheap effective way to sanitize and it evaporates quickly.  100% is actually not as effective at sanitizing as 70%. But just alcohol won’t clean any oil buildup off, you would need surfactant for that.  I couldn’t find any reputable journal information but the internet consensus seems to be yes IPA and ethanol can damage natural hair brushes, especially if you are letting them soak.  You could try using shampoo  and then spritzing with alcohol after to dry/ sanitize.

[EVchem]

3 months room temperature? lower viscosity might help, there might also be  filling techniques you could use to minimize the amount of air entrapped in the first place. How do you fill currently?

[EVchem]

You’re gonna have to post the ingredients,  roundabout percentages would also help. I will say that I’ve seen this in creams before but it depends on what you have in it

[EVchem]

That formula is entirely oil which will give a nice dewy glow if formulated right, otherwise you just get greasy/shiny.  There are a couple specialty silicones that are meant to provide shine. You could take a look at hair care actives that claim to increase shine and start there

[EVchem]

Glycereth-7 Triacetate
 from supplier info (Phoenix Chemical)
“Two properties that make PELEMOL
® G7A indispensable to the cosmetic
chemist is its total water-solubility and outstanding solvency, having the ability to
dissolve a variety of cosmetic esters and oils. It also functions as a coupling
agent in water, solubilizing water-insoluble and marginally soluble esters”

[EVchem]

 We’ve done 17-20 % THD Ascorbate. Stability wise noticed no issues,  but in terms of efficacy I don’t think 20% is going to be linearly more powerful.  And yeah I only see testing up to 10% which could be related to efficacy maxing out or formula cost getting too high.

[EVchem]

I love the feel of lauryl laurate, it  does melt at body temp which is a nice effect but I’ve never tried it in a balm. If you do use it I’m interested in hearing how it plays out.

[EVchem]

Silica powder should work, not sure if it will maintain clarity

[EVchem]

@simona  if this site ships to you https://lotioncrafter.com/products/l-ascorbic-acid-ultrafine?_pos=1&_sid=6fa9b20b5&_ss=r

About every 6 months we get a request to copy skinceuticals and we have to explain to sales it is patented and the  options around it. I think higher pH is the easiest  work around, but  like others are saying i don’t think it’s helping product efficacy. You can always try the derivatives, my personal favorites are ascorbyl glucoside and the amitose series from seiwa (though those are more for feel than true efficacy)

I think most places do stay under the radar, but if your product gets popular they are more likely to come after you…’because you’re worth it’ (sorry can’t resist)
https://www.thefashionlaw.com/home/loreal-is-suing-drunk-elephant-for-patent-infringement-over-its-buzzy-vitamin-c-serum

[EVchem]

these aren’t US products are they? I put them into the WINCI (PCPC registry of INCI names, it also includes registered tradenames and I got nothing for any of those. 
 it looks like those LOI may be  mixed with spanglish, I know we have at least one user on the forum based in mexico who might be able to help (@belassi)

Espectrogem E2 showed up in a brochure from 2015, the ingredient list looks like a hand sanitizer or cream? http://pfpeldorado.homeip.net/promos/Urba_co.pdf

http://pfpeldorado.homeip.net/buscar.php - you could try and call or send a message and ask them for more information

[EVchem]

What about cases where you have a blend of materials and no exact composition statement? There are many cases where I ‘know’ that part of a blend is less than 1%, or less than 50% of that blend. Should I leave everything grouped together without substantiation, or use my knowledge of the materials to get a slightly more accurate listing?

ex I have a blend of materials preserved with potassium sorbate. Even if I use the blend at 3%, the potassium sorbate level is no more than 3-4% of that raw material. 

[EVchem]

@Seun at least consider some cationic guar gum. It’s been modified for better performance  but the ~natural~ origin might be appealing to you.

  I don’t mean to come down on you but we see many requests on this forum for all natural products and it’s just never going to perform well. If you just care about words on your marketing and label sure go natural, but it will not have the efficacy or even safety of a product that chooses ingredients based on merit.

Now for a very quick diatribe about this topic:
Natural formulas are often unsafe when made by smaller companies/individuals because they are unlikely to pay for proper challenge testing. Natural preservatives typically aren’t as strong and require a lot of ‘teamwork’ with the other components - look up the hurdle approach.  And because of the misconception natural=safe, I suspect the due diligence of evaluating materials based on a variety of metrics falls to the wayside. Do you ever look at paperwork for your oils or clays to see the heavy metal testing results? 

And the whole idea of natural being safer than ‘chemical’ formulas is just wrong. Arsenic? Natural. Lead? Natural. Obviously those things aren’t intentionally going in formulas - but what about essential oils? A host of them are irritating, phototoxic, and if you care about the natural environment at all think of what the demand for exotic oils does to the ecosystem they are in. What about people with nut allergies who can’t use unrefined plant oils? 

I know for many people on here formulating is just a hobby, not trying to discourage hobbyists from  getting into this field. However like all hobbies, you should make safety a number one priority, especially if you plan to distribute your work in any way

[EVchem]

I’ve tried using knowde before, it’s not bad but ULpropsector is a lot easier to access literature on. If I have to request every piece of info on a material  it will take too long (by sales standards). Also sometimes I’m just browsing, having to follow up with each rep for a material I just had passing interest in is time consuming.

[EVchem]

There are probably formulation tweaks but they might alter the feel/effect of the balm. I don’t  work with hot fill  but I’ve heard after pouring that going over the tops of the tubes with a heat gun can help- but with cardboard i’m not sure how safe that is.In the long run it’s probably easier to fix with a process change

[EVchem]

Yeah everything after it could be at most 1%, if there are no other problems with the list. This is what keeps me up at night on reverse engineers

[EVchem]

Can I ask how you know the stability? How did you characterize that between the two iterations

[EVchem]

@LuisJavier I’d rather take dioxane than benzene any day of the week.

As far as I know dioxane is considered possibly carcinogenic, and definitely bad for the environment. There are suggested limits for exposure

Benzene is a confirmed carcinogen, and associated with a host of other conditions. There is  no safe concentration.