[Herbnerd]

I think anything that puts a shine over the tattoo in all honesty. I’m sure you would achieve the same using mineral oil.

[Herbnerd]

Sure you can - but it does take a practiced eye to discern the ingredients that make up that colour - especially if you are starting from scratch with a pantone colour chart.

It is interesting working with someone who works with colours and doing colour matching that they can look at a red colour and determine whether it red with a bit of yellow added to it, or a bit of blue, black, white etc. If you feel you can do this, go ahead.

When colour matching creams and the like, (and I’m by no means an expert at this) I tend to make up solutions of the dyes in say, 1% solutions and 0.1% solutions. Once you know what you need to add to get the right shade then you can calculate what you actually need to add.

[Herbnerd]

Perry said:

@AutumnBlum - we don’t have such a course but if we were to make one, what are some of the key subjects you would like to learn about?

It’s not a bad idea to put together a course of cGMP and perhaps cGLP too - or at least cover the basics from traceability, record keeping, plant design/layout (something I’m working on now), references (BP/USP if required), raw material records (QC/QA, spec sheets, MSDS, C of As, etc) finished product specifications, SOP writing etc. Perhaps covering HACCP, ISO, or other programs)
When you work with it, you learn it as you go and it is easy - when you are starting out, it seems insurmountable putting a program together. 

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VitalikButerin said:

Find a manual and follow it 

Seconded.

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Pharma said:

Microformulation said:

Arginine.

Unfortunately, most sold arginine is arginine HCl 

Arginine base is available, but it is produced in smaller quantities and you must specify arginine base from your supplier - otherwise, as you say, they will supply arginine HCl. 

[Herbnerd]

Pharma said:

Herbnerd said:

…to calculate the amount of capsicum to use…

Just to make sure: Capsicum = chili peppers = highly varying amounts of capsaicin between pods even from the same plant and also varying concentrations within different portions of a single pod.

Yep - this is why I suggested using an assayed level of capsaicin because of the wild variations in capsicum - from nothing in bell peppers to very high, but very variable amounts of capsaicin in capsicums such as naga or reapers.

[Herbnerd]

There is no point using capsicum extract unless you have an assayed level of capsaicin in it - and even then you would need to calculate the amount of capsicum to use. For example if the capsicum is 0.1% capsaicin you would need to use 2 g to get the claimable levels.

[Herbnerd]

You have to be sure of the company before buying - it really is buyer beware in China unless you have someone on the ground who knows what they are doing and the best companies to deal with. There is rarely any come back if there is a problem.

A company I worked for bought an in-line homogeniser for light work (incorporationg aloe powder into water), in which there was a hopper to pour the powder into. It didn’t do the job. The only way they could get it to work was to put another pump in-line to pump the liquid through the homogeniser first - which defeated the point of buying one in the first place.

The other thing to watch out for is the bolts - they tend to be mild steel and will shear off quickly. Best thing to do is replace all bolts beofre you start using it.

[Herbnerd]

Part of my job is developing gel-type soft gelatin capsules. We often suspend powders into oils prior to encapsulation.

The simplest way is to increase the viscosity of the oil by using something like beeswax, hydrogenated vegetable oils, coconut oil, glyceryl monostearate or one of the other options available to you. Melt the chosen ingredients into a small portion of the oil and then whilst hot, mix into the remainder of the oil. Then you can add the powdered/insoluble ingredients into the oil.

Be careful - hemp seed oil is unsaturated and will go rancid very quickly (with or without inclusions). You will need some antioxidant. Also, from experience you are unlikely to get much more than about 10% herb extract into the oil before it becomes and unusable oily dough.  This does very much depend on the extract - freeze dried powders tends to be worse and will seize the oil. Aqueous-Ethanolic extracts tend to be better - but there are so many variables that can go wrong. You will most likely need to use lecithin. Lecithin helps to “emulsify” the powder into the oil. It also improved taste too since I suspect you are intending this as an oral product rather than a topical product.

And as @Pharma says, you will very likely have a clogged pipette - no matter how finely you mill the powder

[Herbnerd]

@Belassi  Same here. Expecting 500 g of Kaolin, get a 25 kg sack delivered instead. 
 

[Herbnerd]

Not as a cosmetic formulator as such, but as someone who has developed raw materials for use in cosmetics and dietary supplements.
It is a fine balance between the pure research about an ingredient and trying to find the marketing angle that will generate some interest in your product and something that the brand owners and marketers can latch onto that will generate the sales of your product.

Research for research’s sake doesn’t generate an income. You can investigate all you want about an ingredient, or a process. At some point to pay the bills you will need to commercialise - and this is where some scientists fall down. They don’t want to see their research dumbed down into “sound-bites” or taken out of context to provide marketing content.

Marketing (or the “crayon crowd” as I have heard them called) need to get the product out there, but they also run the risk of making claims where there are none - but they don’t understand the science and so rely on the sound-bites.

Worst of all is the marketing type cosmetic research that the marketers love. “8 out of 10 women noticed fewer wrinkles after seven days*” and in the small print, “*five women, self-assessment only”

It is a fine balance to be able to do the research AND pay the bills AND be true to your scientific credentials.

[Herbnerd]

@Doreen, @ngarayeva001, I am sure @artaupoil is probably trying to formulate a shampoo for show dogs where these dogs are bathed, shampooed and conditioned, blow-dried and trimmed ready for showing. 

The average dog owner doesn’t worry so much; people who show dogs do.

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Purpledusk said:

Try Natural solubilizer Clear plus by Dr Straetman it’s  PEG-free and gluten free , Solubol could work too depending of the essential oil I know the solution is clear using rosemary EO although it gets milky with some others, you will need to experiment with mint to find the right ratio, the seller recommends 1:4 (EO/solubol) but from experience I read you’d need to add more for a clear product.

I used this for Propolis in 1:1 ratio for a propolis mouthwash, seems to work pretty well at keeping propolis in solution without resins precipitating.

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ngarayeva001 said:

Funny enough, for many products that include tocopheryl acetate, it isn’t even mentioned in the marketing story. It’s in so many products!

I think a lot use it as an antioxidant for the oils - but there are plenty of better antioxidants for preventing oil rancidity.

[Herbnerd]

The lower the assay the more you need to supply the ingredient you are after.

The maths is simple: What you want, divided by what you have, multiplied by 100.

So, 69 %/28% x 100 = 246.4% which clearly will not work.

[Herbnerd]

I suspect this is a new compounds that may be used nutritionally - The tridocosahexenoate oleate is most likely one or two docosahexaenoic acid and one or two oleic acids attached to a triglyceride backbone.

I have come across similar in infant nutrition called OPO being oleic-palmitic-oleic fatty acids attached to a triglyceride backbone.

[Herbnerd]

Royal Jelly will darken over time owing to the maillard reaction. You will need to work around this.

[Herbnerd]

Activated carbon is very abrasive - you should be cautious about using activated carbon. We are currently having some toothpastes tested for both abrasive and whitening. We should have the results back in a couple of weeks.

However, you do need to consider why the hydrated silica is there - is it an abrasive grade or is it perhaps a viscosity modifier. If you are removing it as an abrasive, you may not need to replace it. If it is used as a viscosity modifier, then you need to consider your options carefully.

[Herbnerd]

I work for a toothpaste manufacturer. We removed the paraben preservatives quite some time ago and swapped over to totarol; however the amount used is more for claim than for preservation and to use up some existing stock that was bought for a customer and never used.

We have found that our aseptic manufacturing procedures, combined with high pH (8-9.5 depending on formulation), and low water activity does allow us to manufacture without the use of preservatives.

I would add to that, until you have completed your post manufacturing micro, micro assays on all incoming raw materials and your stability trials you should not attempt to release a product unless you are confident it will not spoil.

We have a three year shelf life on our products, but we have tested and can show our products are safe for six years beyond manufacturing date.

[Herbnerd]

I have done dietary  supplements for sale in the Chinese market where I have added vitamins/minerals another other ingredients into a fruit juice concentrate and puree. 80-90% puree should have a brix of over 70, if the pH is as low as it is (usually there is plenty of natural acids so tend to be low pH anyway) should should be fine with just potassium sorbate - 0.08%  is usually enough; however, if this is not intended for ingestion, you can increase the amount accordingly. I have checked similar products - and the water activity is quite low (<1 Aw); though you can top up with glycerol instead of water if need be.

[Herbnerd]

@Pharma - I thought Coty was responsible for this abomination? Givaudan and Ferminich involved too?

[Herbnerd]

jeremien said:

O/O emulsion interesting concept. I already know about  W/W emulsions.. 

That’s two new thing I have learned today!

[Herbnerd]

Perry said:

@Dtdang - of course, being misinformed about a subject is usually worse than being uninformed about a subject.

So true - Misinformed means you are arguing with a brick wall. At least you can educate the uninformed.

[Herbnerd]

lactobacillus will not extract anything from the plants; but what it will do is ferment any sugars to alcohol and lower the pH.

Others doing this are purely doing so to offer the liquid that contains the probiotics; some will separate and dry and mill the plants.

To be honest, there is no benefit to doing this other than claiming some marketing BS. The use of lactoferments is more of dietary use than cosmetic.

[Herbnerd]

Creatine and creatine monohydrate are essentially the same thing. One is anhydrous the other is hydrated. Unless you are using this in a dry powder, it isn’t going to make any difference.

Even if you do use it in a powder, anhydrous will turn to monohydrate quickly enough. It is a fairly hygroscopic material