[katerinak]

@czkld I know. It looks like they’re making a bloody smoothie and packaging it up to sit on shelves for months. 😶

[katerinak]

@Pharma you are brilliant!

[katerinak]

Thanks for that @MarkBroussard… do you know where those older formulations can be found? Can the KOH be substituted for NaOH? (I’m going off high school chemistry haha)

Thanks for the great resource @Pharma! I can’t read German but I can read a little French so maybe I’ll have to go hunt it down…. really appreciate you translating those two simple formulas!

@chemicalmatt nawww don’t break my heart telling me people lie 

Amen @ngarayeva001 hahah
Walking into their stores certainly doesn’t smell natural 

[katerinak]

@Pattsi
Agreed! I’m not the biggest fan of Lush but I am intrigued how they manage to make ‘self preserving’ creams and the like. They tend to use that combination of preservatives throughout their products which I’m not a fan of.

I’ve found it mentioned that the Fresh product has 17% water and that it’s based on Galen’s original cold cream formula…. sounds like they’ve slightly modernised the formula by adding in some fancy ingredients.
Also seems to me that they are using the Sodium Carbonate as a means to saponify the beeswax to create the emulsion. But I’m certainly no chemist so perhaps someone else can comment.

@MarkBroussard
Totally agree with your perspective! Personally I’d love to be able to formulate this kind of ancient cream purely for the challenge of creating a modern feeling/performing product with such rudimentary ingredients. It’s fascinating!
Certainly not opposed to using preservatives and emulsifiers etc but I’d love to see if it’s possible without. 

It is no doubt tricky as all hell. Would you say that the use of beeswax in cold creams is beneficial in any way? Or purely just very natural. If you were going for the modern angle would you include the beeswax and help it along or omit it entirely in favour of other ingredients.

Thanks for your input and interested to hear your take!

[katerinak]

100% seconding this @ngarayeva001! Also very keen to create an ‘ancient’ cream but no idea how to approach it. Would love @Pharma‘s guidance on this! 

[katerinak]

Oooooh @ngarayeva001 I’ve never heard of Fresh, that cream looks decadent….. and also furthers the mystery! 
I know that Lush makes self preserving products where possible but that one is puzzling indeed.

[katerinak]

@Pharma I thought so but I can’t seem to find any traditional formulas that don’t include borax…. any idea on oil phase/beeswax % to achieve this magic?

[katerinak]

Also is it just me or are there no humectants?

[katerinak]

Thanks @ozgirl!

Should’ve done a teeny bit of research before I excitedly posted such a huge question.

Looks like they’re using Dermofeel Easymuls (Glyceryl Oleate Citrate) and Montanov 202… Does anyone have any pointers on working with those together?

Also looks like the preservative is Geogard 221 and they’re using Ecogel.

I’ve roughed out the percentages but I have no idea how to go about tackling the oil to emulsifier/thickener ratios!

[katerinak]

@MarkBroussard thanks so much! 

[katerinak]

alan123 said:

A £10 hand mixer is sufficient for 100 grams

Thanks for the response!
When you say hand mixer do you mean the stick blender?

I already own both a stick blender and a milkshake machine as pictured so just wanted to clarify which would be best.
Thanks again!