[MaidenOrangeBlossom]

Have you tried a solubalizer?

[MaidenOrangeBlossom]

How large does the sample need to be? The products are expensive so I wanted to keep maybe a 10ml sample?

[MaidenOrangeBlossom]

Considering this:

NeoDefend

(GeoGard Ultra, MicroGuard)
Gluconolactone (and) Sodium Benzoate

[MaidenOrangeBlossom]

CB is gentle but not for eczema, I love castille soap for toothpaste. I’m not sure if it works in anything other than homemade toothpaste but its super gentle.

[MaidenOrangeBlossom]

I know this is a gel but fullers earth clay is a super cracking ingredient.

[MaidenOrangeBlossom]

This is a milk, not lotion. You would use a solubalizer or very low viscosity emulsifier like scleortium gum. Its not very stable but it works in my sunscreen milk. My most unpopular product. I’m not sure why, its so luxurious. Milks are super skin care products.

[MaidenOrangeBlossom]

One of my favs the secret to all amazing perfumes

[MaidenOrangeBlossom]

Not a stable formula for the reasons others listed.

Xanthan gum (0,52%) Thickens and helps stabilize but not at this quantity in this formula and without an emulsifier, always try to dupe an existing recipe first before creating your own (benchmark)

Glycerin (3%) OK I actually use double but can be sticky

MCT (triglycerides) : 11% OK but a little on the high side, you need a butter too

Stearic acid (2%) OK or you can use a butter which contains steric acid, there is a reason why all lotions contain 3+ types of lipids

Cetearyl alcohol (2%) Only enough if you add an emulsifier, this will thicken as well is a co emulsifier

Butylene glycol (2%) Never used don’t know what it is

Perfume (0,6%) fragrance can be used up to 1% depending on what type and how sensitive the product is etc but I usually use a fraction of what you use…

[MaidenOrangeBlossom]

This is my exact recipe. Its more of synergy than just ratio or ingredients. This deodorant makes the nicest lotion bar but worked well as a deo of course. Anything under the arms does feel a little sticky so you can add more powder than I did, I did about 4+ trials before this one. I still need to tweak it. But this gives you an idea of how simple the recipe can be. You can simplify it even more. I don’t have much experience in making deodorant bars so maybe someone else will know more. Some people are sensitive to corn starch but shouldn’t make a difference. Rice starch is more expensive.

• This reply was modified 2 weeks, 5 days ago by  MaidenOrangeBlossom.

[MaidenOrangeBlossom]

Cetyl will improve glide, so does the right combinations of butters and
oils. I wish my recipe was better but overall it is powdery though I
would add a few percent more and adjust the oil to a bit less. Getting
glide from wax/oils is excellent but from my experience its very tricky
to get the exact ration down so cetyl does most of the work for you.

[MaidenOrangeBlossom]

There are legal limits to menthol and camphor so you can also add eucalpytus and peppermint to not only disguise the scent and to add a cooling effect without the sting.

[MaidenOrangeBlossom]

Thank you so much!

[MaidenOrangeBlossom]

Yes, I’ve switched to an airless pump to guard against that. I use PE 9010 for my emulsions but as you can imagine it was a huge failure in a completely water based formula. I am also using 60% vegetable glycerin in these products (its not as sticky as you would think), so I am hoping with the packaging, small amount and proper sterilizing, it’ll be safe. I am also going to disclaim that it should be discarded within 90 days of opening even though I don’t yet have the firm numbers in terms of stability. Its mostly for insurance purposes and for overall safety for customers who may not be taking great care of products.

[MaidenOrangeBlossom]

I am creating a new line of skin and hair care products. But my line would be “simple”, just straight old fashioned apothecary type items like cold cream, hair butter. Nothing complex like what we are seeing with skin care lines like Pacifica, The Ordinary who would be my “benchmark” although they are not mostly similar. Just in terms of cosmos and eco certification as well as some of their gentle products. Cereve would be probably slightly close to my benchmark in terms of ingredients, Pacfica would be a benchmark for overall theme of my products. Right now I have 10 products that I’d like to review. I would mostly like to get a review to look for obvious instability and incompatibility, basically a yes or no. For example, actives in my urea cream were destabilizing the emulsion and I think even a quick glance at the recipe would have been enough for a professional to know that it wasn’t going to be stable…the ph, the preservative etc was pretty obvious, but to a beginer home maker, just eyeballing a recipe wouldn’t be effective. I have to experiment and tweak a recipe far more than a professional. And some of these are years in the making. So essentially, I want to cut the experimental time frame, increase stability and safety….but right now it’s not worth spending another 2-3 years on it if a professional could eyeball a formula and let me know that it would never be stable long term.

[MaidenOrangeBlossom]

How long do I have to keep the sample. At the moment I do not have a way to organize batch codes, if I wanted to begin that process, can I do so manually? I am not a large seller so I could feasibly just make up numbers and print labels to add to the products.

[MaidenOrangeBlossom]

Yup I try to keep all of my skin and hair products under 5. When I tested the pH they all reanged from just above 4 to 4.6. I’m not sure about other skin and hair types but the closer to 4 the shiner my hair and clearer my skin is.

[MaidenOrangeBlossom]

Never heard of that but maybe that can work. I’ve stayed away from gums because of the evil eye.

[MaidenOrangeBlossom]

sclerotium gum is easy but overall I think those are the two I’ve used

• This reply was modified 2 weeks, 4 days ago by  MaidenOrangeBlossom.

[MaidenOrangeBlossom]

You made a good lotion bar. But when I create shampoo bars that fail I use it for dishes or skin. This makes a good skin conditioning soap.

[MaidenOrangeBlossom]

that vegetable glycerin precipitating because lack of proper stability

[MaidenOrangeBlossom]

Kokum has a high level of steric and there is a lot of powders to soak up the water based ingredient so along with cetyl, it is stable. Not sure how or why without a solubalizer or full emulsifier. It mixes right up. And its so hard that it sets immediately without precipitation.

[MaidenOrangeBlossom]

I think it is SCI, not SI. Its been working on my face so far and it works incredibly well on dishes. But I’ve decided to use soap nut instead. If you’ve ever used it, its incredible. I am not sure what the chemistry is behind it but its been my secret for decades.

[MaidenOrangeBlossom]

I’m going to order it soon. But I am using snow mushroom and betaine which is supposed to be more hydrating than hyaluronic acid.

[MaidenOrangeBlossom]

Its not always or usually better, but when it is it is surprising. For example a gentle cleanser I use from Pacifica, the top ingredient is a known irritant for eczema and its marketed as a sensitive skin cleanser. Some of the $50 hair masks don’t perform half as well as mine does and without silicones that mask how it is not performing over time. I get why chemists say these brands have the best and brightest scientists that ever walked earth but they are constrained by their boss who is not a chemist or even motivated by long term performance. The ingredients I use aren’t expensive and even then the profit motive of companies are so blinding they are focusing on claims based labeling which over time is cheaper than using the cheap ingredients that I use. That’s why Amazon entered the handmade market, they knew people wanted quality were willing to buy handcrafted products. Although the handmade markets now are no longer handmade.

[MaidenOrangeBlossom]

As a beginner formulator I am constantly surprised by how my formula’s out perform the best sellers. I could never market my product to bigger sales platforms because of obvious reasons (needs a better preservative system and some technical things I’m still learning) and being ugly, but the profit motive is huge.

Also I know that a lot of large corporations have posed as etsy customers buying my items. Things that I have used for a decade or longer have been duped. Its like how small jewelry sellers are duped by huge brands like Urban Outfitters. It sucks but mine is still better lol.