[Margaret2]

My stick blender is variable.  I was so excited to find it! It’s hard to find variable speed in a kitchen stick blender nowadays. 

For MY purposes, professional equipment like what you’ve described, is overkill. I will certainly look for this sort of professional equipment if I find a market for my goods. However, the expense of testing, packaging AND the fact I suck at marketing, will mean this will just be a much-loved hobby for me for the foreseeable future. But who knows…..sometimes good things happen. 

[Margaret2]

By “maintaining my heated phase temperature” I mean it’s easier to maintain 70 - 75 C temp.  of the water & oil phases on an induction element vs. an electric stove top. 

[Margaret2]

I fixed my issue of too much air in my lotions by buying a new stick blender in December. It’s an All Clad brand, 600 watts.  I use almost the slowest speed throughout the mixing phase. 

 I am also now using an induction element which helps in maintaining my heated phase temperature be more stable versus how our electric stove’s temperature varies.

I also did not realize I had been pretty-well mixing the ca-ca out of my lotions & creams by mixing them for too long. This too was probably adding excess air in my formula. What a dope! 

Thanks to all who responded. 

 

[Margaret2]

So many reasons animal fats AREN’T used today it seems!  Whooduh thunk it? Not I! I just thought it would be another way to use up fat, besides making soap. Plus, as I had mentioned, the Emu oil rage still goes on, judging from lotions & creams I found on the internet. 

I heard of the Roman skin cream on the news, when it was discovered. Neat-o! 

I had no idea lard & tallow had so much UNsaturated fat in it, I thought it was all pretty-much saturated.  

Thanks so much for all the info. you have all provided.

[Margaret2]

I am not selling what I make, but I  sure don’t want to be walking around with pink-face due to my use of lactic acid in my face lotion.

I was thinking of using just 1% lactic acid in my lotions & creams. I do not have SPF ingredients other than the zinc which makes my skin completely white. 

I have been using sodium lactate (not the same as lactic acid, I know) at 2% in lotions & creams for its humectant properties & to keep the surface of the lotions & creams from drying out too fast & cracking. 

[Margaret2]

No wonder the FDA did NOT state what % of lactic acid is safe w/o using SPF in the formula!! Thanks Mark! (My spouse-unit said the same thing)

Now I have no idea what I can use the lactic acid for, by golly. Maybe foot cream! ))

[Margaret2]

I am a home-based maker & this is what I have been doing for the last 2 months with success:

 I use canning jars for heating my water & oil phases, each in their own jar. I have a small  hole drilled into the center of the snap lid through which  I put my thermometer. Thermometer is held in place  so it does NOT touch the bottom of the jar, with a small clamp. There is negligible loss of water through the hole due to the thermometer being there. 

There is of course condensation on the lid & sides of the jar,  but I doubt I am losing a large amount of water out of the total mass of ingredients. The water loss is the same as what is condensing on the plastic wrap or aluminum foil others have suggested you use to prevent too much water loss, right?

I do not compensate for evaporation while I am mixing, otherwise I would drive myself mad.  WINKY FACE HERE. 

You could have a separate container of water being heated alongside your  water & oil phase containers, to be used just for making up the evaporation loss of your water phase. That way it’s also sterile & about the same temp. as your water phase. 

[Margaret2]

What sort of stability issues would there be with animal fats? Sorry for being ignorant. I guess rancidity it NOT one of the issues, seeing as how they are saturated fats, right? 

I thought that maybe the cholesterol in animal fats might be of benefit to our skin? Yes, no? 

 I figured there’d be an “ick” factor with animal fats in products, yes indeed. I was wondering if there is a chemical reason for them not being used. 

The only time my soap has been stinky from pig lard is when I did NOT cut off all the meat attached to the fat and I ended up with  lard that was not quite clean.  This was completely MY fault, a beginner’s error. The soap ended up being kind of stinky so I used it for laundry soap. It worked out well for that. 

Other than that, all the soap I make is 50% lard, as a way to use up the fat from the pig we buy in the fall.  The soap always smells of the essential oils or my lavender buds  I use to scent it, nothing else. 

Yesterday I  made 2 lotions and 2 creams which contain 4% and 10% respectively, rendered bison fat (plus plant oils). They smell of the orange/vanilla mix I used to give it a nice fragrance.  

[Margaret2]

I don’t quite have enough room in a fridge, so I thought our freezer would be an option. I’ll see about rearranging things in our fridge.

  Thanks for the tip.  

[Margaret2]

Thanks for the info., people.

I sell my stuff by MASS, never volume.  It’s always 200 grams of product, even if the pump jar is not completely filled, it’s 200 grams. 

Less long-term stability seems to be what the down-side is for extra air in a product then, it seems, says Microformulation person. 

I was wondering if the preservative would be compromised  from a lotion having too much air incorporated into it, or something else which I am ignorant of. 

Thanks again!

P.S. I didn’t notice anyone being condescending…..

[Margaret2]

I made 2 batches yesterday, in different mixing vessels. I made the exact same formula so if I had a failure, the mixing would be to blame.

The 200 gram batch was mixed in an IKEA metal measuring cup. I started off mixing at almost maximum speed, then to a more medium speed. Total mix time was 15 minutes with breaks scattered throughout to allow the motor to cool off. I use a split plastic bag over the mixer to keep the splattering from going all over the kitchen AND to try to keep air currents from depositing things I can’t see,  into the lotion.  NO separation so far . 

The 600 gram batch was mixed in the smaller bowl that came with the stand mixer. That was also mixed at very high speed to begin, then to a medium speed. Total mix time was 21 minutes because I feared any less would mean the mechanical emulsion would not have happened. This is also staying emulsified, so far. 

My most recent lotion failures showed separation within a mere 2 hours, so I think this is a success. 

So I guess it is very important to use the right-sized mixing vessel for different batch sizes.

[Margaret2]

I heated my failed mixture for 25 minutes at around 75 Celsius & mixed it with a stick blender (versus a regular mixer as I did initially) and the mixture is a success!! It is holding together nicely.

 Unfortunately, it does not pump out of a pump because it’s too fluffy , but that’s an issue for me to figure out on my own.   I am guessing the speed was too much with the stick blender and there’s too much air incorporated now. 

The point is, that re-heating & holding & re-mixing the failed lotion worked. 

I am going to assume that the preservative (liquid Germall plus) is ruined with the high temperature  it was exposed to during the re-heating, but at least I know that if one mixes at too low a speed, the lotion/cream will not stay emulsified nicely. 

Thank you Bobzchemist & everyone else who responded to my plight!

[Margaret2]

I will try adding BTMS (Croda’s Incroquat) and see what happens.

I had figured that once you did the ‘heat & hold’ with the ingredients, that was it, no more 2nd trying if you messed up the first time.  We shall see ! 

   I have not had problems with the formula using E-wax (NF) previously BUT I had used my stick blender AND  THIS time I used Polawax, but at 2% OVER the recommended guideline.

Thanks for the tips. There is so much to learn about making lotions/creams, much more than it looks on the surface. 

[Margaret2]

I used a hand mixer.  I used the slowest speed setting on it to avoid introducing too much air. 

[Margaret2]

I have used my stock oils mix to make a cream and a lotion and both have worked very well, and are not separating after 2 months of having made them. 

However, for sake of ease, next time I will EXCLUDE the stearic acid, since it made my lotion a bit too thick, still usable, but not thin enough for a pump bottle. 

 I’ll just add either  stearic acid or cetyl alcohol to the stock oils mix, depending on whether I’m making a cream or a lotion. 

Thanks everyone for your input!

[Margaret2]

When I do my canning, I put the hot, filled jars in the oven. The oven is sterilized every time it’s used, so contamination should not be an issue, right?  The oven also has NO air currents to blow icky things into the bottles, whose caps you’ve left OFF while it cools.  

OR put the bottles into a clean box & close it, to allow the contents to cool before capping? 

How about using a picnic cooler whose sides & tops you’ve cleaned with alcohol, and closing the lid of the cooler,  to let the bottles cool off? 

[Margaret2]

Bobzchemist’s response now makes all the formulae I’ve seen here  & there on various chemical companies’ web-sites make sense regarding the equipment used.  Thanks for the words. 

[Margaret2]

I re-made  a hand cream recipe that also had 3% panthenol in it in the past, but I used only 1% panthenol It is MUCH less sticky.

 I had no idea panthenol in a powder form would make it sticky.  Ain’t chemistry grand?

 Thanks for the help! 

[Margaret2]

DAVID: It is menthyl acetate, yes, not methyl acetate. I forgot to answer your question. 

[Margaret2]

I finally got around to making a new diffuser blend and I used dipropylene glycol instead of the propylene glycol as written in the initial post. Sorry, I am not near my book to give the INCI names for the glycols. 

The diffuser blend is still showing layering, but it is much less with the DPG. 

I have tried mineral oil and perfumer’s alcohol as the diffuser base in the past and it worked about as well as DPG  with perfumer’s alcohol did. 

Thanks for the comments/help!

[Margaret2]

If you cannot see this clear stick deodorant recipe that I’ve cut & glued, go to the Hallstar web-site & just enter in ‘DEODORANT’  in the search field.

 I make deodorant using propylene glycol and dipropylene glycol, plus stearic acid and an essential oil blend for the de-stinkifying property. 

I do not use an antimicrobial agent  because I do not use water in my recipe, unlike the recipe down below, which does have water & the antimicrobial. 

 I also COVER the canning jar I am melting my ingredients in, & only unscrew it (wearing rubber gloves) when I want to give it a mix. The lid decreases loss  of materials through evaporation. Sometimes I use a fleaker with its lid instead of a canning jar…..

http://www.hallstar.com/techdocs_pci/DeodorantSticksClear&CompleteJZ1-176(PG).pdf

You will also find a clear stick deodorant recipe on the Dupont, Lyle & Tate website. 

[Margaret2]

Yes, to save time is why I did this. Plus, to have fewer bottles of oils in my fridge . After I made the batch I realized I should have asked the chemists corner folken if this was smart or styoooopid to do. 

[Margaret2]

Thanks so much to all of you with your suggestions.  

I have been making toothpaste without SLS, but since I have it now, I thought I’d use it & get a little bubbling happening while brushing. It makes us look more vicious to be foaming, ha ha, hee hee! 

[Margaret2]

Belassi & MakingSkinCare folk,

Thanks very much for the suggestions & the links!

I did only about 2 1/2 minutes of mixing BEFORE adding the dry flo (tapioca starch) because the temperature got into the appropriate range to add the cool-down ingredients. The rest of the mixing was afterwards, to ensure everything got mixed well. 

I will omit the Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) because it is not stabilized in this formula AND 1% isn’t adding much benefit anyhow.  

I am using pump bottles and have been frustrated by my lotions being TOO thick. I made several batches of lotion/cream in November, trying to find the right % of thickener to use so the pump will do its job. 1% cetyl alcohol was found to be good, not too thin, not too thick, for the pump. 

  I will cut back on the lavender hydrosol as well. I have a lot of it because I distill the volatiles from my lavender plants in July. I just want to use the stuff up and I do not make toners or other things where I could throw it in. It really is quite stinky stuff, quite surprising actually. 

  I will try the xanthan gum. I have a bag of it. It did NOT occur to me to try it. What a dope!

   The arrrgan oil & using disodium EDTA to the water phase are the only things  I have changed, ingredient-wise versus the last time I made lotion. 

[Margaret2]

TO DISPEL THE CONFUSION: 

  It’s a liquid soap made from  the saponification between potassium hydroxide  &  coconut & olive oils. Potassium hydroxide is used to make liquid soaps. It foams REALLY well, like coconut oil-based soaps usually do. However, I learned that people with dry hair, either because of coloring or aging, etc. should NOT use soap made with a lot of coconut oil. 

 A commercial example of liquid soap is crazy Dr. Bonner’s peppermint soap. Have you ever tried to read the label??? CRAZY! 

     I was hoping I could use this liquid soap as the diluent with non-soap surfactants.  

I certainly won’t argue that synthetic shampoos are better than liquid soap, but this soap does a good enough job for us. It’s just that the pH is 8.5 that has me a little concerned. Neither of us have straw-like hair from using it though. 

Thanks for the  info.