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1. I have been wondering if inactive ingredients really play a role in formulations?

It depends on what you mean by “active” or “inactive”. Same ingredient can either or both in different products. But short answer is yes - “inactive” ingredients do play role in formulation. The simple reason: if you can make product without them - you will do it because it is cheaper.

2. so does this means that 10% is enough to deliver result?

There is no rule on what percentage it should be, it depends on the ingredient itself. For example retinol, it is used up to 1%, but tretinoin is less than 0.5%. Whereas niacinamide 1-5%, but L-ascorbic acid 10-20%. All ingredients are different and recommended dosage is usually based on studies.

3.  to have potent product we need a mix of 90%of inactives and only 10% of actives? 

No, tretinoin for example will be very “active” at <1%. There is no rule, it all depends on the ingredient. Also, delivery system matters.

4. So tHIS MEANs that an active can be at the bottom of the INCI deck and this means it is low in dosage right? 

Yes, but only till 1%. Ingredients lower than 1% can be in any order (if I remember correctly). I would not recommend you to guess on percentages based on INCI list. Because next INCI lists are the same, but percantage is different:
INCI 1: Water, Lactic Acid (10%), Glycerin (5%), Preservative
INCI 2: Water, Lactic Acid (2%), Glycerin (1%), Preservative

5. How many actives should there be in a product? 

No rules here, all you can put together to have a stable product for selling.

6. Is it possible to formulate a waterless face scrub?
Yes, scrubbing particles can be dispersed in any liquid which is non-water: oil, soft butter, glycerin, glycols, silicones etc

7. Are all waterless skincare products in the form of powder?

No. I already mentioned oils, glycerin and glycols. Take The Ordinary products, for example. Their Vitamin C products are waterless. Waterless != solid. It means explicitly no water

8. And by waterless does it mean it cant even be replaced with rose water or aloe vera?

yes, they have water inside.

9. I’ve read that water helps to dissolve many ingredients that are beneficial to skin.

True, it is the best solvent, but not all ingredients can be dissolved in water alone or at all, e.g. oils. You need to check each ingredient for solubility.

10. Can I replace water with fruit water or simply aloe vera jucie

It depends on your formulation.

11. Can the sunscreen be anhydrous and thus can i replace water with rose water?

Yes, it can be waterless. No one knows if you can replace something if you don’t specify the whole formula. It doesn’t matter anyway, because sunscreen is very difficult product to make, you need good ingredients which hard or costly to buy, a lot of knowledge and testing lab. You should never DIY sunscreen if you are not a professional (assuming from your questions you are not).

12. Will it dissolve the ingredients and also is it good for the planet? 

No one knows your formula to answer this question. 

Although I answered to some degree, I would suggest to take school chemistry classes first, then read Perry’s book and listen to podcast. It will answer most of you questions in details.
 

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marimaster_3991 said:

Hello, guys! 

I was told that carbomer could jellify glycerin to create a sort of “glycerin gel” but I’ve never heard about carbomers or other polymers becoming hydrated in other system but water. 

I read that lecigel (Sodium Acrylates Copolymer (and) Lecithin) could thicken glycerin-based gel.

Does anyone ever heard of it? or maybe have worked with this kind of formulation? 

There is a video on youtube where they put Lecigel to glucerine and steer. Maybe it will give you some idea of how they interact: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_PWxJdrHmc

And there is a formula of the product here:
https://www.lucasmeyercosmetics.com/sites/lucasmeyer-corp-v2/files/formulation/2022-05/Enchanted%20Gel-to-Milk%2016.320.01%20C185.pdf

They have 1.5% of water in the formula to have final viscosity

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MarkBroussard said:

@Abdulla:

I do indeed make my own AHA Serum and use it in rotation with a Retinol Barrier Repair product that I make.  In terms of products that I use … Vitamin C Serum, Retinol Barrier Repair, Lactic Acid Serum, Moisturizer … I make all of these DIY.  Nice, simple routine. 

I wonder if it is some kind of fancy derivative (like THD) or plain ascorbic acid? Waterless formula?

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Perry said:

I suppose I have too much knowledge about formulation and am also incredibly skeptical about marketing stories. 

Like I said, I’m a terrible cosmetic consumer.

That’s why you are a chemist and not a marketing guy. Good magician ought to believe in his magic))

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Another one trend would be to sell not only products but formulas and ingredients to make them. The Ordinary did a step towards it by selling niacinamide and ascorbic acid powders. I suspect some brand will go even further - provide a formula and detailed instructions of how to make their already selling product and will sell you ingredients kit. This will be seasoned as “your product will be fresh” or “less plastic because you don’t buy it and reuse” etc

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Inspire by invisible product trend, I expect new trend of waters. E.g. thermal water in the product, or infused water, or some other water, like ionized or whatever, which means nothing but makes fancy labels

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You are actually might be wrong. I checked my supplier and CO2 extract, for example, of Aloe is actually oil-soluble.
I used the word “might” because from the name in INCI list you can’t know if it is a CO2 extract or glycerin one.

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moomin said:

Thanks for all your ‘supporting’ advice! NOT! 
I thought I might make something similar as a sellable product, not using milk of mag but using the stuff in it. I’m not a chemist, don’t have a clue about chemicals

You are wrong. The fact that you are not a chemist and don’t know basic chemistry, but you want to sell your DIY product is actually ridiculous. Skincare is not food. 

moomin said:

I misunderstood this site for support and help!

Indeed, this forum is for people who is real professional and work in skincare field as chemists. Or for passionate people having skincare formulations as their hobby. All of them spent a lot of time to read and learn.
The reason you get such answers is just because you think that making a product is just as easy as to chop a salad. This is insulting for people who spend years and a lot of effort to get education in this field.

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Dr Catherine Pratt said:

Just trying to help. You said in the message the questions were for pH adjustment. Like Mark said you knew the answer & I just told you what to do. The strong base works and it’s easy to buy in small quantities. 

If you are make a diy product and you need to have a final pH of say 6 then NaOH will work so use it. 

Wear gloves & dilute it so it’s again safer to use. That’s all. 

Thanks Abdullah you knew I was just being helpful. 

Yes, I know, thank you for that. Sorry if I sounded rude, I didn’t mean to. But I want to understand not inly what should I do, but also why I should do it this way and not another.

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Thank you all for the answers!
Unfortunately NaOH of cosmetic grade is unavailable in small quantities (only household grade for pipes), baking soda is the most available option since you can find it in any food store. 
I don’t need high pH, I usually need to raise pH a little bit in water solutions of acids. So bubbles shouldn’t be a problem. I guess the most important question is will it fully react with e.g. Citric acid if I add the right amount, or some soda will be staying unreacted because it is a weak base? Or will it react slowly with time? That’s my concern

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My bets:
- The trend will be to follow the Ordinary trend because of inflation. So companies will try to make cheap one-two ingredient products
- Another trend will be charity. E.g. each cent from the cost goes to refugees. 

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GeorgeBenson said:

This body oil i found on sephora seens to be doing it somehow:

Oryza Sativa (Rice) Bran Oil, Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil, Ricinus Communis (Castor) Seed Oil, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil, Parfum/Fragrance, Camellia Japonica Seed Oil, Polyglyceryl-10 Pentaisostearate, Argania Spinosa Kernel Oil, Chamaecyparis Obtusa Wood Oil, Squalane, Chamaecyparis Obtusa Water, Saccharomyces/Rice Ferment Filtrate, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Cladosiphon Okamuranus Extract, Prunus Persica (Peach) Leaf Extract, Ceramide NP, Propanediol, Butylene Glycol, Tocopherol, Tremella Fuciformis Polysaccharide, Aqua/Water/Eau, Citronellol, Geraniol, Farnesol, Limonene, Linalool, Ethylhexylglycerin, Phenoxyethanol.

any idea how they are accomplishing this?

Polyglyceryl-10 Pentaisostearate
If you google the name you’ll see it is an emulsifier.

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MarkBroussard said:

@toketsu

Baking Soda in water will form Carbonic Acid that in water will revert to Carbon Dioxide and Water … hence all the gas produced when using Sodium Bicarbonate.  You don’t have that issue with Sodium Hydroxide.

But, if this is DIY for your personal use, Baking Soda is fine.  But, you would not want to use it in a product for commerce. 

It looks like you already knew the answer, but weren’t completely certain.  

Thank you for the input! Yes, I tried to understand myself the reasons, but I wanted to have a confirmation from someone who is from the field. Thanks a lot!

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ketchito said:

@toketsu Sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) is a weaker base than Sodium hydroxide, so that is one reason. Also, Sodium hydroxide is cheaper (although in some countries you need to ask for a permit and declare your annual consumption, since it’s also used to make Breaking bad kind of drugs). You mentioned the CO2 release and that carries an aereation issue (especially in emulsions).  

Thank you! I didn’t know about the cost… 
If baking soda is a weaker base does it mean it doesn’t fully react or something? 

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Abdullah said:

Do as Dr catherine said.

Dr Catherine Pratt said:

Use NaOH and make up a dilution before you add drops for pH adjustment 

Thank you both for your input, but can you elaborate a bit more? NoOH of cosmetic grade is not easily available in DIG quantity.. Could you tell why better to use it instead of baking soda? 

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Dr Catherine Pratt said:

Use NaOH and make up a dilution before you add drops for pH adjustment 

That’s not what I asked 

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For pH adjustment 

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GeorgeBenson, usually extracts  are preserved with some preservative, so actual preservative could be hidden behind extracts names. Many brands hide preservation in this way to be more “green” and “clean”. Together with high glycerin and diol content it could give a decent preservation. I hope they had a good stability testing

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zetein said:

Calamine lotions are not preserved.

If I understand correctly, you mean pink two-phase spot drying lotions, like Mario Badescu one. If so, their liquid is a pure alcohol.

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From the user perspective, I think it is Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer. I noticed that gels with film-formers like this (or Carbomer in case of my CeraVe cleanser) leave a tiniest film on the skin and it feels less drying.

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But I would expect the same ratio of ingredients, e.g. 1 to 4 or something like that, but the ration is different…

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The question is: do you really want to add anti-irritant? It seems like you want to mix unmixable things. It’s like shampoo and conditioner in one bottle canceling each other. Maybe wiser would be to have 2 different products: one AHA (I guess it is a peeling) product and one soothing afterward?

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ariepfadli said:

I used allantoin and sprinkle zinc PCA

I checked my supplier, Zinc PCA requires 4.0-6.0 pH otherwise side effects will happen

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I also use Allantoin. If you have good grade of it, it dissolves with no issues and mostly no heating. I usually add 0.5% of water content in my product.

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Squinny said:

For the dumb people like me what is LAA?  Assume L-Ascorbic Acid? If so are you just using L-Ascorbic acid powder? I have made myself a very basic 10% Vitamin C serum with Distilled Water, L-Ascorbic Acid Fine Powder 10%, Ferulic Acid 0.8%, Glycerin, Pentylene Glycol, Xanthan Gum Clear + another preservative and have in an Amber dropper bottle wrapped in foil - This was just a test for myself and after close to 3 months it is still the same color it was when I made it. I kept in fridge at 12 degrees for first month but since then is at room temp (my room temp is around 25 to 26 degrees). I intend playing around with the formula so always interested in what other people are doing on this forum and continuing to learn. Note that mine is for my own use only and not to sell. Cheers

Yes, LAA is L-Ascorbic Acid.
Yes, L-Ascorbic acid is used as a powder.
The fact that your serum is still clear might not mean LAA is still non-oxidized. I heard (but I don’t claim it and would like to know if it is true) that brown color in serum is a reaction of LAA oxidation with aminoacids (the same way as fake tan reacts in skin). So if you have plain mix of LAA and Water you won’t see a color? Also, I’ve seen that there are several steps of degradation, so some products of degradation might not have a color? 

Also, the lower pH the more stable the acid. I don’t see any adjusters in your formula, so I assume it is very low ith 10% of LAA.