# newbie here need to clarify body cream recipe



## paradiseseeker (Oct 19, 2011)

Hello everyone,

I am new here and would like some input in regards to a body cream recipe that I created. My goal is to make the perfect whipped body cream; however I don't want the cream to be too watery or too thick. 

Below is a recipe that I'd like to test out, but need some input before I actually create it because I am unsure about the measurements and a few ingredients (stearic acid & ceteayl alcohol). I am also unsure if I am using too much aloe vera juice & distilled water. 

Please help! Thank you. 

2 cups aloe vera juice
3 cups distilled water
1/4 cup Vegetable Glycerin
1 Tbsp of each: hemp seed oil, coconut oil, sweet almond oil, jojoba oil & vitamin e
1/2 cup cocoa butter 
1/2 cup shea butter
1 Tbsp: optiphen preservative 
5 Tbsp: stearic acid
9 Tbsp: polawax
3 Tbsp: lotion pro165: glyceryl stearate (and) PEG 100 stearate emulsifier
3 Tbsp: ceteayl alcohol
1 Tbsp: citric acid
1-2% fragrance oil


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## IrishLass (Oct 19, 2011)

Hello and welcome!   

I make a couple of different lotions for myself and a few family members, but I'm not as deep into all the in's and out's of it as I am with soapmaking. I'll try to help you with what I know, though, and hopefully others with more lotion experience than me will chime in. 

In looking at your recipe, I noticed that they are not based on percents or on weight measurements. This will prove to be problematic as it's much more accurate to work from a percentage, and to weigh your ingredients out on a scale instead of using cups and teaspoons, etc.. You'll have a much more consistant product that way. And when it's based on % it's very easy to size your lotion/cream to any size batch you want.

You wouldn't happen to have the percentage that you want to use for each ingredient, would you? It will be so much easier for me to help you if the percentages were known.

In the meantime, while I await your response, I'll try to address your uncertainty regarding  stearic acid and cetyl alcohol. Both are used as thickeners in lotion. I see that you have them both listed in your recipe, but it is not necessary to have both. Either/or will do. I personally like to use cetyl alcohol instead of stearic, because unlike stearic, the cetyl thickens without giving my lotion a draggy or waxy feeling. It goes on smooth and glidey.

I don't know if you are familiar with SwiftCraftMonkey's lotion blog, but she is a fount of lotionmaking wisdom. Here is her lotionmaking tutorial:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1020026/introdu ... hingie.pdf

IrishLass


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## paradiseseeker (Oct 19, 2011)

*thank you*

Irish,

Thanks for the reply and for the link. See that is what my problem is, I found this recipe about a year ago from some website (I can't find the link anymore), and it listed as cups, not %. I don't have the % and unfortunately, I am not that great when it comes to math. 

I will try it w/o the stearic acid. 

Thanks and I will await for your reply and anyone else's response.


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## carebear (Oct 19, 2011)

Do you have instructions on how to make it, exactly?  You will want to research that if you don't.  Or even if you do, maybe.


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## paradiseseeker (Oct 19, 2011)

*instructions*

Hi Carebear,

According to the recipe, I am supposed to melt all of the ingredients (except for the fragrance oils), and add in the the liquids in a large pot. Once melted, pour mixture into another bowl (I used a large stainless steel bowl), hand stir for a minute, then stick blend for about 3 mintues, hand stir again for a minute & stick blend for another 3 mintues. Then set bowl aside for 20 minutes and stick blend for a few minutes & wait approx 24 hours to allow for mixture to set. 

What I noticed is that after the next day, the mixture is hard; however the liquids are still in the bottom of the bowl (created a 2 layer effect). I mixed it and then it became very creamy and thus it became a whipped body cream. I wasn't satisfied with the result b/c I felt that the body cream was a bit sticky and feel that my meaurements aren't correct. 
So I am honestly unsure what I did wrong or what I need to adjust to try this recipe again.


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## SudsyKat (Oct 19, 2011)

I highly recommend Swift's site as well. That link will help you understand the lotion making process better. You really want to read that carefully, seriously. Again, don't take my word for it - learn the info in that link. Having said that, here's a summary: 

Basically, you'll want to separate your products into 2 containers - one for the water based ingredients and one for the oil based ingredients. And actually, there is a third category where you would separate out the ingredients that are heat sensitive (you add those to the mix once it has cooled some. You heat the oil based ingredients and the water-based ingredients in separate containers in a double boiler type of setup. You heat them to a certain temp (I think it's 158 degrees Fahrenheit) and you hold them at that temp for 20 minutes. There's some more weighing involved here, so you can add back the water that you lost due to evaporation. Then you combine them, mix them really well with an electric device (mixer or stick blender). You wait for the mixture to cool, mixing as you please in the meantime (I mix for a minute every 5 minutes or so, until it's cooled to about 114 degrees Fahrenheit (again, that's from memory - I forget the exact temps). Then you add in the cool down ingredients and mix for another minute or so.

Your ingredients, separated out into categories:

*Water Phase:*
2 cups aloe vera juice 
3 cups distilled water 
1/4 cup Vegetable Glycerin 

*Oil Phase:*
1 Tbsp of each: hemp seed oil, coconut oil, sweet almond oil, jojoba oil
1/2 cup cocoa butter 
1/2 cup shea butter 
5 Tbsp: stearic acid 
9 Tbsp: polawax 
3 Tbsp: lotion pro165: glyceryl stearate (and) PEG 100 stearate emulsifier 

*Cool Down Phase:*
1 Tbsp: optiphen preservative (note: I don't use Optiphen in lotions, so I'm not sure about it's properties. I'm guessing it's heat sensitive like other preservatives are)
1-2% fragrance oil
vitamin e 

*NOT SURE:*
1 Tbsp: citric acid (not sure because I’ve never used this ingredient in a lotion)
3 Tbsp: cetearyl alcohol (I haven’t worked with this ingredient, so I’m not sure, but cetyl alcohol goes into the oil phase and this is probably the same category)


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## ToniD (Oct 19, 2011)

I'll put in a plug for swifts site as well!   It helped me so much.   

I suspect that your lotion may feel a bit sticky because of the amount of glycerin in it.    That said,   I will recommend that you do learn to work in %.   I am not so great at math either,  and it is a bit of a learning curve,  but in the end it makes it so much easier.

for example,   if you want to tweak your recipe--say by removing the stearic acid,  or lowering the glycerin,  it is good to be able to adjust other parts of the recipe as well.    The preservative is added at .5 to 1.5%    If you add too much, it could be irritating to the skin,   if too little it can allow the nasties to grow.   That said,   I could never do the math in cups and tablespoons.   I work in grams--very easy.

If you want to do say
200 grams   (about 8 oz)

and a portion of your recipe is 15%

you change the % to a decimal by putting the decimal point two places to the left    .15

Then you multiply the total amount by the % you want in

200x.15=30
add 30 grams of that ingredient to your recipe.

The link that Irishlass sent you to swifts site has a basic recipe for whipped body butter on page 8.   You can use your ingredients in the right categories at those %, and when you want to change the recipe to make it less sticky or whatever, you can lower the % of the ingredient that needs changing.  

HTH, and that it is not  information overload.  

BTW-   swifts site will teach you lots about particular ingredients also.


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## paradiseseeker (Oct 19, 2011)

*wow thanks*

Thanks for the wonderful recommendations. I truly appreciate it. I thought about eliminating the stearic acid and just using the ceteayl alcohol instead. I will check out the Swift's site. You guys are awesome  :mrgreen:


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## IrishLass (Oct 19, 2011)

Oh good! I'm glad more of you chimed in.   

As they were chiming in, I was busy playing around with your recipe and trying to fit it into a formula outline/template that I have for an emulsified body butter (which is something like thick whipped cream).

This is what I came up with (by the way, every formula/recipe must equal 100% when all the percents are added up):

-20% butters (10% cocoa butter/10% shea butter)

-5% oils of choice (you can divide your hemp/coconut/sweet almond/jojoba/vit E into 1% amounts each)

-5% Polawax

-3% cetyl alcohol

-5% glycerin

-59% distilled water/aloe vera juice combo

-1% citric acid 

-1% Fragrance

-1% Preservative

I personally would go with 3% glycerin instead of 5% because like ToniD said, it can cause stickiness. To compensate, just increase your water amount to 61%. You can do the same thing for the preservative amount if a 1% amount for your chosen preservative is too much or too little- just add or subtract from the water amount as needed to compensate.

IrishLass


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## paradiseseeker (Oct 19, 2011)

*Thanks Everybody*

Thank you all. I truly appreciate all of you taking the time to assist me. 

I will try this out and keep you posted on the outcome. 

 8)


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## carebear (Oct 20, 2011)

IL - that looks lovely!


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## HomemadeBathGoodies (Oct 25, 2011)

I've checked out SwiftCraftMonkey's lotion blog. She has some really good tips. But I am still confused on which preservative would be best suited for lotion making. 

I heard that germall II plus has parabens in it. What would be a paraben-free preservative to add? I know alot of people who have tried Optiphen Plus and have trouble with it. 

What would you recommend?
Thanx!


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## IrishLass (Oct 26, 2011)

Here is Swift's page on preservative info (which I only just found since I've been gleaning exclusively in only certain sections - her site is so vast!):

http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.com/p ... tives.html

And this site has great info on preservatives, too: 

http://southernsoapers.com/cart/page.ht ... er=0&id=26

I myself use a paraben-based preservative (Phenonip) for my lotion formulas, so I'm of no help with paraben-free ones. Hopefully someone who uses paraben-free preservatives will chime in. 


IrishLass


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## soapbuddy (Oct 26, 2011)

Please do not use teaspoons; especially with preservatives. Get yourself a scale and weigh out all your ingredients.


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## HomemadeBathGoodies (Oct 26, 2011)

What colorant do you recommend for lotion making? labcolors, or glycerin based colorants? does anyone have a preference, what works best, or what you like best.


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## IrishLass (Oct 27, 2011)

I don't color mine at all.

IrishLass


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## soapbuddy (Oct 27, 2011)

IrishLass said:
			
		

> I don't color mine at all.
> 
> IrishLass


Me neither. My customers prefer uncolored.


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## Stinkydancer (Oct 31, 2011)

HomemadeBathGoodies said:
			
		

> I've checked out SwiftCraftMonkey's lotion blog. She has some really good tips. But I am still confused on which preservative would be best suited for lotion making.
> 
> I heard that germall II plus has parabens in it. What would be a paraben-free preservative to add? I know alot of people who have tried Optiphen Plus and have trouble with it.
> 
> ...



I think some people have trouble with Optiphen because they add it to the wrong phase. That was the only time I have ever had an emulsion break. 

Optiphen should always go in the lotion during the cool down. I haven't had any trouble but I could be lucky.  LOL

I love IPM ( Isopropyl Myristate )in lotions as well- gives a nice feel and cuts the grease. It's pretty inexpensive at Lotioncrafter.

Irish Lass's lotion does look lovely.


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