# Oils sitting on top of sugar scrub



## Roxabox (Sep 11, 2019)

I made my second batch of sugar scrubs and I can't seem to be able to get the oils to disperse properly through the product, when it sits for awhile a thin layer of oils come up to the surface. I don't know if this is normal or not but the scrubs I purchased never had a layer on top unless I had gotten water in it. Is there anything I can do to keep the oils mixed in with the sugar or is this always going to happen? Only difference I know of with the scrubs I bought from the store is that they contain silica gel.

I attached a couple photos, sorry if they're huge I forgot to resize before I uploaded.

The ingredients I use for the base are - maybe my measurements are off?

safflower oil 6oz
Polysorbate 80 1.5oz
Vitamin E 1.2 oz
Almond oil 2 oz
Evening primrose oil 3 oz
Jojoba oil 2 oz
Ascorbic acid
Flavor oil
Shea butter 1 oz


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## shunt2011 (Sep 11, 2019)

You need an emulsifier other than PS80. Or more PS80.  I’ve never used it in sugar Scrub but I don’t like oily scrubs.  Most scrubs have stearic acid and an emulsifying wax.  I don't think PS80 can emulsify that amount of oils.


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## Cellador (Sep 11, 2019)

Yup, you need an emulsifier, like an ewax, BTMS-50, etc. I don't think Polysorbate 80 can fully emulsify a high level of oils & butters. It's usually used to emulsify a small amount if oils in a water based product.


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## lsg (Sep 12, 2019)

Unless you are making an emulsified sugar scrub, it is normal for the oil to rise to the top.  As the others stated, you will need to add an emulsifier.

Swiftcraftymonkey blog suggests the percentages:

10% emulsifier

10% stearic acid, cetyl alcohol, or behenyl alcohol

20% butters

57% oil

Add:

150 grams of sugar for every 100 grams of the above mixture.


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## DeeAnna (Sep 12, 2019)

The answers given here are correct -- To keep the oils from floating to the top, the product needs to be thickened. A plain thickener such as stearic acid or cetyl alcohol will do the job, but an emulsifier such as e-wax or BTMS can also be used as a thickener.

What's not quite correct -- The emulsifier doesn't actually do any emulsifying _when it's in the jar_ because there's only fats in the jar. An emulsion can only happen when water and fat are present. So in the jar, the emulsifier behaves only as a thickener.

In a product like this, you can use just an emulsifier to act as a combination thickener-emulsifier (what I do*), or use an emulsifier + a separate thickener (what others are suggesting), or use just a thickener if you want to add thickness without any emulsification.

If you include an emulsifier, it will do its job of emulsifying only after the user puts the product on the skin and adds water.

https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/emulsified-sugar-scrub-where-to-start.59775/
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/sugar-scrub-info.58468/
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/emulsifying-sugar-scrub-guidance.60629/

I see your recipe includes ascorbic acid, a water-soluble ingredient. Since your product in the jar does not contain any sources of water, the acid will remain in solid form. If you do add any source of water to this product to get the acid in solution, the product needs to also include a suitable preservative, which is another can 'o worms. I'd recommend eliminating the ascorbic acid.

* edit: But I am also using solid fats in my scrub. Since solid fats provide some thickening, a separate thickener isn't needed. You have to balance the amount of emulsifier in the product, so some of the oils are left on the skin after rinsing. Too little emulsifier and the skin is overly greasy after rinsing. Too much emulsifier and the skin feels too dry after rinsing.  Your recipe calls for all liquid oils, so you may not be able to use only an emulsifier and get the right balance of enough thickening plus a nice skin feel.


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