# Is glycerin oil soluble?



## Soapy Gurl

Can glycerin by added to items like lip balm or lotion bars?  I assume it is water soluble, but I really don't know.


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## IrishLass

Glycerin is water soluble, so, unfortunately, it won't do well in anydrous formulations such as lip balms or lotion bars without an emulsifier.

IrishLass


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## Soapy Gurl

That is what I expected!  Thanks!


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## judymoody

Glycerin isn't an oil.

When you purchase ingredients, your supplier should provide a data sheet or basic information about its category, solubility, maximum usage rates, etc.  I have found these data sheets very helpful when formulating.


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## bluethegrappler

*Using glycerin in lip balms, etc*

I see this is an old thread, but it came up pretty high in a related Google search, so maybe someone else will find this additional information helpful. 

It is true that glycerin is water soluble and does not work well in oil-based applications without an emulsifier. But it can be used quite effectively with lanolin as an emulsifier. I used this technique to make my lip balms with a combination of glycerin and honey.
https://apothecarialarts.blogspot.com/2017/02/making-lip-balm-with-honey.html
Perhaps a similar technique would work to incorporate it into lotion bars as well.


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## Zany_in_CO

bluethegrappler said:


> I used this technique to make my lip balms with a combination of glycerin and honey.
> https://apothecarialarts.blogspot.com/2017/02/making-lip-balm-with-honey.html


Interesting. Thank you for sharing that link.


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## Susie

The problem with using water based products is that now you need a preservative, where with strictly oils/butters/wax you did not.


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## bluethegrappler

*Glycerin and honey are self-preserving*



Susie said:


> The problem with using water based products is that now you need a preservative, where with strictly oils/butters/wax you did not.



As a general rule that would be true, but not in this case. Glycerin itself is a preservative, in sufficient concentration (think of herbal glycerites, like tinctures but extracted and preserved with glycerin instead of alcohol). Similarly, sufficient concentrations of honey also serve as a preservative. So our entire “aqueous” phase is composed of self-preserving ingredients! 

This should be true for anything that only uses honey, glycerin, or a combination of the two. However, caution must be exercised if adding other aqueous ingredients as both glycerin and honey only function as preservatives at high concentrations. If they are sufficiently diluted, a preservative may be necessary.

(Technically, of course, glycerin itself would be polar, but not aqueous.)


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## The Efficacious Gentleman

But are you not adding in something which in itself will attract moisture which can then introduce beasties which would love to feast on those oils?  While the aqueous phase itself may be "self-preserving", it could allow the introduction of liquids which are not.


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## bluethegrappler

The Efficacious Gentleman said:


> But are you not adding in something which in itself will attract moisture which can then introduce beasties which would love to feast on those oils?  While the aqueous phase itself may be "self-preserving", it could allow the introduction of liquids which are not.


 
While these ingredients are hygroscopic, they will never absorb enough water from the atmosphere to lose effectiveness as a preservative, especially once the lip balm is hardened in a tube, tin, etc, where air exposure is limited. Not unless you intentionally introduced other aqueous ingredients would you need to worry about additional preservatives.


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