# Do I need to use stearic acid? Any substitutes?



## foresthome

I have some vegan and PETA member friends who are looking for a lotion with no animal products. I love the the consistency of my lotion now, using Ewax and stearic acid. Since stearic acid is derived from animal fat, I am now looking for a substitute. Can I just increase the Ewax or is there a vegetable product that I can substitute for the stearic acid.


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## gunner

I believe there is a stearic acid derived from palm??


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## rubyslippers

cetyl alcohol can be used in place of stearic acid....not sure if that is helpful


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## Tabitha

Check your supplier, it may be animal, but is probably not. Your supplier should know their source. If you can truely make your products vegan you can greatly increase your customer base marketing your products as specialty items to that specific genre.


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## agriffin

Yeah...I would check.  I thought stearic was mostly from palm oil.  But I could be wrong.

http://www.brambleberry.com/Stearic-Acid-oz-P4210.aspx

Bramble Berry's (for example) is vegan.


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## foresthome

Thank you, mine is from Brambleberry, so I can tell them that it is vegan. I love the texture and feel of my current lotion recipe, and I am so happy that I don't have to change it. What a relief.


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## carebear

Now all younwill need to do is deal with the orang thing.


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## foresthome

Huh? Not sure what you mean carebear.


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## Tabitha

http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/ab ... _palm_oil/


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## foresthome

Oh. of course. I have actually taken all the palm oil out of my soap recipes. So now I have to start thinking about what my stearic acid is made of. I am glad that at this point I am only making soap and lotion, for my family, friends, and coworkers. I am a nurse, so everyone at work has hands that are dry, chapped, and sore, from washing and hand sanitizer use. I make my lotion and leave it at the nurse's station. Now people have started requesting lotion from me asking for different scents. Some of my coworkers now pay me for my supplies to make them lotion, and request lotions for family members with dry hands. Missoula is a very granola, organic, kind of place, lots of vegans, and ecofriendly citizens. I don't want to compromise my lotion, so I guess I start researching the whole stearic acid issue.


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## Lindy

Just as a side note - I don't use stearic in my lotions at all - just ewax....


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## foresthome

I want to try a small batch with just ewax, but before I do that, can you tell me what ewax is made from.


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## carebear

http://www.google.com/search?q=emulsify ... ent=safari


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## foresthome

It looks lik it is made from coconut. Thanks all, I am going to make a batch and see.


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## foresthome

Ok I tried making it with just ewax. I replaced the stearic acid with the same amount of ewax, taking my basic recipe to double the ewax. I made cucumber and chamomile lotion with sweet almond oil, calendula infused OO, chamomile infused safflower oil, walnut oil, avocado oil, Vit E oil, and aloe. I scented it with Chamomile FO (can't afford the EO) and use boiled cucumber juice, for 1/4 of the water (I may regret that, but it feels very soothing and cool on my skin). I used phenonip for the preservative. I am changing my preservative to Germall plus to get away from the parabens (anyone have experience with it). So it is a nice lotion, thin compared to my stearic acid recipe though, but I also left out the shea butter that I usually include. I want to use this as a soothing face cream, and didn't want it to be too oily. All and all I think that it might work I just have to play with the amount. I will try my exact hand lotion recipe replacing the stearic acid for ewax on my next day off. In the mean time I am trying this new lotion on my face for the next few weeks to see how it is.


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## Lindy

I use Liquid Germall Plus as my preservative all the time now.  I was using Optiphen off and on until it totally failed in straight forward recipes without anything weird in them.  Even with a new batch and having done some research afterwards found out that there was other people having problems with it.  Since going back to LGP no problems at all....


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