Shelf Life of Homemade Hand Lotion & Liquid Soap

melonie · Feb 15, 2010

Hi There,

I have come across several recipes for GM lotion & liquid soap. None of them mentions the use of preservatives except distilled white vinegar. My question is how long would a product with GM last without any preservatives. Also, what are some natural & mild preservatives that I could use to prolong the shelf life of these products and where could I get them? I'm very interested in making GM lotion & liquid soap, but would have to make sure on the right ingredients to use first before diving in. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Melonie

Bigmoose · Feb 15, 2010

You must use a preservative in lotions, otherwise you may get about 2 weeks out of them before stuff starts growing. As for liquid soaps if you do a plus lye ratio and neturalize the left over they should have a good shelf life. I have a bottle of shampoo that I made 16 to 18 months ago and it is still fine. But I do not take a chance. I use germaben 2 in my lotions and germall plus in my liquid soaps. Here is a link where you can find them.
http://www.thesage.com/catalog/Preservatives.html

Bruce

melonie · Feb 15, 2010

Hi Bruce,

Thank you for the information. As I'm very new to all this, is Paraben a harsh preservative for your products? Please let me know.

Thanks,

Melonie

donniej · Feb 15, 2010

Rosemary Oleoresin Extract is probably the best natural one.
Vitamin E tocopherol is another.

Supposedly the best is a combination of sodium citrate and butylated hydroxy toluene. .01% of each or better is the most effective, but the BHT is not all natural.... but we're also talking *extremely* small quantities. By the way, BHT is an antioxidant. It prevents oils from bonding with the oxygen in the air.

The use of vinegar in soap is a terrible idea. It nuetralizes the lye and shifts the PH back down. This causes the saponified fatty acids to become free fatty acids, or basically candle wax.

melonie · Feb 15, 2010

Hi Donnie,

That sounds good too! Where can I get these products? Please let me know.

Thanks,

Melonie

Bigmoose · Feb 16, 2010

Just so you know Rosemary Oleoresin Extract and Vitamin E tocopherol are antioxidants and not preservatives. They are great and I use vitamin E all the time but they do not stop yeast, bacteria or mold from growing in your mixtures. That link I gave you sells both and explains what they do.

Bruce

carebear · Feb 16, 2010

if you are using milk in your lotion formula, I'd say about 2 days at room temp. 2 weeks MAX in the fridge

melonie · Feb 16, 2010

Hi All,

Thank you again for all your help. I can't wait to start making my own lotion and liquid soap.

Have a great day,

Melonie

melonie · Feb 16, 2010

Hi All,

Sorry, just one more question. So, would it be safe to say that it's a must to use preservatives, but it's okay to omit the anti oxidants?

Melonie

donniej · Feb 16, 2010

With bar soap the fatty acids from the oil will, over time, tend to bond with oxygen in the air and "oxidize". When this happens they form peroxides which are seen as orange spots. Over time these spots will get oily and I've read that they can eventually get stinky. Antioxidants slow this process, extending shelf life.

I've never heard of anyone doing this for liquid soaps.

If by "preservative" you mean something that will prevent mold or other biological life, this is only a problem if your lotion is approximately PH nuetral or acidic. Things which are alkili (or "basic", AKA having a PH over 7) don't tend to have a problem with this since life is generally slightly acidic. If it is PH nuetral, I'm not sure what you'd use as a preservative.

gekko62 · Feb 17, 2010

melonie said:
Hi All,

Sorry, just one more question. So, would it be safe to say that it's a must to use preservatives, but it's okay to omit the anti oxidants?

Melonie

Possibly,but why run the risk of the oils in yr lovely handmade lotion going all rancid & stinky for the sake of a few cents worth of vitamin e. T50 is the best antioxidant vit e,but even vit e capsules will do the trick. You need such a teensy amt.For antioxidant protection T50 is added at .04%.(0.4g/kg)Even if you add at 1% thats 10g/kg. Not sure on ratio's for reg vit e.

pink-north · Mar 3, 2010

Hi guys,

I'm back with some more questions :roll: (sorry). So I've made some body butter and I used Optiphen as a presevative. Would this be enough? When I read other labels there seem to be so much more. I read one label today that had propylene glycol, several parabens, and more things I could not pronounce. Am I missing something? :? I appreciate any help you guys can give.

green-tangerine · Mar 12, 2010

Hi there, I use liquid germall plus in any of my lotions. This is the inci term for it Propylene Glycol (and) Diazolidinyl Urea (and) Iodopropynyl Butylcarbamate. I have never used optiphen so I don't know anything about it. If you look at the link that was posted above you will see what the breakdown of ingredients in the preservative is. That is probably where you get the long list. Here in Canada we have to use the inci terms on our labels so for example grapeseed oil has a long name as well.
Hope that helps!
Angela

pink-north · Mar 12, 2010

green-tangerine said:
Hi there, I use liquid germall plus in any of my lotions. This is the inci term for it Propylene Glycol (and) Diazolidinyl Urea (and) Iodopropynyl Butylcarbamate. I have never used optiphen so I don't know anything about it. If you look at the link that was posted above you will see what the breakdown of ingredients in the preservative is. That is probably where you get the long list. Here in Canada we have to use the inci terms on our labels so for example grapeseed oil has a long name as well.
Hope that helps!
Angela

Yes that does help alot. Thanks so much.

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