Hi, I’m going to try taking the plunge into lotion making. I’m using brambleberry’s guide on formulating a recipe. So far I have 70% distilled water, 6% emulsifying wax, 5% stearic acid, 5% Shea butter, 5% cocoa butter, 6% sweet almond oil, 2% olive oil, and 1% preservative (germall 2). I’m wondering if this is going to be really thick or will it be fine? I just don’t want to waste products. Thanks for any advice!
First lotion attempt
- Thread starter Mschwartz
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Peachy Clean Soap
Well-Known Member
Hello
I’ve made lotion
twice’ so I’m a newbie too’ but I can give my non-expert opinion. When I chose a lotion I wanted one that wouldn’t set on top of the skin & have a stickiness feeling’ but be smooth & fast absorbing properties. Some of the oils I’ve used in my lotion are Avocado ’ meadow foam, rose hip, cocoa butter, vitamins E, shea. of course the Opitiphen ( preservative) which you add when lotion is cooled down, other wise heat can destroy it. Now if you want your lotion more fluid then add a little more water ( very tiny amount ) at a time tell you reach the consistency you want. Hope this helps. Faster absorbing oil’s are often referred as a ‘ dry oil’. Do your research’ then it’s trial and error you’ll find what you like as you make it. A good book 
which I found on Amazon is easy to understand & lots of recipes.
Update:
Your formula / recipe looks good’ let us know how it turns out.
Hopefully others will chime in w/ more knowledge then I.
I’ve made lotion
twice’ so I’m a newbie too’ but I can give my non-expert opinion. When I chose a lotion I wanted one that wouldn’t set on top of the skin & have a stickiness feeling’ but be smooth & fast absorbing properties. Some of the oils I’ve used in my lotion are Avocado ’ meadow foam, rose hip, cocoa butter, vitamins E, shea. of course the Opitiphen ( preservative) which you add when lotion is cooled down, other wise heat can destroy it. Now if you want your lotion more fluid then add a little more water ( very tiny amount ) at a time tell you reach the consistency you want. Hope this helps. Faster absorbing oil’s are often referred as a ‘ dry oil’. Do your research’ then it’s trial and error you’ll find what you like as you make it. A good book which I found on Amazon is easy to understand & lots of recipes.Update:
Your formula / recipe looks good’ let us know how it turns out.
Hopefully others will chime in w/ more knowledge then I.
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I definitely want fast absorption. I raise bees and lotion bars were some of my first skin care products. Some people complain about their oily feel. I upped my percentage of beeswax and it’s better but I figured I’d try real lotion now.
Peachy Clean Soap
Well-Known Member
Oh that‘s nice’ I’ve never made lotion bars, it’s on my list & I’ll be using beeswax along with butter’s & oils when I do,
Also in the search
window upper top right side of screen, you can find a load of information 
As well.
justjacqui
Well-Known Member
With 5% stearic acid that lotion is definitely going to be on the thick side. If you want a thinner lotion reduce the stearic acid and increase the oil to compensate. If that is still too thick reduce the butters as well. If you want fast absorption you might want to look at some light (feeling) oils or esters.
Just make small batches when you are starting out to reduce wastage because you might need to make dozens of different variations to create the lotion that works for you.
Just make small batches when you are starting out to reduce wastage because you might need to make dozens of different variations to create the lotion that works for you.
I agree with Justjaqui's advice about lowering the stearic acid and raising the liquid oils as well as making small batches until you know what you like. Remember the cocoa and shea butters in your formulation will also act as thickeners, so it's not just the emulsifier and the stearic acid that will create body and thickness.
I also play around with the water content of lotions. In my experience, lotions with about 70-75% water are generally fairly thick -- something like Vaseline intensive care lotion -- even when the lotion has all liquid oils and no solid fats. This feels good on very dry skin or hard working hands.
When the water content rises to around 80%, give or take a few percent, the lotion is more fluid and lighter feeling, even if I keep the proportions of the other ingredients the same. It's nicer for general body use because it spreads on more thinly and evenly.
When the water content gets above 85%, the lotion becomes very fluid and has less body. This type of lotion is too light, IMO, to be useful as a general body lotion. It's nice on the face, however.
I often test various fats directly on my skin -- just a little drop of one fat rubbed in and see what it's like. If the pure fat feels heavy or greasy or doesn't soak in well, I'm not too enthusiastic to use it unless I'm shooting for an "intensive care" type of balm. If you're considering using a blend of fats in a lotion, you could even concoct a small sample of the blend and try that directly on your skin to see how that feels -- it might feel quite different. Choosing fats for a lotion is a very personal thing, however. One woman's greasy, heavy oil is another person's perfect treat for their skin.
Oh, and use a light hand on the fragrance until you know what works for you. I scent soap at 3-6% usually, but I scent lotion very lightly -- 0.3% to 0.5% based on the total batch weight is just about right for my nose.
I also play around with the water content of lotions. In my experience, lotions with about 70-75% water are generally fairly thick -- something like Vaseline intensive care lotion -- even when the lotion has all liquid oils and no solid fats. This feels good on very dry skin or hard working hands.
When the water content rises to around 80%, give or take a few percent, the lotion is more fluid and lighter feeling, even if I keep the proportions of the other ingredients the same. It's nicer for general body use because it spreads on more thinly and evenly.
When the water content gets above 85%, the lotion becomes very fluid and has less body. This type of lotion is too light, IMO, to be useful as a general body lotion. It's nice on the face, however.
I often test various fats directly on my skin -- just a little drop of one fat rubbed in and see what it's like. If the pure fat feels heavy or greasy or doesn't soak in well, I'm not too enthusiastic to use it unless I'm shooting for an "intensive care" type of balm. If you're considering using a blend of fats in a lotion, you could even concoct a small sample of the blend and try that directly on your skin to see how that feels -- it might feel quite different. Choosing fats for a lotion is a very personal thing, however. One woman's greasy, heavy oil is another person's perfect treat for their skin.
Oh, and use a light hand on the fragrance until you know what works for you. I scent soap at 3-6% usually, but I scent lotion very lightly -- 0.3% to 0.5% based on the total batch weight is just about right for my nose.
Zany_in_CO
Saponifier
If you don't want to waste products then you should make a tried and true recipe. I don't think you'll be happy with the one you've got there but give it a go and if it's too heavy, you can always use it for feet. Our poor feet take such a beating, don't they? ☺
Best tip: Make 100 gram (3.5 oz) batches -- easier to figure %'s and once you find a combo that suits your fancy, it's easy to up-size. For personal use, I make 1,000 gram batches.
I gave my recipe a whirl and definitely thick. It absorbs good though. I scented with peppermint EO. Different subject but is germall plus and germaben the same thing? I bought the germall off Amazon and was expensive. Other preservatives are cheaper
Zany_in_CO
Saponifier
I like Liquid Germall Plus because it is effective at 0.5 % tops. I use 0.3% in lotion for personal use. Lotion Crafter is a good source for all things "lotiony" but many suppliers carry it.
justjacqui
Well-Known Member
No they are not the same but they are both preservatives.
Liquid Germall Plus - INCI: Propylene Glycol (and) Diazolidinyl Urea (and) Iodopropynyl Butylcarbamate
Germaben II - INCI: Propylene Glycol (and) Diazolidinyl Urea (and) Methylparaben (and) Propylparaben
What kind of shelf life does your lotion have if it’s only distilled water? What about goat milk?
Zany_in_CO
Saponifier
? I'm not sure what you're asking...
Protein like milk is extremely hard to preserve, as is aloe. I would suggest taking formulator classes or studies before attempting that.
Hope
Nope. There are many preservatives and each has specific formulating requirements. Some only play well with certain emulsifiers, some don't. Some are heat and/or pH sensitive. Some are better for oil in water, or anhydrous, or water only. Some need a booster preservative.
Since you want to make lotion for sale, I would suggest the Swift Crafty Monkey blog. You'll learn all about your ingredients and what you can and can't do with them, along with the GMP you'll need for lotions. It's a paid blog but the fee is minor.
Hope
Shelf life of a lotion depends on many factors, not just the preservative.
My mental picture of these factors is a stool with 3 legs.
One leg is the use of a broad spectrum preservative system that is adequate to control small populations of fungi and bacteria.
The second is controlling the level of sanitation during production and also minimizing any microbial contamination introduced by the user. Again, the point is to start with a very small microbial population in the lotion and keep it small.
The third is careful choice of ingredients, specifically minimizing the amount of "bug food" in the lotion, so what microbes survive in the lotion don't have the food to thrive and reproduce.
If the stool is missing any one of these legs, the product won't be stable and safe and it won't have a long shelf life.
Even the best preservative won't function well in a lotion made with milk, aloe, honey, or other food sources. There's a reason why commercial lotions contain only tiny amounts of carbohydrate and protein sources like milk and aloe. A lotion requires fat and water to be a lotion, but fat and water are a rather limited diet. If a person adds carbs and protein to the mix, they're creating a wonderfully balanced diet for microbes to grow and reproduce explosively.
You also can't expect lotion to have a long shelf life if it's made in a less than sanitary way or if it is put into open jars where the person dips the lotion out with their fingers. No preservative can last long if it has to kill a high starting population of microorganisms or deal with microbes that are continually introduced into the lotion.
So there's no reasonable way to answer a question about shelf life if you only know the preservative system.
LGP is a good broad spectrum preservative. But it can only work well if you provide the other 2 legs of that stool.
My mental picture of these factors is a stool with 3 legs.
One leg is the use of a broad spectrum preservative system that is adequate to control small populations of fungi and bacteria.
The second is controlling the level of sanitation during production and also minimizing any microbial contamination introduced by the user. Again, the point is to start with a very small microbial population in the lotion and keep it small.
The third is careful choice of ingredients, specifically minimizing the amount of "bug food" in the lotion, so what microbes survive in the lotion don't have the food to thrive and reproduce.
If the stool is missing any one of these legs, the product won't be stable and safe and it won't have a long shelf life.
Even the best preservative won't function well in a lotion made with milk, aloe, honey, or other food sources. There's a reason why commercial lotions contain only tiny amounts of carbohydrate and protein sources like milk and aloe. A lotion requires fat and water to be a lotion, but fat and water are a rather limited diet. If a person adds carbs and protein to the mix, they're creating a wonderfully balanced diet for microbes to grow and reproduce explosively.
You also can't expect lotion to have a long shelf life if it's made in a less than sanitary way or if it is put into open jars where the person dips the lotion out with their fingers. No preservative can last long if it has to kill a high starting population of microorganisms or deal with microbes that are continually introduced into the lotion.
So there's no reasonable way to answer a question about shelf life if you only know the preservative system.
LGP is a good broad spectrum preservative. But it can only work well if you provide the other 2 legs of that stool.
Zany_in_CO
Saponifier
@Hope Ann and @DeeAnna Excellent advice!Anne Watson's "Smart Lotionmaking", Post #2 above, is also a good recommendation for beginners.
@Mschwartz By now you should have a good idea about the basics of lotion making and the necessity for GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice). Not speaking for others but just for me, I am happy to answer questions but I have neither time nor energy to teach you all you need to know -- and there is a lot!
TIP: It's best to do your own research to learn as much as you can before designing a formula, whether for personal use or sale.
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