Help with my lotion recipe?

[Obsidian]

I've been working on a good base lotion recipe and something has me confused. The preservative I have is for recipes that are 25% or more oils, do I include the e-wax and steric acid in that percentage?

I've had a number of recipes mold usually within 4 months. This new recipe of mine I made the first time a little over a month ago. So far so good but I want to double check that I have my amount right before I make more.

If my test batches survive 6 months with no mold, I'll have them tested.

Water 61.31%
Steric acid 2.45%
E wax 4.6%
Oils 30.66%
preservative 1%

 

[lsg]

The stearic acid and e-wax are part of the oil phase, so count them in the total weight. What preservative are you using? Do you heat and hold your oil and water phases at 160*F for 20 minutes?

http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.com/2010/01/if-youre-new-to-lotion-making.html

http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.com/2010/01/making-basic-lotion.html

 

[Obsidian]

I use germaben II E and yes, I heat and hold. Does the above recipe look ok? I like thick lotions and this one feels nice.

 

[lsg]

If it feels good and works, then go with it.

 

[itunu]

do increase your emulsifier so its 25% of the total of the oil soluble ingredients (incl the oil soluble ingredients in the cool down phase).

So you should increase your ewax %.

You may want to add a humectant in there too.

There are some template recipes (scroll down quite far) - here http://makingskincare.com/how-to-make-a-lotioncream-part-1-equipment-and-ingredients/

Perhaps try the one in the table for dry or very dry skin.

 

[lsg]

Here is a chart that I find helpful:

http://www.saveonscents.com/skinesscentuals/Lotion.html

Here is a batch size calculator:

http://www.wholesalesuppliesplus.com/Calculators/Batch_Size_Calculator.aspx

 

[Obsidian]

Will increasing the E-wax make the finished cream thicker? I have a new recipe, will try a very small batch today and see if I like it.

 

[itunu]

yes it will so I would reduce your stearic acid amount

don't forget to make up your water as at least 10% evaporates when you do the heat and hold for 20 mins and obviously that will contribute to thickness too. (I usually add 10% extra water at the start and then pre-boil some for adding at the end if needed).

 

[Obsidian]

Made my test batch and its awful. So thick and waxy it almost feels like plastic and it doesn't melt well on the skin. I think I will stick with my original recipe, now I just have to figure out how to fix what I made today. I suppose heating it back up and adding a bit more water would do the trick.

 

[itunu]

Obsidian - I think you probably got my message above too late.

I wouldn't reheat your lotion as you risk denaturing the ingredients in your cool down phase and you will lose even more water.

You will also inactivate your preservative. Note germaben (which contains parabens) also is deactivated by certain ingredients in ewax - http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.com/2010/11/preservatives-inactivation-of.html. I would use liquid germall plus at 0.5% cool down phase instead unless of course you switch to using lotionpro 165 as your emulsifier instead.

Instead, as this is lotion is only for you, I would make a v thin lotion and mix both thick and thin lotions together. Use the lotion recipe for normal skin - scroll down very far until you see HOW TO TAILOR THE ABOVE BASIC RECIPE TO YOUR SKIN TYPE and you will see a table - http://makingskincare.com/how-to-make-a-lotioncream-part-1-equipment-and-ingredients/

For future lotions....

You mentioned going back to your original recipe, but you need to use sufficient emulsifier to emulsify the oils in your lotion. If you don't you risk separation later. Your original recipe, didn't have sufficient emulsifier. The 25% rule for working out how much ewax to use which I mentioned above is from swiftcraftymonkey - more details here - http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.com/2010/05/e-mail-question-using-polawax-in-your.html

But I do find that if you use ewax in high % that the stearyl which is in cetearyl alcohol (cetearyl alcohol is one of the main ingredients in polawax/ewax NF) is waxy and draggy.

Stearic acid is also draggy and waxy so that combined with ewax at a high % well, no wonder your lotion is draggy/waxy (especially if you didn't add extra water to compensate for evaporation too). Note: I usually use cetyl instead of stearic.

Next time, re-do your recipe and remove the stearic acid totally (perhaps replace with 1% cetyl) and reduce the oil % so you can reduce the ewax % in proportion to it.

You might also consider ditching ewax and instead buying lotionpro 165 as its a very light emulsifier and you only need a small % of it to emulsify a high % of oils (eg 3.5% will emulsify 30% oils). But with that emulsifier do add extra cetyl alcohol as otherwise your lotion will be too thin. Lotioncrafter in their formulary section have a recipe which uses it called body butter bliss. It's a duplicate of the body shop body butters although body shop have reformulated their recipes since then with much less oils/butters than the lotioncrafter recipe. Lotionpro 165 is also a very reliable emulsifier.

Do check that you made up for the water that evaporated during the heat and hold as at least 10% evaporates

 

[Obsidian]

Yes, I made sure I accounted for any water evaporated. I always weight out my water before I add my oils, I heat plenty of extra water in case I need it for anything.

I'll never use that much e-wax again, even the manufacturer recommends 5% which in near what I've been using. In 4 months, I've never had any lotion separate. I altered this recipe to fit my preservative. http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/lotion/talk-it-out-tuesday-all-things-lotion/

I followed the basic recipe on the page you linked me, including 2% steric acid. I went ahead and reheated what I made, it took near a full cup of boiling water to thin down my cream to make it feel like a regular thick body cream. Its easier to apply but still feels very nasty on the skin and I will probably throw it out. I'm not wasting any more ingredients trying to save it.

I appreciate your help but I think I'll stick to what works for me. I'd rather have more good oils in my lotions anyways, that much e-wax seems like a cheap filler.