Ingredient order...confused???

[awi]

I am just starting the testing phase of making my own lotion and plan to give a couple of bottles out to my mom and sister (my best guinea pigs!) for their opinions. I want to create labels to go on them to make them look nice and to use later on if I make more. I am using aloe vera juice in it which has the following ingredient list: Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Potassium Sorbate, ascorbic acid (preservative) , citric acid (preservative).

Aloe vera juice is the main ingredient, so I know this is listed first, but how do I handle the preservatives? I don't know how much is in the aloe juice...so where do I put it in my ingredient list? Does it go at the end? :?

 

[krissy]

i would do it the way i have seen it on other labels. Aloe vera Juice (ingredients x, y z...) then list your second ingredient, then third...

 

[awi]

Ok, so just put it like this:

Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, (aloe vera juice, Potassium Sorbate, ascorbic acid, citric acid), blah, blah, blah.....

I want to be correct and put the technical name for each ingredient and then list its common name in ( )'s after. Is this okay?

Thanks a million.

 

[Tabitha]

Yep.

 

[Hazel]

I've been reading up on how to write an ingredients label. Since ingredients are to be listed in order of weight, I thought you'd have to figure out the weight of the potassium sorbate, ascorbic acid and citric acid on the aloe juice.

In lotion making potassium sorbate is used at .1-.3% but since the aloe juice is technically a food item the percentage might be slightly higher. For example, potassium sorbate is used at approximately .5% when canning vegetables and fruits. So I would at least give that a percentage of .5% in my calculations.

In cosmetics, ascorbic acid percentage is 0.2-4 % and citric acid is .1-.2%.

I'm going to use the highest percentages recommended for use. Say I used 200 g of aloe juice in my lotion recipe - I would write the percentages as:

200 g aloe
1 g potassium sorbate
.8 g ascorbic acid
.04 g citric acid

If my recipe looked like this

200 g aloe
63 g oil
28 g butter
22 g glycerin
12 g stearic acid
10 g e-wax
3 g Optiphen
1 g Tocopherol

Then my list would look like this (except it would be written in INCI terms).

Aloe, oil, butter, glycerin, stearic acid, e-wax, Phenoxyethanol (and) Caprylyl Glycol (and) Sorbic Acid, Tocopherol, potassium sorbate, ascorbic acid, citric acid

So, I've been making this more difficult than it has to be? I just gave myself a headache.

 

[awi]

I am glad I asked this question. I also thought is was going to be more complicated that it really was!

As far as what else must be on the label to be "legal", what does that include? How many oz/grams, ingredients, how to use, company address??? Just wondering because I see so many variations and there must guidelines..right? As for homemade items you shouldn't make claims to what it can do, i.e., make your skin soft, cure acne, blah, blah, blah...but you can label it as moisturizing lotion cant you, or does the word moisturizing make a claim? Am I making sense??? :wink:

 

[carebear]

You have no way to do THIS

I've been reading up on how to write an ingredients label. Since ingredients are to be listed in order of weight, I thought you'd have to figure out the weight of the potassium sorbate, ascorbic acid and citric acid on the aloe juice.

so you do this this:

Ok, so just put it like this:

Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, (aloe vera juice, Potassium Sorbate, ascorbic acid, citric acid), blah, blah, blah.....

I want to be correct and put the technical name for each ingredient and then list its common name in ( )'s after. Is this okay?

Thanks a million.

 

[Hazel]

Okay, thanks for letting me know.

awi,

Thanks for asking the question because I would have kept doing it the hard way and giving myself a headache.

 

[Hazel]

I went and looked at the aloe vera juice I use. The ingredients are shown as organic aloe vera gel, citric acid, sodium benzoate.

So would my label look like this?

Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, (Organic Aloe Vera Gel, Citric Acid, Sodium Benzoate), oil, butter, glycerin, stearic acid, e-wax, Phenoxyethanol (and) Caprylyl Glycol (and) Sorbic Acid, Tocopherol

 

[krissy]

looks right to me

 

[Hazel]

Thanks Krissy!