Lip balm graininess

[dixiedragon]

I know some folks on here temper their shea butter and cocoa butter and get no graininess - can you tell me your process? I tried that but if the lip balm gets melty and cools, it's grainy again. Anyway to get around that? I would prefer not to use butter ez.

 

[CaraBou]

I've had good luck in my body butters using the "cooling rapidly" method rather than heat and hold (which I've never bothered trying). The idea is to cool it quickly to prevent different FAs solidifying and clumping at different temps,leading to a grainy feel. Here are the basics: http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.com/2011/10/question-heating-and-holding-butters.html

 

[dixiedragon]

That works when I make them - but if they get a bit melty, not even all the way melted - grains!

 

[shunt2011]

I too have found that they get grainy if there is heat/cold fluctuations. Heat and hold has helped some but not totally. I've been thinking about trying butter ez myself as I make and sell so many I want my product to be consistent.

 

[lsg]

From my experience, butter ez helps prevent graininess in lotions and body butters.

 

[IrishLass]

I can attest that it also works great in lip balms. I've been using it in my lip balms for about 4 years or so and it completely eliminated the grains I would still get in spite of having tempered my butters if my balms were exposed to heat/cold fluctuations afterward.

Some folks report having failures with ButterEZ in their lip balms, but I've found that the trick is finding the right usage rate for your particular formula. Thankfully, it has a wide range when it comes to a safe usage rate, so one need never fear that they've used too much. For what its worth, in my dewy lip sheen lip balm formula; it works great @16.7% of my total butter amount in the formula; in my butterlicious lip balm formula, it works great @ 12.5% of my total butter amount in the formula; and in my liquid lip gloss (which contains shea butter), it works great @36.37% of my total butter amount in the formula. It will take a bit of trial and error experimentation to find the 'swwet spot' usage rate for each formula, but it will eventually pay off if one doesn't give up too soon.

Just remember that the usage rate is as per the total butter amount of one's formula, as opposed to a percentage of one's total formula.


IrishLass

 

[BrewerGeorge]

Those of you who temper cocoa butter, what state is preferred for lip balms? Is it what chocolate people cally the shiny/snap phase, or is that too hard and waxy?

 

[PuddinAndPeanuts]

I could be mistaken, but I believe tempering is an alternative to rapid cooling- it'll stop graininess when it solidifies for this upcoming use. But just like rapid cooling- when finished product melts and then firms up again- grains.

So, how to avoid grains:

-I've heard butter ez is great stuff. Lotioncrafter has it, and if you call their customer service #, they're really really helpful.

-lotioncrafter has another product that also sounds really helpful. I do not recall the name of it though. I think it was maybe a powder you dissolve in your oils and butters when you melt everything down and either your end product can withstand higher temps without melting OR maybe it instead prevents graininess. I can't remember which. I do know that for my body butter, I seriously considered this stuff and intended to try it before trying the butter ez. So- again, lotion crafter customer service is your friend.

-92 degree coconut oil and high melt Shea butter are both amazing. Yes, high melt Shea is heartstoppingly expensive. At over 25% of my product I use a lot of it. SO WORTH IT. I somehow convinced myself it wasn't that big a deal and masterbatched with regular Shea. Never, ever again.

-this one is odd... avoid rice bran oil for anything where your final products melt point matters. Long story short, I found that when i used rice bran oil instead of sweet almond oil, it lowered my melt point by at least 10 degrees.