One pot lotion/cream

[nframe]

I have made many lotions and creams in the past warming up both water and oil phases and then combining them when they reach the right temperature. The other day, I decided to try and make some lotion in one pot - adding all the ingredients together (except for the cool phase ingredients). It worked very well. I tried a different recipe and also made it in one pot and it worked very well as well. Why is it recommended to warm both phases separately? It is so much easier to do it in one pot. Or is it wrong to do that?

 

[cmzaha]

My biggest issue with the one-pot method is the risk of bacteria growth, which in my opinion could possibly start growing since the water is already added, but I am not a chemist by any stretch of the imagination. I have always felt the bacteria growth timer starts when the water is added, so I prefer to add cold water, which has previously been heated and held, to my lotion as soon as it is emulsified in order to quicken cool down and my container is also sitting in an ice batch, so I can add in my preservatives as soon as possible.

 

[DanielleinTexas]

Glad you posted this. I make my lotion about three ounces at a time, and have for the past six or seven years. It's the best lotion I've ever had in my life; emu, argan, jojoba, hemp, and rosehip. Different scent every time, always use a preservative and I don't sell because I'm not challenge testing; just happy to have an expensive-ingredient lotion for pennies. I heat my stuff in fifteen second intervals in the microwave, combine at 170ish, add cooldown items, into the bottle, and on with my life. Bout 12 minutes start to finish. But I'm lazy and I dislike playing the microwave like a piano while I stand there, trying to get 10g of e-wax and oil to stay the same temp as 85g of water and glycerine. It's a hassle and I'd rather just put them all in one jar then mix when melted, then add cooldown items. If the only compelling reason not to do that is "because bacteria," then I'm in the clear, since I'm only adding a few seconds of unpreserved time and my lotion will be gone in three weeks anyway, unless I understood that wrong.

 

[amd]

My understanding of using the heat and hold method is to create stability with your emulsion and reducing the risk of contamination. (Keep in mind I have only been researching lotion making for 8 months, and haven't yet made one!) What I have read is that there are different types of emulsifiers, and certain types are stable without the heat and hold method. My opinion is reducing the risk of contamination by using the heat and hold method as well as using appropriate preservative(s) is worth the extra time the method involves, especially if you are making in large quantities and/or for resale.

 

[atiz]

I agree; I would also be worried about bacteria growth.
I also make very small quantities -- just for myself. An extra measuring cup to wash is really not a big deal, and I think it's worth it for the possibly more stable emulsion and more stable end product.
@DanielleinTexas, I don't measure the exact temperature and so they may or may not be the same, but never had problems. I put the two measuring cups (one with the oil phase, one with the water phase) in a hot water bath, until everything is melted; then I remeasure the water one and re-add what's evaporated; then mix.
Maybe microwave is easier, but I somehow never had patience for it. I can leave things in the water bath and do other things and occasionally stir them.

 

[DanielleinTexas]

I agree; I would also be worried about bacteria growth.
I also make very small quantities -- just for myself. An extra measuring cup to wash is really not a big deal, and I think it's worth it for the possibly more stable emulsion and more stable end product..

Maybe microwave is easier, but I somehow never had patience for it. I can leave things in the water bath and do other things and occasionally stir them.

I'm kind of bewildered by how often I hear about making a more stable emulsion. I've never had a batch separate. Some of that is problbly due to the fact that I make a 100g (3.5 oz) bottle, use a milk-frother as my beater, repeat every 2-3 weeks; my stuff may just not have the bulk or the time to fail.

At that quantity, I tried doing a one-pot in the microwave a couple of days ago in a 4 oz mason jar. 20ish seconds, check temp, 15-20 more, mix, add the silk peptide, germaben, and fragrance, remix, bottle, done in four minutes after ingredients were loaded in. I was thrilled, I'll never do two pot again.

Agree that it would be a different story if I were selling it and didn't have certainty on how long someone else expected it to last. I don't even trust it as gifts after the time I gave a little bottle to my mother in law who kept only using pea-sized amounts to "make it last as long as possible," despite me telling her over and over "No, this is not sterile lab produced, treat it like half and half and use it up while it's fresh." (I'll still give it to MY ma, who likens it to fresh juice and has some sense.)

 

[Zany_in_CO]

The other day, I decided to try and make some lotion in one pot - adding all the ingredients together (except for the cool phase ingredients). It worked very well. I tried a different recipe and also made it in one pot and it worked very well as well.

This is a very timely question @nframe. I was asking the same one myself today as I did the heat-n-hold method. I make 1000 gram batches at a time. What's interesting is that one-pot lotion is the way they do it on Majestic Mountain Sage blog. I'm glad to hear you tried it and it worked well for you. It sure would simplify things for me.

 

[DanielleinTexas]

I'm kind of bewildered by how often I hear about making a more stable emulsion. I've never had a batch separate. Some of that is problbly due to the fact that I make a 100g (3.5 oz) bottle, use a milk-frother as my beater, repeat every 2-3 weeks; my stuff may just not have the bulk or the time to fail.

O HUBRIS! I had my first failure this morning. Rough day, too, since I'm all outta BTMS and don't have any coming until tomorrow. I am sulking HARD. Could have been because of the hyaluronic acid stock I used as the water not playing nice with my other ingredients, but the humblebee girl uses that stock in lotions and didn't report any problems. Either way, back to the old ways until and unless I can identify what caused that.

 

[cmzaha]

O HUBRIS! I had my first failure this morning. Rough day, too, since I'm all outta BTMS and don't have any coming until tomorrow. I am sulking HARD. Could have been because of the hyaluronic acid stock I used as the water not playing nice with my other ingredients, but the humblebee girl uses that stock in lotions and didn't report any problems. Either way, back to the old ways until and unless I can identify what caused that.

What happened? There have been times I have been able to fix a failed lotion

 

[DanielleinTexas]

What happened? There have been times I have been able to fix a failed lotion

Did it as a one-pot with a new ingredient (HA) added, AND took my eye off it while it was in the microwave in the last ten-second burst. (I only make 100g at a time.) It boiled, bubbled up and over, and the BTMS and oil combo curdled HARD and would have zero to do with the water phase. It was like it had cooked like dumplings and refused to melt later no matter what I did; tried reheating quickly, cooling quickly, reheating slowly, cooling slowly, beating hard, reheating in a double boiler, reheating in the microwave...spent an hour out there pounding on that little batch of lotion out of stubbornness before admitting it was dead and walking away from it. It's all right; I lost maybe $1.15 in materials, which is a very small price to pay for the reminder that we change one variable at a time, Danielle, and we do not take our eye off what is happening, especially when we're already using not one but two nontraditional methods (one pot + microwave).

 

[cmzaha]

Oh, I have never tried making lotion in the microwave, since I do not like the way a microwave spot heats products so just not uniform heating in my opinion.

 

[atiz]

I have never had problem with Hyarulonic acid -- but again, I don't use the microwave either (and don't do one-pot).
HA really is very nice; you should just try it in a traditional setting (water bath and 2 cups).

 

[DanielleinTexas]

I like the microwave method all right (I mostly like being start-to-finish done with heating both phases in under three minutes), and I like one-pot, but I think both at once plus using the hydrated hyaluronic acid stock as 100% of the liquid AND walking away from the microwave to put something away when I knew I was approaching the temp I wanted was flying a little too close to the efficiency/simplicity sun. When I'm done sulking over the failure, I might try it again with the ha stock as 25 or 50% of the liquid and be more watchful in those last couple of ten-second zaps. If that succeeds, great--I'm sure I massively overheated it in those last four seconds that I wasn't paying attention, because it did boil over, hard. If I weren't working in quantities so tiny that I'm practically counting BTMS 25 grains, I'd have a little more wiggle room, but I have to be so careful with lotion; I'm comfortable selling soap, but not at all comfortable selling lotion, so I have to make it in personal-use-only quantities or I'll drown in it.

At the same time, a failure in tiny micro-batches means it doesn't hurt much to experiment; a failure costs under a buck. what really stings is that I NEVER include more than one variable in the method, because if it fails, you can't be sure which one caused it, but I did this time.

If the 25% ha and paying attention during the heat fails too, then that'll be a pretty good indicator to try it in two pot, or try it in water-bath, see if both or either of those fail too.

 

[cmzaha]

One problem with overheating BTMS 25 or 50 is you usually cannot hide the fishy odor that the overheating intensives. That is the one issue I hate with Btms

 

[DanielleinTexas]

One problem with overheating BTMS 25 or 50 is you usually cannot hide the fishy odor that the overheating intensives. That is the one issue I hate with Btms

I just discovered BTMS 25 when I was trying to make a hair conditioner (which is dumb--I don't use or need hair conditioner, why do I suddenly think I need to make it?) It didn't work out, but I put it on my face to see if it was better than lotion, and it was SO GOOD on my skin that I never even want to look at the polawax I've been using for years again. I've been using it at 5% because I read about the fishy smell, though I can't smell any fish at all. (That may or may not just be nose-blindedness from soaping so much.)

I can't be sure if it's the BTMS or the silk peptide powder I've added in, but this stuff is absolute sorcery on my skin; it's summer in Texas, when I am typically covered in razor burn, sweat rash, ingrown hairs, and any number of little red annoyances, and the only spot on my body are the asian tiger mosquito bites that it would take a nuke to get rid of.