Sea water in face cream ?

[Malleebird]

I'm about to make some face cream/moisturizer for my daughter....she finally trusts me !! She's all of 36 and says she wants something for her "ageing" skin I must add I'm pretty new to this lotion game....only really made it for myself but have been quite happy.
I'm using WSP to formulate. Two questions... probably more to come I was planning on using 35% distilled water and 35% aloe juice and wondered if I could sub some of the water for sea water (boiled & filtered) ? Only because I like the sound of it in the ingredients.
The second question do I have to have 75% oil & 25% butter ? My formulation was all oils. (Apricot kernel, jojoba, sweet almond & kakadu plum...in jojoba & olive squalane). Should I be swapping one of these for a butter ? I have mango, shea & cocoa.
Other additives I've put in are Panthenol, Niacinamide, Kanuka honey, glycerin & aloe vera gel.
Am I overdoing it....me thinks !!
Advice would be greatly appreciated.... thanks
BTW - she says her skin is very sensitive.

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[DeeAnna]

Um, you can do what you like with your lotion/cream, but if I were doing this, I'd be wary of adding salts to the lotion just because it sounds like fun. Salts can alter how the emulsifier works. Maybe in a good way, maybe not good, but there's no way to know without doing a test batch. If you're just trying to get 'er done, leave the sea water out of the product until you can do some tests.

You can use all oils, but you may need to increase the percentage of thickener (cetyl alcohol, stearic acid, etc.) to get the desired consistency, because solid fats provide some thickening power. Again, doing a test batch would tell you whether you need to adjust the thickener or not.

Aloe juice/gel and honey are great sources of sugars/carbohydrates. Including them in a lotion will make it much more likely that your product will grow cooties. Most commercial lotions have only a tiny percentage of aloe or other ingredients like milk, and there's a very good reason for that -- they're trying to minimize the possibility of microbial growth.

Also I'd like to have seen a good broad spectrum preservative in your list of minor ingredients. Maybe you just didn't include it in your message and I appreciate that. But just in case you're not planning to use one, please reconsider -- it's not a good idea to omit this.

 

[Malleebird]

Thanks DeeAnna.... really appreciate your response and advice. I'll definitely leave out the sea water first time around and will also add a touch more stearic acid. I'll be using Germall Plus in this recipe....but maybe if I cut out the aloes & honey another time, could I get away with just using Grapefruit seed extract ?

 

[DeeAnna]

"...could I get away with just using Grapefruit seed extract ? ..."

Nope. GSE is an antioxidant, not a preservative. Somehow it got the undeserved reputation of being an effective preservative. The preservative effect that some people claim GSE has, according to what I've read, is due to trace preservatives contaminating the GSE.

My recommendation is to omit the honey and aloe AND still use liquid germall plus. Preservative Reviews

A preservative is not a magic bullet. You can't load up a product with bug food and expect the lotion to stay sanitary just because you're using a preservative. That's like putting antibiotic ointment on a dirty wound without first cleaning the wound and expect the wound to not fester.

It's important to have a comprehensive plan to minimize the chance of microbial growth. This plan includes

(a) working with sanitary manufacturing practices to limit the microbes in the product at the beginning of its life, and​

(b) formulating the product to minimize food sources to provide no encouragement for microbial growth, as well as​

(c) using an effective preservative system to kill or inhibit the growth of any microbes that sneak into your product​

I'm assuming you know how to manufacture lotion in a sanitary way and you're using a preservative -- those are two checks in your favor -- but the honey and aloe are a big fail for part (b).

 

[Malleebird]

Oooo....okay thank you ! I'll omit the honey & aloes and make the percentage up in the oil phase...adding cocoa butter probably. Thanks again