Two questions...

[jewel531]

1. How do testing labs work, and does anyone know an estimated/average costs of testing a product?

2. Measurements - I have been using a digital scale to make my lotions. How I do it is - I got a lot of these little plastic cups and I pour my ingredient into them and then transfer them to the main bowl for mixing. But when using the thicker liquids like jojoba oil, or the preservative I find that I can't seem to get all the liquid out of the cup, and I worry that it is shifting the amount of product I am using by a gram or so here and there. Is there any tricks anyone has to keep this from happening. How do you measure your ingredients, is it different from how I described I was doing it?

Thanks!

 

[carebear]

I'm bad and measure directly into my big bowl, other than that I suggest investing in some small rubber scrapers.

 

[eden]

I do what Carebear does ...you just have to pour really slow & take little pauses so your scale can register the weight ...every time you transfer your ingredients, you loose a little bit - this can dramatically effect test batches because they are usually very small. I try to do 400 gram test batches ( big by most peoples' standards) to allow a margin of error - but that does get costly!

As far as lab testing - I pay $85.00 per test ( microbial & other bugs), I believe - which is very reasonable. I use ITDF, here is their link: http://www.ingredientstodiefor.com/ - as far as I have seen, they really offer the best testing price. Just send in a sample, they will take care of the testing ...of course contact them first & ask any questions you may have.
Each test will cover only that excact formula - if you tweak it at all, you will need a new test if you intend to claim 'lab tested'. So perfect each formula as much as possible before testing ...also - you can do part of the 'challenge' test yourself by putting your product through 2-3 freeze/ thaw cycles ( or deep chill ...not necessarily 'freeze' but at least 1 freeze cycle is a good idea) and several warm to cool cycles - this will test your stability - if your product is prone to seperation, this will bring it on. So I would do this before sending a sample out for testing - that way you'll know before you spend that $85 if you need to tweak! HTH!

 

[jewel531]

thanks

I guess I will have to get a new scale because mine doesn't register the small amounts. What type of scale are you using. I have a main digital kitchen scale that only measures oz. or grams. But I can't have any decimal points. But then I have a smaller digital scale that I use to measure the smaller amounts. I guess I will have to get a more accurate larger scale and start mixing in one bowl. Especially since I want to do some testing and make sure they are bacteria free and stable.

What kind of scale do you use?