Josh's Lotion/Cream

[Guest guest]

Josh,

Couple of things...

I totally understand the " put on my body what I put in my body " goal;

however, there's a whole chemical thing going on with emulsions. You can

take an oil and vinegar (water) salad dressing and turn it into mayonnaise

by adding egg yolks (lecithin) - that's a natural emulsion. But the

chemistry of lotions/creams is based on which emulsifier or combination of

emulsifiers will match with the oils you have selected to create an end

product that will not separate. You might want to research the HLB system

for more information.

 

Could you please share the details that have lead you to believe that

vegetable-derived emulsifying wax would not meet your expectations?

Evidently I have not been reading the same ingredient information that you

have read. I do know that an ingredient that's identified as " natural " by

one source may not be thought of that way by others. I do know that I have

chosen to not use wintergreen in any skin care products.

 

Regarding the comments I made about the temperatures - Heating your water

phase to 170 and holding for about 10 minutes will ensure that any

" beasties " have been sterilized. I do let the water cool down to about 120

before adding to my oils. In the past, I successfully created lotions by

putting all ingredients in a single pot; technically that does work.

However, IMHO - that means either the water doesn't get heated enough or the

oils get too hot and may have their therapeutic properties compromised. For

some of my creams, I use an ice water bath while mixing to hasten the cool

down.

 

Linda Wallen

Village Treasures - Tow, TX

Village WebWorks - www.villagewebworks.com

[Guest guest]

Hi Linda,

 

Thanks for the in depth response! I just got done reading a lot about

HLB and the chemistry of emulsions. :-)

 

 

About emulsifying wax:

 

Here's a link that explains the ingredients of one e-wax on the

market: http://www.chemistrystore.com/emulswax.htm

 

According to this, some even contain SLS:

http://www.makeyourcosmetics.com/ingredients/popper.asp?id=82

 

Many of the e-wax suppliers I've seen online don't even specify the

ingredients of their product, a big no-no for me. It's like listing

" emulsifiers " in one's lotion ingredients without saying *which ones*.

 

 

Yay temperature details. Everything you said made sense to me. No

1-pot mixing... that was the frustration talking ;-)

 

Best,

Josh