Friday, 4 March 2011

An aside...beeswax is not an emulsifier

Beeswax is not an emulsifier. We can use it as a thickener in our products - in lotions, scrub bars, lotion bars, and so on - but it will not emulsify your lotions. I know I've mentioned this before - in the how can I tell if it's a good recipe post - but the only time beeswax is considered an emulsifier is if it's combined with borax in a water in oil type lotion (and what we make are oil in water type lotions).

If you are using beeswax as the only emulsifier in a lotion, cream, or anything else that contains water, and it has worked for you, it won't be for long. Odds are good that you have kept that lotion together through the heat and mechanical emulsification because you don't have any chemical emulsification going on there. It will fail on you in the very near future, leaving you with a mess of water and oil that isn't considered a lotion.

I know people are searching for more natural emulsifiers, but beeswax isn't one of them. I know there's some confusion about "e-wax" vs "bee-wax" but the simple fact is that beeswax will not emulsify any product that contains water. It might thicken it, but it won't emulsify it.

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