Coconut Fatty Acid Cream Base, Organic Aloe Vera, Witch Hazel (natural herbal extract) , Horsetail Extract, Calendula Oil, St. John's Wort Oil, Coltsfoot Extract, Coneflower Extract, Panthenol (Vitamin B-5), Linoleic Acid (Vitamin F), Carrot Oil, Organic Lemon Peel Oil, Aubrey¹s Preservative (Citrus Seed Extract, Vitamins A, C and E).
We can't. (More about this in a moment...)
Coconut Fatty Acid Cream Base, Organic Aloe Vera, White Camellia Oil, Wheat Germ Oil; Extracts of Fennel, Hops, Balm Mint, Mistletoe, Camomile and Yarrow; Organic Germanium Oil, Organic Rosemary Oil, Organic Sage Oil, Carrot Oil, Aubrey's Preservative (Citrus Seed Extract, Vitamins A, C, and E)
And again, we can't.
Aubrey's products all seem to start the same way, with "Coconut Fatty Acid Cream Base". There's no specific information on what's in this base and I don't understand how it can be the main ingredient in a lotion and a conditioner, unless it's a cationic base and they're using it the way we'd use Incroquat BTMS-50 as an emulsifier in their lotions as well.
Here's what Aubrey says on their site about their base (click to see a list of all the products in which it cane be found):
Absorption base containing essential fatty acids, coconut fatty alcohols from palm kernels, aloe vera and vitamins A, C and E. Rich in linoleic and linolenic acids (vitamin F), excellent nutrients and skin conditioners. In hair care products, it is often combined with the important amino acids cysteine and methionine, which are high in sulfur and excellent for the hair and scalp.
What the heck does this mean? I'm not sure, but it could mean anything. For instance, what is "coconut fatty alcohol from palm kernels"?
A coconut - or indeed, any fruit, vegetable, or animal that can produce an oil - produces fatty acids, which can be turned into fatty alcohols through the process of transesterification. You can use any triglyceride for this process. Normally it's palm or coconut oil, but it could be from shea butter, a whale, beeswax, or even animal fat. When the process is finished, there's no difference between myristic alcohol from a coconut or a palm kernel and no difference between lauryl alcohol from a palm kernel, coconut, butter, or a whale. To talk about "derived from coconuts" when it comes to an ingredient that has to be played with in a lab to produce something that could come from a variety of sources is disingenuous at best.
Point of interest: Cetyl alcohol gets its name from whale oil (spermacetti) that used to be used as a thickener for cosmetics. The Latin name for whale is "cetus". It isn't produced from whales any more, but the name stuck. This is why you'll see ingredients like cetyl esters or cetearyl alcohol listed as being a good substitute for spermacetti. We don't use it any more, but for some reason the manufacturers love to compare their fatty alcohols and esters to whale oil!
There has to be an emulsifier in that "coconut fatty acid cream base" otherwise they'd have bottles of separated products on the shelves. If they wanted to continue with the idea of using coconut fatty acids, you could access a ton of different emulsifiers! Anything with "laur" would work - laureth-4, laureth-23, and PEG-8 laurate come to mind or even glyceryl laurate - but it's hidden in that catch all phrase!
I'm sorry we can't replicate these products. I wish we could, but without knowing what exactly is in that base, we can't even make a start on it.
And don't get me started on their Aubrey's Preservative (Citrus Seed Extract, Vitamins A, C, and E) because we know grapefruit seed extract is not a preservative, and Vitamins A, C, and E are anti-oxidants, not preservatives. If these products do last on the shelves, it's likely because of something they've put into the base and aren't disclosing.
Okay, I've had my rant for the day. Let's get back to fun with the HLB system!
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