Experiments in the workshop: ACI instead of SCI in my hand cleanser

I am so sick of having dry feeling hands after I wash them, so I thought I'd make my own hand cleanser. This one - orange & honey hand cleanser - was my favourite, so naturally I thought I'd tweak it some more by replacing ACI for the SCI.

Doesn't it look like this is supposed to be an artistic view of being hand soap? Like my cleanser is about to break out into song about a boy she has loved and lost or that her father has trapped her here in this castle until someone worthy of her love can save her? 

I'm not really sure why I'd want to switch out the SCI for the ACI in this case - this is quite a liquidy product until I get the Crothix in near the end, so using ACI instead of SCI should product a really liquidy product! But no matter! When I'm in the mood to experiment, I'm in the mood to experiment!


ORANGE & HONEY HAND CLEANSER WITH ACI
FIRST HEATED PHASE
10% cocamidopropyl betaine
11% polyglucose/lactylate blend
10% ACI
2% glycol distearate

SECOND HEATED PHASE
33.5% water
10% aloe vera
10% orange hydrosol
3% PEG-7 glyceryl cocoate
3% glycerin

COOL DOWN PHASE
3% honeyquat
0.5% liquid Germall Plus
1% fragrance
Crothix (optional)

Weigh the first heated phase into heatproof container and heat in your double boiler until the SCI and glycol distearate has melted. Weigh the second heated phase into a heatproof container and heat until the SCI has melted in the other container. Remove both from the heat and add the second heated phase slowly, stirring as you go, until it is well incorporated. You may want to heat it a little longer to ensure it is well incorporated.

When the temperature reaches 45˚C to 50˚C, add the cool down phase BUT DON'T ADD THE CROTHIX! (Read more about Crothix here if you've never used it before.) I didn't need Crothix in mine, but that will vary given the modifications to ingredients and fragrance you choose.

When the mixture has reached room temperature or has sat for at least four hours, test the viscosity. Add 1% Crothix, and mix very well. If you want it a bit thicker, add another 0.5% and stir well. Repeat until you get the viscosity you want.

So what did I think? I like it! I had to get to 4% Crothix to thicken it, and it's still a bit more liquid than I would want in a body wash or shampoo, but it works well in the pump bottle. The skin feels about the same. I think it looks a little less pearlized than the first version, and I know I didn't use enough colouring.

Considering I can get SCI locally (at Aquarius Aroma & Soap) instead of shipping it from the eastern part of the States, and considering it will thicken more than ACI, I don't think I'll be changing my recipe soon. But it was a neat to experiment, eh?

Read More

Experiments in the workshop: Using behenyl alcohol in sugar scrubs!

I am a big fan of the emulsified scrub, so it made sense to try this new fatty alcohol in one! I love my black cocoa sugar scrub, and thought adding behenyl alcohol would only make it that more awesome. (As a note, this recipe can be done with regular cocoa butter, but I was out of the regular stuff and I found a container of black cocoa butter I bought earlier this year, so it just made sense!)

EMULSIFIED SUGAR SCRUB WITH BLACK COCOA BUTTER
10% emulsifying wax (e-wax, Polawax, or BTMS)
10% behenyl alcohol
20% black cocoa butter
56% oil
1% Vitamin E
2% fragrance or essential oil*
1% Phenonip

If you want to use this for a body scrub, start with 100 grams of sugar per 100 grams of sugar scrub. You can increase it as high as 200 grams for 100 grams of sugar scrub - it depends upon your taste (I like it really scrubby, so I go for 170 to 200 grams per 100 grams of sugar scrub.) If you are using another exfoliant, you'll really have to play with it to see what you like.

Weigh all ingredients except the fragrance or essential oil in a heat proof container and put into a double boiler. Heat and hold for 20 minutes at 70C. Remove from the double boiler and put into your fridge or freezer until it reaches 45C. Add the fragrance oil, then return it to the fridge or freezer to cool further.

When the mixture starts to harden slightly on the sides of the container and gets a thick film on the top, remove it from the fridge or freezer and start whipping it with a hand mixer with whisk attachments or your Kitchenaid with whisk attachments. Whisk until it looks like chocolate pudding - this might take a little while - then add the sugar and whisk until well incorporated. Pour into jars and let sit until hardened.

I would normally use soy bean oil here, but I was out, so I switched it for a mix of half sesame, half olive oil. I use regular, every day sugar at a 170 grams per 100 grams of sugar scrub. As usual, I scented it with Clementine Cupcake from Brambleberry!

Wow! I love this! I think this is my new Saturday night thing! The normal scrub feels nice and glidy, but this had a silkiness that was really lovely. My skin felt really nice after I rinsed it off, and I could feel it all day long. I'm definitely keeping the behenyl alcohol in this recipe!

As a note about this recipe...Make sure you use a dark coloured towel when drying off after your bath or shower. You won't get every single bit of it off, and it will come off on your towel, leaving a tan coloured stain. It will come off in the dryer, but your family will make comments about it until you wash said towel, which can be a little annoying!

You can substitute behenyl alcohol for cetyl alcohol in any sugar scrub recipe that contains stearic acid or cetyl alcohol. You will get a different feeling to the product, and you might find a sugar scrub that used to contain stearic acid might be a little runnier with a fatty alcohol, but it's a great way to see if you like behenyl alcohol!

If you're a fan of the scrub bar, why not try behenyl alcohol in a scrub bar (like this one or this one)?

And if you're looking for black cocoa butter, check here at Creations from Eden (Edmonton, Alberta).

Read More

Experiments in the workshop: Behenyl alcohol in an intense conditioner with butters

I thought I'd try using behenyl alcohol in an intense conditioner with butters and oils. It makes sense, because people who have hair so dry or so brittle that they need to use butters in a conditioner, could probably benefit from the added slip and conditioning of this fatty alcohol.

I chose this recipe (found here)...

INTENSE CONDITIONER WITH BUTTERS AND BEHENYL ALCOHOL
HEATED WATER PHASE
53.5% water
10% aloe vera or hydrosol of choice
2% humectant
2% hydrolyzed protein

HEATED OIL PHASE
7% Incroquat BTMS
3% Incroquat CR (detangling, softening)
10% butter of choice
3% behenyl alcohol (synergistic effect with the cationic quats)

COOL DOWN PHASE
2% dimethicone
2% cyclomethicone
2% panthenol
2% cetrimonium chloride
1% fragrance or essential oil
0.5% to 1% preservative

Follow basic conditioner making instructions for this recipe.

I haven't tried this recipe and I'm waiting for my mom's opinion, so I can't say much about it for my hair. (If I used this on my oily hair, it wouldn't be good!) I like to make this recipe with coconut oil, and I didn't see a difference in viscosity, although it feels nice on my skin (I could use this as a lotion very easily, although I'd leave out the cetrimonium chloride and Incroquat CR as we don't need to waste products, eh?)

Join me tomorrow for using behenyl alcohol in a sugar scrub!

Read More

Experiments in the workshop: Behenyl alcohol in a conditioner (part 1)

I do love my conditioners, and I thought I'd experiment further with one I experimented with last October - my intense conditioner with all my conditioning agents! - by adding a little behenyl alcohol to the mix.

Point of interest: Adding a fatty alcohol to a cationic quaternary compound - like BTMS, BTMS-50, cetrimonium bromide, and others - boosts the substantivity of that compound by up to 50%. So it's a good thing to add a fatty alcohol - like cetyl alcohol, cetearyl alcohol, behenyl alcohol, or lauric alcohol - so you get a more conditioning product!

If this all sounds like gibberish to you, I really encourage you to visit the hair care section to learn more about the chemistry/biology of our hair and how to make hair care products! Or better yet, spend some time with the hair care e-book! Yeah, it's a shameless plug, but all the proceeds go to fund our youth groups, and that's a great cause! 


INTENSE CONDITIONER WITH A TON OF CATIONIC INGREDIENTS FOR REALLY DAMAGED HAIR WITH BEHENYL ALCOHOL
HEATED WATER PHASE
70.5% water
2% hydrolyzed protein
2% cetrimonium chloride

HEATED OIL PHASE
7% Incroquat BTMS
3% Incroquat CR
4% cetrimonium bromide
4% ethylhexyl palmitate
3% behenyl alcohol (or other fatty alcohol of choice!)

COOL DOWN PHASE
2% panthenol
2% dimethicone
2% cyclomethicone
2% cationic polymer
1% fragrance or essential oil
0.5% to 1% preservative

Use the general conditioner making instructions for this recipe.

You'll notice that I added 3% behenyl alcohol to the heated oil phase and removed 3% water from the heated water phase. That's not normal...in a lotion. In a lotion, we'd have to recalculate the emulsifier and so on and make sure that we don't mess it up. We do have an emulsion going on here - both cetrimonium bromide and BTMS-50 are emulsifiers, and we are mixing oils and water together into a oil-in-water emulsion - but we don't have to be as worried as we would be with a lotion. If you look at the oil phase in this product we see we have about 15% oil phase and about 11% emulsifiers (cetab and BTMS-50), so we're more than fine. Plus, Incroquat CR and cetrimonium chloride are okay emulsifiers, so we have an emulsifier festival going on here! So we can add some oil based ingredients to this product without it separating!

If you don't have all the ingredients listed here - and, let's be honest, who would? - then try adding it to your favourite conditioner recipe. Add up to 50% of your cationic quaternary compound amount in fatty alcohol, and remove 3% water. (Click here for the conditioner recipes on this blog!)

So what do I think of this product? Unfortunately, my hair doesn't like fatty alcohols in a conditioner! I have really oily hair, and adding another emollient to the mix isn't helping that condition. However, it did feel really nice when I used it. It feels more slippery to the touch, and there was a silkiness that felt really nice. My hair really seemed to like it - my frizz felt more tamed and I even got a few ringlets! - but I was oily by the next morning, and I can't be washing my hair every other day!

If you have dry hair, I think you'll really like behenyl alcohol in your conditioners. If you haven't tried making a conditioner with cetyl alcohol, do that first to see if your hair is happy before ordering behenyl alcohol. If you've been using cetyl alcohol, I think you're in for a treat!

Join me tomorrow for another conditioner with behenyl alcohol!

Read More

Experiments in the workshop: Behenyl alcohol in a lotion

I decided I'd try behenyl alcohol in place of cetearyl alcohol in this recipe - the rice bran oil based hand protector cream I made as a duplicate of the Body Shop's hemp hand protector cream for my husband.

The original recipe is a very thick lotion that feels slightly greasy going on your hands, but dries to a more powdery feeling. The cetearyl alcohol makes it feel a bit waxy, but that's not a bad thing if you want a lotion with some staying power (that's why I added the beeswax!) My husband really liked this recipe. But of course, I can't leave well enough alone, so I had to try the behenyl alcohol in place of the cetearyl alcohol! (I wanted to make my own version because I scented his with cedar & saffron and I really don't like earthy scents!)

RICE BRAN OIL BASED HAND PROTECTOR CREAM

HEATED WATER PHASE
47% water
3% glycerin
2% propylene glycol
0.5% allantoin

HEATED OIL PHASE
7% Polawax
3% behenyl alcohol
8% cetearyl ethylhexanoate
10% rice bran oil
10% C12-15 alkyl benzoate
2% beeswax
2% IPM

COOL DOWN PHASE
2% dimethicone
2% panthenol
0.5% fragrance
0.5% - 1% preservative (I use liquid Germall Plus)

Please follow the basic lotion making procedures for this recipe. 

I had a few ideas for some changes - cyclomethicone at 2% in the cool down phase (remove 2% of the oil from the heated oil phase), aloe vera at 10% in the heated water phase, and maybe try some other fatty alcohol. I didn't make those changes in this version as I wanted to figure out what behenyl alcohol brings to the party, and adding other things makes that very difficult, but I will try it out next time! I added 0.5% more fragrance and dropped the oils by 0.5%, but that shouldn't make a huge difference except to the awesome smelling-ness of the product (Clementine Cupcake from Brambleberry, as usual. Click here to get it in Canada from Karen at Soapcraft! Seriously. It's amazing!) 

So what did I think? It's much less waxier than the first version, and I like it a lot. It feels more velvety, as if I'd added cyclomethicone to it, and it has a nice slip and glide that make it easy to rub on my hands. 

In general, I really like behenyl alcohol. I tried it in a conditioner - more about that tomorrow - and I've tried it another lotion, and it really gives a velvety slip that feels a little less greasy than cetyl alcohol and a lot less waxy than cetearyl alcohol. I like that it feels a little more occlusive - but not by much - than cetyl alcohol, and it's definitely very different than stearic acid for making more creamy lotions. 

The down side is the cost. I pay about $4 a pound for cetyl alcohol locally, and I bought my behenyl alcohol from Lotioncrafter at $11.25 for a pound, plus shipping. (This isn't a complain against Lotioncrafter's prices - they are reasonable indeed, but a comment about the price of the other fatty alcohols in general!) As someone who doesn't sell my products, I won't go through more than a pound or two a year and I think the increased slip, glide, velvety-ness, and general nice feeling of behenyl alcohol is worth it, but if you're selling lotions, that price difference could make or break a profit margin! 

Can you change other things in this recipe, for instance the propylene glycol for another humectant or the esters for vegetable oils? Can you add lavender hydrosol or use an essential oil? Sure! That's the whole point of learning how to make products - customizing them to your preferences! I suggest you try substituting oils for other oils, humectants for other humectants, water based ingredients for your water, and so on!

If you want to learn more about formulating lotions, I encourage you to read the lotion formulating series I wrote back in February! Here's the start of the learning to formulate series. Click here for the post on substituting one oil for another! And click for more ideas on how to play with thickeners! 

Join me tomorrow to see how behenyl alcohol works in a conditioner! 

Read More

Experimenting in the workshop: Avocado butter

Randi from Creations by Eden sent me out some green avocado butter, which is "...made from solid fraction of raw-green avocado oil, then fortified with sal butter-stearic fraction and virgin oil de coco-crème® solid fraction." It's light green in colour and has a very earthy smell to it. It's quite hard and would need to be melted to include it in anything - you can't just whip this butter from room temperature!

I decided to do something basic with it and make a whipped butter. I used rice bran oil, because that was the challenge for the Iron Chemist and it was sitting right on top of my work table, and fragrance so I could get a better idea of the consistency and feel of the butter on my skin.

WHIPPED AVOCADO BUTTER
77% green avocado butter
22% rice bran oil
1% fragrance oil (Clementine Cupcake, what else?)

I melted the avocado butter and rice bran oil in my double boiler and heated until it melted. I put it in the freezer to harden. After 40 minutes, the middle was still liquidy, so I left it in for another 10 minutes. (I would normally leave shea, mango, or cocoa butter for about half an hour.) It was still liquidy, but I wanted to play with it so I removed it from the freezer, added my fragrance oil, then started whipping it with my whisks. It whipped up very nicely...but I can't get over that earthy smell. I added another 1% Clementine Cupcake fragrance oil and whipped a little more. Nope, still smelling it. So another 1% - I wouldn't go higher than 3% in a leave on product - and more whipping.

What do I think of it? I really like the feeling of this butter. It feels a lot like babassu oil in that it melts on contact with your skin. It's greasy-ish at first, but starts to feel drier after about 10 minutes or so (I think the greasiness comes from the rice bran oil, not the butter). I really like it...but I can't get over the earthy smell.

I don't tend to use unrefined butters because that earthy smell really gets to me, and this is one of the strongest I've smelled in a while. It's not an unpleasant smell, but it's something I don't tend to like in my products. If you like earthy smells - for instance, I can't stand having patchouli in the house or even catching a whiff of it at the farmers' market - then this is a great butter for you. If you don't, then use the butter at lower levels in your products.

Why use avocado butter? Avocado oil is filled with phytosterols and polyphenols that are fantastic for reducing inflammation and itchiness. It's great in a hair care product as it's easily absorbed, and it might help with dandruff prone hair. (Click on the link for more information on this oil.)

As an aside, my husband woke up yesterday morning and said to me, "You're lucky you don't have a stupid husband." I agree with him, but why? "Because you leave out these containers with things that look like icing and smell like cupcakes, and a stupid husband would eat them and die." One wouldn't die from eating whipped avocado butter, but it wouldn't taste like cupcakes. "But how do I know it doesn't taste like it smells? It looks like icing! You're so lucky I'm not stupid." He went on to suggest I should bake some cupcakes so we had something in the house that smelled and tasted like cupcakes. I think he's right - we need some real cupcakes! (I think you've figured out by now that I'm obsessed with cupcakes! And I haven't even shown you my cupcake fabric pillowcases!) And I am a lucky woman to have him (not just because he avoids eating my products)!

Read More

Experiments in the workshop: Min-maxed toner becomes a facial gel

The weather outside here is frightful, and I need something more than my toner to protect my skin right now. An oil filled moisturizer isn't an option at the moment as I'm having some fun new break outs on my face, so I thought I'd try making my min-maxed toner into a gel using Amaze XT. (Sorry this picture isn't in a bottle, but it's about -3˚C or 26.6 F in my workshop right now and that's where the bottles and funnels are located. I like the cold, but not that cold!)

I modified the recipe to remove the witch hazel as I'm not a fan of it in my leave on facial products, and I left out the salicylic acid or white willow bark because I'm out of both. (I would have happily included it if I had it!) You'll notice this recipe is in grams - it totals 90 grams because apparently math isn't my strong suit this week! Because the thickening is essential to the recipe, I don't want to modify it to equal 100%, so if you want to double or triple the batch, use the recipe as listed below.

TONER BECOMES GEL MOISTURIZER
HEATED WATER PHASE
15 grams water
20 grams lavender hydrosol
20 grams chamomile hydrosol
10 grams aloe vera
2 grams sodium lactate
2 grams hydrolyzed protein
0.5 grams allantoin
1.5 grams Amaze XT

COOL DOWN PHASE
3 grams honeyquat
5 grams Multifruit BSC
2 grams panthenol
5 grams liquid green tea extract
3 grams Caprol Micro Express or another water soluble oil or ester
0.4 grams liquid Germall Plus

Weigh all the heated phase into a heatproof container and heat until it reaches 60˚C. Hold for about 20 minutes, then add the Amaze XT and remove from the heat. Mix really well until incorporated. Wait until the mixture reaches 45 ˚C to 50˚C, then add the cool down phase. Again, mix really well until incorporated. Yay! You have a gelled toner!

Amaze XT is a form of xanthan gum and you could use that in this recipe, but it will feel a bit stickier. (Click here for some information on gelling ingredients.) You can use carbomer or xanthan gum or your favourite gelling agent for a product of this nature to make the gel.

You can leave out all the hydrosols if you want and use water in their place, and you can include any extracts you like. The key is that you can't use paraben based preservatives with Amaze XT, so make sure you've chosen your preservative wisely!

I really like this product! I've used it two days in a row and it doesn't feel sticky on my skin, but I feel moisturized. You don't want to put a thick layer on your face as it will come off when you rub it, and a thin layer is all you need. Yay! A gelled oil free moisturizer for me in this very cold weather time!

Read More

Experimenting in your workshop

I know this can be a demanding hobby/craft/art/calling/obsession and I know it can be an expensive one sometimes, but making mistakes and "wasting" supplies is part of the process. I know this is a hard thing to accept - I can't count how many times I've kept a product around thinking I'll try to fix it rather than throwing it away - and it's one of the reasons making small batches for a first time or dubious product is a good idea.

The reality is that the best way to learn how to make products it to make them. Make it and use it. You'll get an idea of how it feels, what it looks like, and all those other important things like the process involved, the viscosity of the product, how easy it is to pour into a container, which container is best, and so on.

The trying out new things process is expensive. I can't count how many bottles of cocamidopropyl betaine and bags of SCI I used trying to come up with new recipes that failed, but they weren't wasted. I learned something new from every mistake. I learned that SCI is essential in making a shampoo bar hard enough to withstand the rigours of the shower but soft enough to glide over my hair. I learned that SCI with stearic makes my hair oilier than the SCI without, and I learned that SCI without stearic can go clear in a liquid product. I learned that products without cocamidopropyl betaine aren't as thick or as mild as those with it. In short, although my mistakes were destined for the dumpster, I learned a lot about surfactants from each "failure".

If you've got a recipe you love, start out by substituting one ingredient. I remember sitting at the coffee shop near my office trying to figure out if I could substitute avocado oil for sunflower oil in a foot lotion recipe I found on the Dish. Instead of getting into the workshop the next morning, I spent a ton of time debating it, writing down all the merits of each oil and what they brought to the party. When I finally used it, it felt really nice and made the cream thicker and more tenacious! So I use avocado in my foot lotions all the time now!

Don't be afraid to make mistakes. Learn the rules of the game, then break them. Make the lotion exactly as described the first time, then try your own ideas the second time so you get an idea of the skin feel, the  viscosity, the emulsification, and so on. This is really the best way to learn!

Read More

Experiments the workshop: Using disodium cocoamphodiacetate & decyl glucoside

Sorry, I didn't get around to formulating with the emu oil as I've been running around testing everything with my pH meter, and got into the surfactants bin in the workshop! I'll have some posts on emu oil shortly!  My husband has started calling me "magpie" because I'm easily distracted by shiny things! 

Now that I have my fancy new pH meter, I can finally do some formulating with disodium cocoamphodiacetate (pH 9 according to the data sheet, but mine tested at 7.7) and decyl glucoside (pH between 7 and 9, I forgot to test it). I thought I'd throw a little polyglucose/lactylate blend into the mix because it does feel really nice and moisturizing on my skin!

I decided to make my usual body wash but switch the disodium cocoamphodiacetate for the cocamidopropyl betaine, and the decyl glucoside and polyglucose/lactylate blend for the other surfactants. I've kept every other ingredient the same - including my usual fragrance, lemon curd - so I could see what each ingredient brings to the mix. I accidentally added 1% more than I wanted of the decyl glucoside and I only had 30 grams of polyglucose/lactylate blend left, hence the amounts I used in this recipe. Next time I'll make the body wash with esters - which is my new favourite recipes - with just the disodium cocoamphodiacetate in place of the cocoamidopropyl betaine.

EXPERIMENTAL BODY WASH RECIPE
10% disodium cocoamphodiacetate
21% decyl glucoside
10% polyglucose/lactylate blend
10% aloe vera
10% chamomile hydrosol
28.5% water
4% glycerin
3% polyquat 7
2% hydrolyzed oat protein
2% panthenol
0.5% liquid Germall Plus
1% fragrance oil

I mixed it all together, then tested the pH - 8.6! That's way too high! So I mixed up 0.2% citric acid with a titch of warm water to dissolve and added it to the mixture. New measurement - 7.74. Still too high. We want 6.5 or lower. So another 0.2% citric acid with a titch of water and added to the body wash. Success - we have 6.51!

As a note, it seems like 0.2% citric acid will take the mixture down about 1 pH level (give or take), so if you make this recipe and don't have a meter, 0.4% will bring the levels down to a reasonable level. The main ingredients that mess with the pH are the decyl glucoside and disodium cocoamphodiacetate as the polyglucose/lactylate blend has a pH of 5 to 7. So if you use the first two surfactants and use any surfactant with a pH between 5 and 7 as your third surfactant, then the 0.4% should bring the pH down enough. 

What's the viscosity like? It's thin. Very very thin. I could put this in a foamer bottle and not have to thin it out at all! Normally the Lemon Curd fragrance oil thickens it quite well, so I need to add a little Crothix. I added 1%. Not enough, so I added another 0.5%. Still not enough, so I added another 0.5% for a total of 2%. It's still on the thinnish side and could use a little bit more, but I don't like to go over 2% because it's so easy to turn it into Jell-O, so let's leave it there.

How does it feel? It feels really nice. I think thanks in part to the polyglucose/lactylate blend, but I did find it to feel very moisturizing. It foamed and lathered very nicely, and I think this would be a great product for someone with normal to oily skin. If I were to make it for my dry skinned friends, I'd increase the polyglucose/lactylate blend to 20% and reduce the water amount by 10%.

FINAL RECIPE FOR EXPERIMENTAL BODY WASH
10% disodium cocoamphodiacetate

21% decyl glucoside

10% polyglucose/lactylate blend

10% aloe vera

10% chamomile hydrosol

28.1% water**

4% glycerin

3% polyquat 7

2% hydrolyzed oat protein

2% panthenol

0.5% liquid Germall Plus

1% fragrance oil

0.4% citric acid

**Save about 5% of your water to dissolve the citric acid.
Add Crothix or salt as necessary to increase viscosity. I used 2% and it wasn't really thick enough!

As a note, I think this would make a fine 2-in-1 body wash and shampoo for those inclined as it has all the goodies you'd put in a shampoo!

As a note, I coloured it pink despite its lemony deliciousness so I would know that it wasn't my usual body wash because the labels tend to fall off in the shower and I don't make anything else that's pink!

Read More