I recently purchased a new emulsifier - Ecomulse (INCI: Glyceryl Stearate (and) Cetearyl Alcohol (and) Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate) from Lotioncrafter. "ECOMulse is a natural source, self-emulsifier for oil in water emulsions. It contains no ethoxylated ingredients. This system is based on acyl lactylates, which are conditioning to both hair and skin." Ecomulse is also approved for use in certified organic products - one of the main reasons I was tempted to try it. In my previous post, I described my starting trouble with this emulsifier. That led to a series of experiments in the kitchen and a series of products! I am a glycerin fan - it does wonders for the skin. My question is how come Cetaphil does not feel sticky given the second ingredient is glycerin??? How? The 10% glycerin cream sits on my end table to be used as a foot cream. My next attempt was to play around with the oil concentration to make a "silky light" facial lotion. Started with 10% and went down to 5%. The 10% oil lotion feels like cold cream - a bit heavy. The 5% one feels a lot lighter so that's what I'm going to go with. Another thing I found out - since I wanted the lotion to be light, I started with 5% Ecomulse. And ended up with a very thin colloidal cloudy thing. I had already blended the water and oil phase by then - but decided to throw in 2% more of the Ecomulse in the mixture and heated it again. This is a serious no-no in lotion making - adding a second dose of emulsifier after blending is not done. But guess what, I ended up with beautiful lotion in minutes!!! My goal for this facial lotion was to make it silky, light and smell like the Saffron Elixir serum - ylang ylang, grapefruit, and sandalwood. I love love love this essential oil combination I concocted. So far, the lotion is light, and smells the way I wanted it to. Need to test for a few days to see how my face feels.
My overall take on Cetaphil - it works OK for eczema if you diligently use tons of it. It feels really good - it glides and is non-greasy. I do not approve of the ingredients (part of my natural products post coming soon). My daughter had eczema and I was advised by her dermatologist that the only way to manage it was to go through a pound of Cetaphil (or equivalent) in 3 weeks for the rest of her life!!! Heck no - she now has a smooth and glowing face thanks mostly due to vegetable glycerin.
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I have been making emulsified body butters for a while for the kids. What's an emulsified body butter? It's a thick cream made of water, oils, and a butter such as shea, cocoa or mango butter. Of course this needs an emulsifier to keep it all together. I get this: I scoured the internet for what might have gone wrong and got a vague idea that it could be the preservative - it's probably a bit too acidic for the Ecomulse. I went back and made a face lotion without the NeoDefend and the lotion emulsified beautifully in no time after mixing the oil and water phases. I ended up using Optiphen preservative (INCI Phenoxyehanol and caprylyl glycol) in the cool down phase. The Ecomulse seems to be creamier than Emulsifying wax but definitely needs more TLC.
Based on feedback I've got from a few wonderful folks, I seem to make my face lotions a bit oily. So I have made a batch of face lotions with varying degrees of oils. These will go out to testers. |
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