Formulating a lotion: Fatty Acids and ACNE

LAB NOTES & SAFETY NOTICE
These are personal experiments for educational use only— not instructions and not for commercial or consumer use. By proceeding, you assume all risks related to safety, testing, and regulatory compliance.
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This is a great base to work from. Let’s strip away the “lecture” feel and turn it into your personal lab journal. We’ll focus on the “Aha!” moments you had while studying—like realizing you were being overcharged for “exotic” oils that were actually just basic chemistry!

Here are your updated lab notes:

My Lab Notes: Fatty Acids & The “Marketing Trap”

Hello Hello! 😀

I’ve been digging deeper into the GREASE-FALL (my favorite way to balance fats!), and I realized I needed to understand what is actually inside my oils. I used to get so distracted by beautiful labels, but after looking at Fatty Acid Profiles, my whole perspective changed.

What I’m Learning About the Chemistry

I’ve started categorizing my fats by their structure rather than their name. It helps me predict how they’ll behave in a beaker:

Saturated Fats: (Like Stearic or Palmitic acid). These are the “solid” ones. I’ve noticed that if I use too much Stearic acid, I get that annoying “white-trail” when I rub the cream in.
PUFAs (The Liquids): These are the “Omega” oils. Because of their shape, they stay liquid and feel much “thinner” on the skin.

The “Marketing vs. Reality” Reality Check 😉

Sips water. This was a big “Aha!” moment for me. I realized that many “exotic” oils are almost identical to cheaper ones.

The Duplicate List: In my notes, I’ve found that Almond, Macadamia, and Hazelnut oils have nearly the same fatty acid profiles.
My Conclusion: Why pay triple for a fancy name? I’ve started cross-referencing the chemistry first. If the fatty acids match, the skin doesn’t care about the marketing story!

My Notes on Blemish-Prone Skin

This is a theory I’m really interested in for my experiments. I read that acne-prone skin often has “unbalanced” sebum—specifically, too much Oleic Acid and not enough Linoleic Acid.

The Risk: High Oleic acid might be why some “natural” oils feel like they clog my pores (keratinization).
My Experimental Strategy: When I’m formulating for this skin type, I try to build a “Grease-Fall” using oils high in PUFAs.

My “Oily-Theory” Team:

The Oils: I’ve been reaching for Hemp, Grape seed, Safflower, or even simple Sunflower oil. They are rich in Linoleic acid and feel much “lighter.”
The Butters: I keep these very low (maybe 0.5%). I’ve been experimenting with Murumuru or Tucuma instead of Shea, because they seem to have a profile that works better for my oily-skin experiments.

At the end of the day, I’ve realized that a “miracle” oil is just a collection of fatty acids. Once I understand the profile, I can stop guessing and start formulating with intention. It’s all in my hands! 😉

HAVE A GREAT DAY! 😄

20 thoughts on “Formulating a lotion: Fatty Acids and ACNE”

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Trésor says:

14/09/2015 at 14:51

Hello,

Thanks you for this article and for your so interesting blog. You have written that omega 3 is alpha linoleic but I thought it was alpha linolenic. And I found nothing about alpha linoleic acid. Is it a mistake or can you explain the difference between both ?

Thanks in advance
Kenza.

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1. It's all in my hands says:
  
  15/09/2015 at 07:31
  
  No it was my mistake, thank you for making me notice it. Omega 3 is alpha linolenic and Omega 6 is linoleic acid.
  They are two different things 🙂 I will check the post now to correct it 🙂 Thank you
  (I translated directly from my own language so that’s why I made this mistake: English is not my mother tongue and sometimes I mess up 😀 ) Sorry!
  
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hobbizblog says:

27/10/2015 at 18:43

I am loving your blog, very informative and friendly as well. 😀 . Keep writing pleasssse.
About choosing oils for acne skin, could you give me more information about grocery sunflower oil? Some said that grocery sunflower oil is often high lenoleic acid but I also found a lot of high oleic labeled sunflower oil in grocery. My local grocery store’s sunflower oil is not saying anything about high oleic or not, how to find out if it is not good for acne skin?

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1. It's all in my hands says:
  
  31/10/2015 at 16:33
  
  Sunflower seeds are high in linoleic. If it says oleic I have no idea with what kind of seeds it was made 🙂
  If you buy coldpressed sunflower oil it is fine, even if the label doesn’t specify 🙂
  
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  1. hobbizblog says:
    
    01/11/2015 at 19:02
    
    Yes, and those information confuse me 😦 . I find High Oleic Sunflower Seed oil here:
    http://www.oilseedssf.com/products/international/ho-sunflower-oil.php
    and here: http://www.bulknaturaloils.com/bulk-sunflower-oil-high-oleic-organic
    The grocery version Sunflower Seed OIl has less information to be checked, compared to cosmetic supplier’s version. I live in Asia and maybe labeling here is not as clear as in other areas. Do you think so?
    P.S: I visit your Facebook, you seems to be not very active on there. 😀
    
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  2. It's all in my hands says:
    
    02/11/2015 at 07:36
    
    yeah I am not very active on facebook in the way that I don’t update the page much but I reply to any question quickly 🙂
    Sunflower oil is low in oleic acid, compared to other oils 🙂
    Don’t buy the ones that sell it for high-oleic. It shouldn’t be 🙂
    
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Minakshee says:

30/04/2020 at 17:30

Hi, you really wrote well about evry topic in simple terms. Can you please tell me where you get that information about people having acne hv more monoinsaturated FA. Would like to read more..
Thanks.

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1. It's all in my hands says:
  
  30/04/2020 at 15:45
  
  Hi Minakshee!
  Sorry I forgot about where I found this information it was a long time ago. But if I happen to find it again I will update the sources 🙂
  
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Ailee says:

19/10/2020 at 08:05

Hi! I loved all your content. Very informative and helpful.. i make a facial lotion with shea butter for 18% and cetearyl alcohol 5%.. do you think i should combine any oil that you mention and decrease the shea butter? The reason why i choose to use all shea butter because it rich saturated fatty acid and poly saturated fatty acid. Plus the comedogenic rating is 0.. i ve got primrose oil in my hand but i read that the comedogenic rate is 2-3.. well im kindda confused now.. would you help me?

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1. It's all in my hands says:
  
  19/10/2020 at 06:42
  
  I hope you have used a real emulsifier as well, because cetearyl alcohol is NOT an emulsifier and if you haven’t added a real emulsifier your cream is keeping together just because of its thickness and is NOT emulsified (safety issues are involved here).
  This said, the comedogenic rating isn’t really 100% scientific (you can also find different ratings and results with a brief search) to be honest and I wouldn’t worry about adding a small percentage of an oil that is rated 2-3. However, the reason why in proper formulas we add different oils is to make the cream more pleasant from a texture point of view, if you like your texture as it is, it is not mandatory to change the oil composition.
  
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  1. ailee96 says:
    
    20/10/2020 at 01:11
    
    Aaa.. im soryy, i was wrongly write about the cetearyl alcohol ><) what do you think about dehydrated skin? Should it consider as oily skin or dry skin.. from what i know dehydrated skin are skin that are dry and oily at the same time and it need hydration .. what % of fatty acid should i use for making facial lotion?
    Thank you for your fast reply ^^ and i really learn a lot from you
    
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  2. ailee96 says:
    
    20/10/2020 at 04:07
    
    Thank you for the reply < it’s actually emulsifying wax..hihihi..
    May i know your opinion about the comedogenic rate? Read on everywhere the more the rate, it can cause clog pores. What do you think about this?
    I just realize I accidentally skip your previous post. My bad x_x . Lucky me now i know about the grease fall.. what do you think about dehydrated skin? It is dry skin at the same time in can be oily on certain part of skin. It need hydration. What % of fat should i use when making facial lotion ?
    
    Thank you so much for everything you write! I learned so much things!! ❤️
    
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  3. It's all in my hands says:
    
    20/10/2020 at 03:28
    
    The comedogenic rate is not as accurate as one would hope, ie. I highly doubt shea doesn’t clog pores given the fatty acids in it.
    I like more to use murumuru or, even better, kokum butter… But anyway not at high % (you can check my other formulas).
    
    You are talking about combination skin and for combination you need good hydration but not so high fats % as 18% .
    For the record: hydration comes from the water soluble content of the cream, the fats help not making the hydration evaporate too fast, but you don’t need 18%
    
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Norwegian Maid says:

04/12/2023 at 00:17

Hello, you talked about stearic acid leaving the “infamous white trail“. I have never heard of this, and couldn’t find anything about it when I looked it up. What is this? Thank you for the information.

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1. It's all in my hands says:
  
  09/01/2024 at 19:04
  
  You know when you apply a cream and while spreading it you get a white “trail” on the skin before it actually absorbs? That’s what I meant
  
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