Category: Formulating Cosmetics

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Hello there!

I have had to formulate a face wash for a very, very sensitive skin so here is the recipe! (the recipe of the previous one is HERE)

From my previous face wash I have changed the combination of surfactants: I have decided to use a mixture of glucosides and I have also added 1% fat (I went for the primrose oil).
This is not a difficult recipe cause it takes only few minutes to make and doesn’t require any special skill! It is actually fool proof! 🙂

Let’s go straight to the point 😀

FORMULA: [as always it is intended in %]

Phase A: 
Water to 100
Glycerin 5
Xanthan gum 0.5 
Preservative (I am using a water soluble one so I am adding it here. I used Corsgard)
Betaine 5 (this is also called trimethylglycine and it is needed in order to make the mixture of surfactants more mild)

Phase B: 
Decyl Glucoside 5 
Lauryl Glucoside 3 (this is not liquid: it is like a white paste and needs to be heated a bit: you will see the pictures later!)
Sodium Lauroyl Cocoamphodiacetate 5 (this is a very thick and mild surfactant)

Phase C: 
Capryl/Caprylyl Glucoside 3 (this surfactant is separated from the others only because it has a good solubilizing property and I want it to solubilize my primrose oil and my fragrance!)
Primrose Oil 1 (this was my personal choice for the oil)
Essential Oil (I have used Geranium EO)

Phase D: 
Betaine 4 
Lactic Acid to pH 4.5 

HOW TO:
1) I mix the Glycerine and the Xanthan Gum, only then I add the water little by little and eventually add the betaine and the preservative
This is how the mixture looks like:

As you can notice the surface of the gel is not completely smooth: that’s because I had just made the gel and the xanthan gum still had to hydrate completely, but don’t worry: it won’t look like this forever! 😉

2) Prepare the Phase B:

I heat them lightly (using a double boiler) and mix

3) I mix the Phase A and the Phase B.  They looked like this:

After using the immersion mixer it looks like this:

Much better huh? 😉

4) Now it is time to solubilize the oils in our capryl/caprylyl glucoside!
Here is a picture of the glucoside (on the bottom) and the primrose oil (on the surface)

Adter a good stir this is how it becomes:

5) I mix the solubilized oil and fragrance to the other ingredients and add the betaine.

6) I check the pH and adjust it to 4.5 using Lactic Acid!

TADAAA!!! 😀