Loving my Lotion Mistake

Last month I was making another batch of my Arnica face lotion and, as usual became side tracked resulting in adding 20 oz to much ice water to my batch. Usually I have everything preciously measured out, so I picked up the ice water and proceeded to dump it into the batch, remembering I had not measured it out. Weighing out the lotion batch I came to the conclusion that I used 20 oz to much water, and it is my favorite lotion at the moment. For me the lighter a lotion the better I like it. It was made on 3/16 and is still holding emulsion. This was one of my more expensive lotions to make with the additives so keeping my fingers crossed it holds. Yes, I adjusted the preservative to match the boo boo.

yep light lotion is the best, I usually use 82 % of water and water soluble ingredients.

I seem to remember Susan at Point of Interest spent some time watering down conditioner to see just how far she could take it without loosing effectiveness. Of course I can't find the posts now (hell, maybe I made it up!), but it was interesting.

My lotion is made with 78% water-soluble ingredients; I don't care much for anything heavier.

I'm curious about the ice-water addition--is that to cool things down quicker? I came across a site a while back that said it was unnecessary to heat and hold all of your water, and that of the water could be added after emulsification.

Saranac said:

I seem to remember Susan at Point of Interest spent some time watering down conditioner to see just how far she could take it without loosing effectiveness. Of course I can't find the posts now (hell, maybe I made it up!), but it was interesting.

My lotion is made with 78% water-soluble ingredients; I don't care much for anything heavier.

I'm curious about the ice-water addition--is that to cool things down quicker? I came across a site a while back that said it was unnecessary to heat and hold all of your water, and that of the water could be added after emulsification.

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Yes, I use fresh just opened distilled water that I freeze or partially freeze to hasten cool-down. I do heat the bulk of my water and oils to 160ºF before mixing to get a stable emulsion. I mix phase A & B until emulsion they add in the ice water. It really speeds up the cool down so I can get in my preservative. I also put the bowl or bucket in an ice-bucket to hasten cool-down.
One of my favorite lotions is 93.6% water

Saranac said:

I seem to remember Susan at Point of Interest spent some time watering down conditioner to see just how far she could take it without loosing effectiveness. Of course I can't find the posts now (hell, maybe I made it up!), but it was interesting.

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This is interesting! I recently figured out that my conditioner (store bought, not made) absorbs into my hair, and therefore works better with much less if I mix it with water. The ratio I like best is 2.5:1 conditioner to water. And I use 4 pumps rather than 10 to condition my hair now.

cmzaha said:

I use fresh just opened distilled water that I freeze or partially freeze to hasten cool-down. I do heat the bulk of my water and oils to 160ºF before mixing to get a stable emulsion. I mix phase A & B until emulsion they add in the ice water. It really speeds up the cool down so I can get in my preservative. I also put the bowl or bucket in an ice-bucket to hasten cool-down.

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Awesome!
Like I said, I had read something similar but never saw the technique mentioned elsewhere so I wasn't sure how reliable it was. I'm definitely going to have to try it!