Stearic and Optiphen Plus

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With the help of SwiftCraftMonkey I'm learning about lotions mostly by formulating and switching one ingredient at a time to get a feel for what different ingredients do. I'm up to the 10 or 12th variation now.

Today I made two lotions (about 70% water) that were identical down to a possible .1 gr variance in one or two ingredients. One I made with Cetyl Alcohol, the other I made with Stearic Acid. I used Optiphen plus in both as the preservative.

The Cetyl alcohol version went perfectly, it emulsified and thickened exactly as expected.

However with the Stearic recipe, the Optiphen didn't seem to want to mix in. When it started to cool and thicken, I did get it mixed in, but I think it was trapped in the thickening cream rather than actually mixing in.

Does Optiphen mix better with Cetyl than Stearic? It possible that i missed something or made a mistake but I'm 99% sure that I did it all correctly.

Any guidance? :confused:

Thanks!
 
I have used Optiphen Plus in lotions with no trouble. However, I have heard that some people do have problems with it. I use Liquid Germall Plus now. It is compatible with most cosmetic ingredients.
 
I have never used any of the Optiphens for that very reason. They can be quite finicky, they can break emulsions for no apparent reason, they don't play well with certain other ingredients. I am sure once you spend the time learning how to best use them, they would be great for a lot of people, but I don't want to have to troubleshoot every other batch I make.

I love Liquid Germall Plus, tho, for lotions and water-based products.
 

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