what could this be?

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hmlove1218

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I made these sugar scrubs and later in the day, they turned cloudy in a few places. Then a few days later, these spots formed. Could they have already gone bad? Could it be a reactio to the alcohol I used to stearilize the containers? Could it be e-wax that didn't mix in well?

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Did you use coconut oil? It looks like the coconut oil came out of solution and solidified to me.

Yes looked again, it could be e-wax as well. I don't think it would go bad that quickly but something definitely came out of solution.
 
Hmm... It could be coconut oil I guess. I believe my sunflower oil had a little bit spilled into it. It just doesn't smell off to me and I'd figure with that much spotting, it would smell funky.

Also, I used brown sugar instead of white. Could that have done something?
 
I'm sorry, but I can hardly comment when I don't know the recipe/ingredients + %s.
I read:
- sugar
- e-wax

+ obviously an oil ....., so I guess it is an emulsified sugar scrub...
 
CanaDawn: they squish and break apart. I can't really catch one because they shift around.

The recipe was:
Brown Sugar 200%
Mango butter 10%
Shea butter 10%
Almond oil 33.5%
Sunflower oil 33.5%
E-wax 10%
Fragrance oil 2%
Phenonip 1%
Vit e 1%
 
CanaDawn: they squish and break apart. I can't really catch one because they shift around.

The recipe was:
Brown Sugar 200%
Mango butter 10%
Shea butter 10%
Almond oil 33.5%
Sunflower oil 33.5%
E-wax 10%
Fragrance oil 2%
Phenonip 1%
Vit e 1%

Right; "solid" emulsifying sugar scrubs it should be.

I don't know if you made up this recipe yourself; I love the oils and butters.
Have you ever made it before with success?

The normal procedure would be to melt the solid butters + E-wax, and stir in the liquid oils. (+ Stickblend for a while to get the oil mix a bit more homogeneous).
Let it cool down a bit and add fragrance, preservative and vitE.
Then mix with sugar and put into (ice cube) moulds.

What I suspect that has happened is, that the oils/ewax/butters didn't mix too well, or cooled down too slowly, so that small isles of e-wax/solid butters formed (Cloudy) and clogged together (end-result).

How dry was the sugar?

A few notes regarding the formula:

mango butter is not very hard, neither is Shea.
20% versus 67% liquids is a bit off, surely if you want to make solid scrubs.

I would choose a very hard butter, like CB or Kokum at 10 %
+ an additional 5-10 % Stearic Acid.
Bring down the liquid oils to 50%
Personally I would bring the sugar down to max 150%.

How to repair this

Put everything in a double boiler;
heat to 70°C/158°F (Be alert that the temperature doesn't get too high; We wont have the sugar to melt)
Add 5% Stearic Acid + 10% CB

WHen everything is melted, mix with a mixer (with dough thingies) until well incorporated.
Cool down while mixing from time to time
When temp reaches 122°F/50°C you may add some more FO if necessary.
Put into moulds;
put in fridge/freezer for 30/10 minutes,
let harden until next morning and pack.

Yu can leave the preservative out, as the cubes are for one time use only - no wet fingers in the jar.

HTH
 
I did in fact come up with it myself using some of my favorite oils/butters. I melted my butters and wax, removed from heat and stirred in my oils, fragrance, vitamin e, and phenonip. Put in the fridge until it crusted over, whisked the mixture until it turned opaque and then whisked in my sugar. I found this procedure on a recipe at WSP. Perhaps I'll try how you said and see if there's a difference.

And it wasn't supposed to be a solid scrub like scrub cubes, just an emulsified sugar scrub.
 
I did in fact come up with it myself using some of my favorite oils/butters. I melted my butters and wax, removed from heat and stirred in my oils, fragrance, vitamin e, and phenonip. Put in the fridge until it crusted over, whisked the mixture until it turned opaque and then whisked in my sugar. I found this procedure on a recipe at WSP. Perhaps I'll try how you said and see if there's a difference.

And it wasn't supposed to be a solid scrub like scrub cubes, just an emulsified sugar scrub.

The procedure originates from Susan (Swiftcraftsmonkey) ;) and it works for sure!

Sorry! Misunderstanding; I was under that impression, because you wrote
they squish and break apart. I can't really catch one because they shift around.
 
I recognized this recipe by Susan right away lol it's a very good recipe. All I can think is that your ewax did not get completely melted. It looks like ewax flakes in your pics. You should hold the heat at 170* for 20 minutes AFTER the oils, butters, and emulsifier is melted together. This will ensure everything is melted and emulsified. Also, I can't remember now if you used a fatty alcohol as her recipe calls for? A fatty alcohol will add thickness and creaminess to an emulsified scrub. I use behenyl alcohol at 10% (think I spelled that wrong lol).
 
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