face scrub recipes please?

DeeAnna said:

That's more or less what the recipe is, although it doesn't become a lotion until you rinse the product off with water.

The OP said somewhere in the middle of this thread after some discussion of alternatives, "... I think my first step should be to attempt an emulsified sugar scrub...."

That's why we've been talking about scrubs with emulsifier rather than the more basic scrub that you described.

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Well actually maybe that's what I have wrong to begin with. Because you're both right, it does feel a lot like a lotion. My original attempt here was to replace using St. Ives apricot scrub. I was at first just wanting to make my own, but then learned from fellow soapers that the exfoliant used in that product, walnut shells, are harmful and much to harsh for the face. So I was going to try making something similar to it but use a milder exfoliant like oatmeal. I've searched on the web for different scrubs and they usually involved just some kind of oil plus exfoliant. Those are way too greasy and wanted something that would actually clean my face as well as exfoliate. Then I discovered recipes with Ewax which I thought was what I was looking for after learning that ewax has polysorbate 80 in it which is water soluble and somehow thought it would make it less greasy and water soluble. I couldn't find anything other than "scrubs" or "emulsified scrubs". I've only made 2 batches so far using ewax, with the Ewax in my 2nd batch up to 20% which is definitley less oily, but still oily enought that I would feel the need to use a cleanser either before or after it. As I searched for different "emulsified scrub" recipes, I found the soap queen lady making something also called "emulsified scrub". But hers involves using liquid soap which I'm sure dramatically changes it's effect, and maybe closer to what I'm looking for? So maybe my next step is to make liquid soap. Then make a emulsified scrub that has liquid soap in it? yes? no?

You could also look into maybe using a premade foaming bath whip and add your exfoliant to that. I've used this one as a base and mixed other stuff into it to make a pumice scrub.

http://www.wholesalesuppliesplus.com/products/foaming-bath-whip.aspx

Have never tried it on my face though.

Dahila said:

If I was in your situation I would read carefully the instruction how to make them. http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.com/search?q=sugar+scrub

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Thank you for that link! I was using the process instructions from this page:

http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.com/2010/09/experiments-in-workshop-black-cocoa.html

which is exactly the same as the process explained in the link you sent me. And I did very carefully hold my temp at 70C for exactly 20 mins and cooled down quickly, whipped and everything. However, I kept reading down on the link you gave me where it goes into preservatives and I just realized the preservative I was using, Germaben II, is completely useless in a anhydrous recipe such as this one! I should've ordered Phenonip instead. But other than that mistake I followed the procedure exactly. That link also talks about using a different emulsifier:

"In my emulsified scrubs, I like to use a cationic emulsifier like Incroquat BTMS-50 or Rita BTMS-225/Incroquat BTMS-225 because it will condition our skin more than using a non-ionic emulsifier like Polawax and because it offers a less greasy feeling to the product."

I noticed you said the same thing in an earlier post for the same reason. I'm wondering though will this product have a cleansing effect? As in to remove any dirt or oil from my face well? That's why I was intrigued by the soap queen lady's recipe that included liquid soap.
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cB7t9rNo0ck[/ame]

If the first batch of emulsified scrub feels too greasy, try a muslin clothes or cheese cloth dampen with lukewarm water. It should give your face a bit of sauna effect and make it less greasy. Repeat if needed. Do wash the muslin clothed with soap or dish detergent.

Or try it like Artemis suggested, on other body parts. Elbow, knee, foot scrubs.

Maybe add a bit of BTMS to fix it. But do have to take note what grams/ percentage it become. Or get some aloe Vera to whip it up. Should also take note, too. Aloe Vera can lessen the greasy feeling. But you have to watch at what gram/ percentage can your first batch take. Do add it based on the propositions of lotion type of scrubs.


ETA: if you go the aloe Vera or distilled water route, you have to heat the water phase and the " first batch" oil phase together, so the temperature are the same. Then whip it good or stick blending it.

Shunt 2011 how does it work for you. Sugar tends to dissolve slowly so I thought about pumice, I have extra fine pumice and I made my own bath whip. How do you find pumice on your face? Is it gentle or scrubby?

Dahila said:

Shunt 2011 how does it work for you. Sugar tends to dissolve slowly so I thought about pumice, I have extra fine pumice and I made my own bath whip. How do you find pumice on your face? Is it gentle or scrubby?

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I haven't tried it on my face. I made it for my husband. Unfortunately, the last batch I made the pumice was the extra fine and I didn't notice and he didnt' care for it as much. I'll just end up using it on my feet and hands post gardening etc..

Avocado oil 15.5% / 83.5 =18.4 X 7 = 12.8
HO Sunflower oil 30% / 83.5 = 35.9 X 7 = 25.1
Cocoa butter 15% / 83.5 =18.9 X 6 = 11.3
Shea butter 15% / 83.5 = 18.9 X 8 = 15.1
Cetyl alcohol 8% / 83.5 =9.5 X 15.5 =15.1
TOTAL HLB 79.4

I DID THIS BY HAND. so i can be off .. YOU CAN USE hlb spread sheet. there is a ton of oil here. but this is how you do it.
now you can find a emulsifiers. that can emulsify these. oils
one low range and one high to cover this

hope this help. We had to understand this in Chemistry NURSE they went over this crap.. It just became handy a couple years ago LOL

emi said:

I made my scrub and it was way too greasy. I couldn't wash it off with water. It was as if I just rubbed coconut oil on my skin and was trying to wash it off. Did i do something horribly wrong? Here's my exact recipe and procedure.

Avocado oil 15.5% 23.25g
HO Sunflower oil 30% 40g
Cocoa butter 15% 22.5g
Shea butter 15% 22.5g
Cetyl alcohol 8% 12g
Ewax 15% 22.5g
Germaben II 0.5% 0.75g
Lavender EO 1% 1.5g

total 150g

I sterilized all my equipment with rubbing alcohol. I melted over a double boiler everything except the EO. I melted everything and got it up to about 170F then held it at 70C (158F) for 20 mins. Then I put the mixture in the fridge and cooled it down to about 45C (113F) and added the EO. I put it back in the fridge until it started to solidify with a thin film over the top and the sides were hardening. I took it out and used a stick blender with a whisk attachment and whisked it for about 5-10 minutes until it reached the consistency of pudding. I then added about a tsp of pulverized oatmeal for exfoliant. Put it into a sterilized jar and let it cool to room temperature.

I basically used your recipe for ingredient proportions and got the procedure from a scrub recipe I found on swiftcraftymonkey's blog that had similar proportions as yours, but hers had only 10% ewax instead of 15%, and 10% cetyl alcohol instead of 8%.

http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.com/2010/09/experiments-in-workshop-black-cocoa.html

Can you tell me if I did something wrong? Or is it supposed to be this greasy?

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Just wanted to throw out a suggestion. Go back and study the ingredient list for the St Ives scrub. Notice the main ingredient is water and that's what is missing from the OP's recipe. I would omit the hard oils and add some water which should reduce the heavy, greasy feeling and also allow the Germaben preservative to work properly.

If you're considering the Soap Queen recipe, the main thing I didn't like about it was the draggy feeling it left on my skin (likely because of the beeswax & stearic acid). If you like the idea of a scrub that uses liquid soap, here's one that I like much better (I use my homemade liquid soap instead of Dr Bronner's). http://soapdelinews.com/2014/03/diy...-in-one-facial-scrub-and-cleanser-recipe.html I substitute kokum butter for the shea because I have oily skin and also add some Poly 80.

And here's another easy scrub recipe that doesn't require any emulsifiers. It's a dupe of Lush's Angels on Bare Skin and leaves my skin feeling moisturized but not greasy. http://lovelygreens.com/2014/02/copycat-recipe-angels-on-bare-skin-from.html

doriettefarm said:

Just wanted to throw out a suggestion. Go back and study the ingredient list for the St Ives scrub. Notice the main ingredient is water and that's what is missing from the OP's recipe. I would omit the hard oils and add some water which should reduce the heavy, greasy feeling and also allow the Germaben preservative to work properly.

If you're considering the Soap Queen recipe, the main thing I didn't like about it was the draggy feeling it left on my skin (likely because of the beeswax & stearic acid). If you like the idea of a scrub that uses liquid soap, here's one that I like much better (I use my homemade liquid soap instead of Dr Bronner's). http://soapdelinews.com/2014/03/diy...-in-one-facial-scrub-and-cleanser-recipe.html I substitute kokum butter for the shea because I have oily skin and also add some Poly 80.

And here's another easy scrub recipe that doesn't require any emulsifiers. It's a dupe of Lush's Angels on Bare Skin and leaves my skin feeling moisturized but not greasy. http://lovelygreens.com/2014/02/copycat-recipe-angels-on-bare-skin-from.html

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This is really helpful. Thank you. So I did some reading about preservatives and learned that there are few preservatives that work for anhydrous products, such as the one I just made. So I see how simply adding water to the product will allow me to use the preservative I have which is Germaben II, as well as help with the greasy feeling as well? But I also read that I need to add it in the cool down phase, I believe it was under 140F. Phenonip and the different types of Liquipar preservatives were the only one suitable for anhydrous products. Then all this stuff about parabens came up, which I'm almost afraid to ask about on this forum. I get the sense that it's quite controversial and everyone has their strong stance on what they think about it?
I'm going to try what you said about omitting the hard oils all together and adding water, and this time make sure to add the preservative later. Also I read somewhere that the cetyl alcohol can also attribute to greasiness. Did I read that wrong? Maybe I'll try omitting that as well. So basically just Ewax, liquid oil, preservative and water. I definitley want to try the recipe using liquid soap. I've been reading a lot and watching videos and how to make liquid soap and trying to find a good one to start with. Do you have a suggestion that would be good for a newbie like me? I have made about 9 batches of CP soap so far, and these few scrubs but that's it. Liquid soap is a new thing for me. I've read about how long it all takes and the different phases it will go through. I've bought myself the potassium lye and glycerin in preparation for it. Most recipes has a step where an acid like Boric acid or Borax is added to neutralize the extra lye. But I also found recipes that did not do so and said it was fine. Some use glycerin while others do not. Some use all olive oil to make a true "castile" soap while most recipes used some combination. I would love to make my own liquid soap for it seems to be a base for so many other uses. I'd love to make my own shampoo, liquid hand soap and dish soap. And thanks for the recipe links. I always read that activated charcoal is for oily skin which mine is more a combination. You said you like to add polysorbate 80 which is good for solubility right? I know it is an ingredient in Ewax but maybe just polysorbate would render a less greasy product. I think I might get some of that and experiment with it as well. Thanks again for your reply!

I will tell you a natural recipe... have you heard about maize flour?? If not search for an Indian store you will get this there.

Soak in water for 1 min and then apply it and massage lightly, and wash it with lukewarm water you will see visible result in 2 to 3 weeks.

After more research I found this amazing thread for a liquid soap recipe! I don't know how I missed this before. What I was expecting to be a 5-6 hour process is cut down to an hour or 2 by not just adding glycerin but completely subbing glycerin for water. My questions were answered regarding glycerin. It speeds up trace. Don't know why but it does. And I think I understand the borax or no borax issue. For super clear soap, all oils need to be saponified. Even if we calculate at 0% SF there might be some chance due to impure KOH that all the oils won't be saponified, hence the 90% KOH option. However that will end up with up to 10% lye heavy soap which is why you would need to add some type of acid, boric or citric acid to neutralize the soap. correct?? For now I'm just going to follow this recipe with these incredible instructions! Thank you IrishLass!!

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=46114

I highly recommend IrishLass' method for making liquid soap! Don't have to worry about neutralizing excess lye or cooking your paste to death. I do a 3% SF for mine.

"...even if we calculate at 0% SF there might be some chance due to impure KOH that all the oils won't be saponified, hence the 90% KOH option. However that will end up with up to 10% lye heavy soap..."

You're overthinking this. Neutralization with borax is not necessary. If you follow Irish Lass' tutorial, you'll be fine.

And you do NOT have to use 100% glycerin -- most of us use part water and part glycerin. It also provides excellent results and is safer.

Ok thanks. I guess I'm just wanting to understand the principles behind these recipes and procedures. That way I don't have to keep asking so many annoying questions! like why some have boric acid while others don't. I just have 2 questions about how to execute IrishLass's liquid soap recipe, regarding what to punch into the soap calculator. Do I choose the regular KOH or the 90% KOH option? (would this happen to have anything to do with my overthinking thoughts about borax from before? Ha!) And do I just keep the "water as % of oils" default of 38%?

...and correct me if I'm wrong, but after reading IrishLass's recipe a few times, including her edits, I'm realizing there's really no need for a crockpot for there is no long low cooking periods involved. In fact there is no heating of anything, both lye solution and combined soap. Is it not very much like CP in the sense that there is no external heat added? Did I order a crockpot for nothing??

emi said:

Did I order a crockpot for nothing??

Save​

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I have a delicious recipe for crockpot carnitas or beef stew if you want ;p

Your next experiment could be hot process, I hear a crockpot is super useful there. (I haven't made hot process yet but have seen it on the stove top and a crockpot)

Realizing that I don't need to wait for my crockpot (literally arriving tomorrow!) and noticing how little time this is supposed to take, I went ahead and did it! I think it turned out right. I'm going to let it sit overnight now. It's thick but not like taffy. But the recipe said it was ok if it wasn't even a paste yet, which this is definitely past "paste" stage right? This is like CP liquid soap. The only little bit of heat I used was to melt the coconut oil at the very beginning. I only used 300g oil because I was scared something was going to go wrong. I went ahead and calculated at regular KOH (not the 90% KOH) and left the water at 38% default. I guess I should test the lye heaviness of it tomorrow? I have phenophaline and my tongue!

Emi the paste is beautiful Vaseline like. It suppose to be this way. phenophaline do not bother with it, Tongue is your test the best one. test it now and if not zapping you can start dissolving. you do not need to wait. I soon as I do zap test (never had one zapping) I dissolve it Congrats on beautiful soap

I agree, it looks great. If no zap you are good to dilute it.

Yay! No zap! But I'm having a heck of a time diluting it. I'm having to use a lot more water than the recipe said to dilute. The inital amount was basically absorbed by the soap and just made it softer but not at all liquid. I added more water and the sodium lactate and is sitting on a super duper low heat now on the stove. wishing for the best.

Don't want to rain on your parade...but I notice that you calculate KOH 100% purity.

Um... Did you double check your KOH package? Are you sure it's 100% purity? If not, you'll have some oil floating on top of your liquid soap.