A lotion making question... again!

[Tracy von Elling]

Hello everyone,

I had previously asked about the first batch of lotion I made alone last month which was oily. This time I added the waxes to the oils and it was SO much easier. I so appreciate all the advice I was given here and the tutorial that was posted. So helpful!
The lotion is still pretty oily and I'm wondering if it may be my recipe. I am hoping it is okay I post it here. I would really appreciate any advice. I would say this is probably more of a cream recipe and maybe I need to reduce the oils?
The recipe is: 10% butters (I used soy), 15% liquid oils (I used sweet almond oil), 3% cetyl alcohol, 6.5% E wax, 60% water, 3% glycerin (I left it out as we did in the class, hmmm?), 2% EO and 0.5% germall. Now that I read this again I suddenly realize in the class also we just left out the glycerin and probably shouldn't have! Nothing else was added instead. But would that make it oily. I don't know. I am also wondering if maybe the butters and oil I am using is just slower absorbing and making it oily. Again, I really appreciate the wisdom from more experienced lotion makers. I know I can't learn everything in a day either and am making notes and am going to enjoy the journey.

 

[justjacqui]

Using 10% butter is going to give you quite an oily feeling lotion/cream. You could try reducing this to 5%. You could also try substituting some of the sweet almond oil for a drier feeling oil like macadamia oil.

Some people find E-wax to be an oily feeling emulsifier but this can usually be counteracted by using drier feeling oils.

The glycerin won't have much effect (if any) on the oily feeling but it will add a little humectancy / moisturisation to your lotion.

 

[lsg]

You don't need butters for lotion. I got this recipe from Susan Barclay Nichols' e-book, Lotion Making 101

Basic Light Lotion Recipe
Water Phase
78% Water
2% Sodium Lactate
2% Hydrolyzed Protein of choice
Oil Phase
4% Fractionated Coconut oil
4% Sweet Almond, (Can substitute Olive, Sunflower or Safflower Oil)
2% Cetyl Alcohol
2% IPM (Isopropyl Myristate ) -- Used to reduce the greasiness.
4% Emulsifier
Cool Down Phase
0.5%-1% Preservative (I use Liquid Germall Plus)
1% Fragrance

Heat and hold ingredients in the water and oil phases for 20 minutes at 160*F. After heat and hold, pour water phase into the oil phase and mix very with with a stick blender or hand mixer. Mix periodically as the temperature drops. When the lotion temperature reaches about 112*F, add the cool down phase ingredients and mix very well. Allow lotion to come to room temperature before bottling.

 

[glendam]

In the lotion making group in fb, they suggested up to 20% oils in a body lotion. And of these, only a small percentage were to be butters. Like posted above, I would suggest reducing your butters or even skipping them. And/our use the kind that are quick to absorb, I think mango butter is like that, not sure. Same for the oils. Humblebee and me has an ingredient encyclopedia that describes how oils are and feel, FYI

 

[Tracy von Elling]

Using 10% butter is going to give you quite an oily feeling lotion/cream. You could try reducing this to 5%. You could also try substituting some of the sweet almond oil for a drier feeling oil like macadamia oil.

Some people find E-wax to be an oily feeling emulsifier but this can usually be counteracted by using drier feeling oils.

The glycerin won't have much effect (if any) on the oily feeling but it will add a little humectancy / moisturisation to your lotion.

I didn't know about E-wax maybe causing it to be oily. I will lower the butter percentage. Thank you for your suggestions. I appreciate it!

 

[Tracy von Elling]

You don't need butters for lotion. I got this recipe from Susan Barclay Nichols' e-book, Lotion Making 101

Basic Light Lotion Recipe
Water Phase
78% Water
2% Sodium Lactate
2% Hydrolyzed Protein of choice
Oil Phase
4% Fractionated Coconut oil
4% Sweet Almond, (Can substitute Olive, Sunflower or Safflower Oil)
2% Cetyl Alcohol
2% IPM (Isopropyl Myristate ) -- Used to reduce the greasiness.
4% Emulsifier
Cool Down Phase
0.5%-1% Preservative (I use Liquid Germall Plus)
1% Fragrance

Heat and hold ingredients in the water and oil phases for 20 minutes at 160*F. After heat and hold, pour water phase into the oil phase and mix very with with a stick blender or hand mixer. Mix periodically as the temperature drops. When the lotion temperature reaches about 112*F, add the cool down phase ingredients and mix very well. Allow lotion to come to room temperature before bottling.

Oh SO good to know I don't need butters. I was going to buy mango butter but I would rather try to purchase the ingredients in the recipe you so kindly posted here. The only one I am not sure if I can get is isopropyl Myristate. If it takes away the greasiness that would be lovely! Thank you for the help! I can't wait to try this!! Oh, may I ask what Hydrolyzed protein is? I can also google it. I for sure am researching and have my book of notes as I'm trying to learn

 

[Tracy von Elling]

In the lotion making group in fb, they suggested up to 20% oils in a body lotion. And of these, only a small percentage were to be butters. Like posted above, I would suggest reducing your butters or even skipping them. And/our use the kind that are quick to absorb, I think mango butter is like that, not sure. Same for the oils. Humblebee and me has an ingredient encyclopedia that describes how oils are and feel, FYI

Okay, I will reduce the butters or just use liquid oils instead. I looked at Humblebee and me's encyclopedia. It's so helpful! I will try a recipe with just liquid oils. Thank you for the help!

 

[Arimara]

Before you make another batch of lotion, I'm going to suggest that you test the oils you plan on using on your skin first. LSG suggested olive oil but I personally find that oil rather ill-fitted for lotion making (it does not easily absorb into skin). Testing the oils will give you an idea of how that oil can behave in your lotion and you'll have a better idea for formulating/tweaking your recipe.

If you wanted a butter in your lotion, sadly mango seed butter is one of the best options if you don't want an oilier lotion. out of the common three (shea and cocoa butter), it absorbs the easiest into skin. As far as oils are concerned, avocado, rice bran, meadowfoam, sweet almond, and apricot seed oils are all good choices.

 

[lsg]

Oh SO good to know I don't need butters. I was going to buy mango butter but I would rather try to purchase the ingredients in the recipe you so kindly posted here. The only one I am not sure if I can get is isopropyl Myristate. If it takes away the greasiness that would be lovely! Thank you for the help! I can't wait to try this!! Oh, may I ask what Hydrolyzed protein is? I can also google it. I for sure am researching and have my book of notes as I'm trying to learn

Here is a link with hydrolyzed protein and their benefits: Hydrolyzed Proteins > The Herbarie at Stoney Hill Farm, Inc.

 

[lsg]

Before you make another batch of lotion, I'm going to suggest that you test the oils you plan on using on your skin first. LSG suggested olive oil but I personally find that oil rather ill-fitted for lotion making (it does not easily absorb into skin). Testing the oils will give you an idea of how that oil can behave in your lotion and you'll have a better idea for formulating/tweaking your recipe.

If you wanted a butter in your lotion, sadly mango seed butter is one of the best options if you don't want an oilier lotion. out of the common three (shea and cocoa butter), it absorbs the easiest into skin. As far as oils are concerned, avocado, rice bran, meadowfoam, sweet almond, and apricot seed oils are all good choices.

I wouldn't choose olive oil for a lotion, either. But since it was mentioned as a choice in Susan's recipe, I thought I would include it as an option.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

@lsg thanks for the link to the supplier on the US east coast. I had not come across that one before.

 

[glendam]

Okay, I will reduce the butters or just use liquid oils instead. I looked at Humblebee and me's encyclopedia. It's so helpful! I will try a recipe with just liquid oils. Thank you for the help!

By the way, have you had any issues with keeping the lotion emulsified? Jane Barber recommends including disodium EDTA and xantham gum in the formulation (xantham gum to help the emulsifier and Edta I think it was to help the preservative?)
When I started making lotion, I wrote a blog post that included one of the first facial moisturizers for dry skin formulations I made based on that. It made a thick consistency cream, so I have reduced the butters to 2% now, but just in case you are curious about the percentages for the other ingredients:
https://soapsbyglenda.wordpress.com/2018/05/29/making-lotion-how-different-is-it-from-soap-making/

 

[DeeAnna]

I didn't know about E-wax maybe causing it to be oily....

E-wax doesn't create an oily feel. I agree with the others -- it's the high % of butters and perhaps your choice of sweet almond oil. Those are the choices that are leading to an oily-feeling lotion.

One light feeling oil that's not too hard to find is the liquid coconut oil that some groceries and Walmart sell nowadays. It's a water-clear liquid at room temperature, not the coconut oil that's a solid at room temp. It might also be called MCT (medium chain triglycerides) oil. MCT oil feels light and silky. If you don't like it for lotion, you can cook with it.

Test each of your fats directly on the skin and see how they feel -- if a dab of, say, plain olive oil feels overly heavy and greasy, then maybe you don't want to use any or limit it to a small percentage of the total fat. Once you identify the fats that you like, then maybe blend a few drops of each of the fats in the proportions you want to try and test that fat blend directly on your skin. See how you like it.

To give you an example, I wanted to make a lotion with rosehip oil, but this oil feels heavy and greasy to me. I did some test batches and found if I limited it to 20% of the total fat and blended it with other oils that were light feeling, the lotion was very nice.

Also, the recipe you used has only 60% water, not counting the glycerin. That's closer to a heavy cream than a lotion. Raising the water content closer to 80% can also reduce the greasy skin feel. If your goal is to make a general purpose lotion, rather than a heavier "intensive care" cream, increasing the water content will also be helpful.

 

[cmzaha]

Pumpkin Oil, FCO, and CO butter with Glyceryl Stearate SE will make a really neat not oily lotion that you can vary thickness from a mousse type to a thinner lotion. Although I do not know how thin you can take it, I make it a tad thick. Pumpkin Oil is a dry oil easily found on Amazon for the best price I found.

 

[Arimara]

Pumpkin Oil, FCO, and CO butter with Glyceryl Stearate SE will make a really neat not oily lotion that you can vary thickness from a mousse type to a thinner lotion. Although I do not know how thin you can take it, I make it a tad thick. Pumpkin Oil is a dry oil easily found on Amazon for the best price I found.

I needed a hair oil anyway. Thanks for mentioning that.

 

[Hope Ann]

I wouldn't choose olive oil for a lotion, either. But since it was mentioned as a choice in Susan's recipe, I thought I would include it as an option.

Susan loves oily products and says so often on her blog. So she would lean towards olive over macadamia nut.

Hope

 

[Hope Ann]

You can get IPM (isopropyl myristrate) on Amazon and from many body care suppliers. I add it practically everything at 5% and it really improves product feel.

Hope

 

[Zonda]

Hi, I can't stand oily lotions. This is my recipe. It absorbs quickly and isn't oily at all. I never add fragrance to anything, so can't help if you want to do that
Water 75.0%
Polawax GP 200 5.0%
Almond 4.0%
Avocado 4.0%
Coconut 4.0%
Stearic Acid 4.0%
Eve Primrose 3.0%
Euxyl PE 9010 1.0% (Preserve)

 

[Tracy von Elling]

Before you make another batch of lotion, I'm going to suggest that you test the oils you plan on using on your skin first. LSG suggested olive oil but I personally find that oil rather ill-fitted for lotion making (it does not easily absorb into skin). Testing the oils will give you an idea of how that oil can behave in your lotion and you'll have a better idea for formulating/tweaking your recipe.

If you wanted a butter in your lotion, sadly mango seed butter is one of the best options if you don't want an oilier lotion. out of the common three (shea and cocoa butter), it absorbs the easiest into skin. As far as oils are concerned, avocado, rice bran, meadowfoam, sweet almond, and apricot seed oils are all good choices.

This is such a good idea about trying it on my skin first! I will do this. I am thinking, wouldn't all butters feel oily though. I know I would be checking to see if my skin likes it or if it absorbs well. Thank you for this and for the oil suggestions. I did use sweet almond oil so maybe it was the butter or maybe my skin didn't absorb the sweet almond oil well. I will try some others. Thanks again!

 

[Tracy von Elling]

Here is a link with hydrolyzed protein and their benefits: Hydrolyzed Proteins > The Herbarie at Stoney Hill Farm, Inc.

Thank you! I live in Canada but eventually I may need to order some things from the US. I appreciate the link.