bath and body

Emulsifying systems: E-wax, Polawax, and BTMS-50

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From left to right: Emulsified with ceteareth-20 and glycol distearate, emulsified with Olivem 800, and emulsified with Polawax. Really no huge difference in appearance! It’s hard to know exactly which emulsification system you want to use in a lotion until you try it. There are so many considerations when choosing an emulsifier…cost, availability, ease of...

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More fun with the HLB system – a light lotion recipe

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I thought I’d try the light lotion with ceteareth-20 and glycol distearate as the emulsifiers. (I’m using this recipe for my upcoming experiment with Olivem 800, so it made sense to stick with the same recipe!) When made with Polawax or BTMS, this is a very light lotion – almost sprayable – that feels cool...

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Phase inversion

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I know I recently wrote a post on this topic, but I thought I’d add a little more to it here… What is phase inversion? We know we have two phases in our lotions – the oil phase and the water phase (if you want more technical terms or to learn more about emulsification, please...

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HLB – a short summary and a few links

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I figured now that you’ve seen the HLB system in action, it’s time for a summary. The HLB system is designed to make it easier to figure out what emulsifier goes with what lotion. Your oil phase will have a required HLB value, meaning this is the number you need to match with an emulsification...

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Things to think about when creating an emulsification system.

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We can, in theory, combine any low HLB and high HLB emulsifiers to create an emulsification system. But there are reasons you might not want to use certain combinations. Perhaps you’re avoiding certain emulsifiers because they contain elements of something you don’t like. Or you can’t get your ingredients reliably or locally. Or you might...

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