Made a cbd balm with a 50/50 mix of cbd oil and shea butter, but it feels too oily to the touch. Will adding more shea butter help or is shea butter naturally oily/greasy feeling too?

Best DIY dry shampoo? I've tried cornstarch & cocoa powder but I'm not a fan of the smell of cocoa.

I've heard good things about arrowroot powder. I've also read you can add activated charcoal to darken the color. Is activated charcoal okay for the scalp though?

I have dark brown hair for reference. Trying to find something safe that will work with the color of my hair!

Hi everyone,

I was in the US a couple of months and tried a product for my bald head that was amazing. It removed all shine, moisturized, and had SPF 50. I'm back in the EU now, and I'm struggling to find something that I like.

It's possible to import it, but it's way too expensive for me. So, I'm trying to recreate it (without the SPF).

The ingredients are:

• Organic brown rice
• Vitamin E Oil
• Jojoba Oil
• Demineralized water

I've tried preparing it in numerous ways, but for some reason I can't get the consistency right:

1. Mixing organic brown rice flour and the wet ingredients to create a paste (too grainy, no anti-shine effect)
2. Combining ingredients on the stove (okay texture, no anti-shine effect)

The texture I'm after is thick and wax-like. Once applied to the head, it's rubbed to cover the dome. And it's instantly anti-shine.

Any tips or recommendations on how I should proceed with the formula? Am I missing anything obvious?

I'm going to make diy body butter with shea butter and coconut oil , but I can't trust any seller here right now because last I got was dupe. Now im going to buy shea butter from this seller hoping it will be a genuine product. The problem is if I should buy 250 gram or 500 gram because I'm not only going to make body butter but also lip balm and deodorant.

Hi everyone, I’m trying to dupe my favorite hair leave-in product. In my first attempts it got separated until I learned how to adjust the pH. However, I recently noticed that the second ingredient in the original is isopropyl myristate, which I didn’t use. Does it help with stability? Because I want to reduce my use of acidifiers

I plan to make a pH 5 - 5.5 toner to combat the effects of my hard water and have placed an order from Lotioncrafters but am wondering if a chelating agent will be needed due to the presence of botanical extracts?

The planned formula (exact percentages to be determined) is:

Distilled water

Glycerine

Green tea extract

Snow mushroom Complex

Licorice extract

Allantoin

Panthenol

(Preservative will be liquid Germall Plus or Germaben II depending on what works best for my sensitive skin.)

Here is where my questions start. I plan to bring this formula down to pH 5 - 5.5 as a last step and am unsure whether to use lactic acid or citric acid.

Finally whether I need a chelator? In that case I wonder whether I should use citric acid as a dual chelator and pH adjuster OR lactic acid for pH and Disodium EDTA as a chelator?

Perhaps a chelator is not necessary at all? Is there a certain % of botanical extracts under which one isn’t necessary? Thank you for your assistance.

This is a bit of a strange situation. About 10 years ago I was having a horrible time with my skin which reacted to everything I tried and had issues with seb derm. I eventually saw a dermatologist who sold me her in-house glycerine mist which quite miraculously healed my skin. It turned out that glycerine was what my skin can been dying for all along. However the derm stopped practicing so I had the mist recreated for me by an overseas company at quite a high cost. For the first time in my life I was able to add actives, vitamin C, increasingly strong retinoids and AHAs to my routine and honestly couldn’t believe it, it felt like a miracle. As long as my first step was the glycerine mist my skin could take just about anything.

Recently I decided to experiment with commercially available, high glycerine hydrating toners/mists products to save money. I looked for simple products with short ingredient lists that, on paper, really shouldn’t cause any harm. To my horror, my skin started to itch and flare up after ten years of perfection! I returned to my custom mist as the first step and my skin settled right back down again. It’s actually crazy, I just don’t get it but I guess I shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth!

I love my custom mist and realize now that it’s literally essential for my skin. It’s relatively simple and something I think I could make myself instead of shelling out so much money for but I need a little help.

Honestly, it’s the only product I am interested in lmaking myself but I’m terrible at math (dyscalculia) so would be immensely grateful for help turning this recipe into something workable. I’m not too sure how to turn these percentages into weights and what order to do things in. I know for a fact the 10% glycerine is right but have approximated some of the other percentages from Lotioncrafters etc.

Your help would be immensely appreciated!

Distilled water Glycerin 10% Vegemoist 3-7% Panthenol-D 3% Allantoin .5% Licorice 2-5% Leucidal SF 2-4% (Lactobacillis Ferment) AMTicide Coconut Lactobacillus 2-4% Potassium Sorbate .3% PH 5.5 (lactic acid drops)

i want to create a shampoo and conditioner that is made up of basically all powder ingredients and only 1 or 2 liquid ingredients (hence why i call it a dough). can someone have a look at the ingredients have listed and let me know how i could improve it thanks. (i am very new and unfamiliar with cosmetics so please keep that in mind) :)

shampoo:

Sodium benzonate

Xantham gum/ HEC

SLSA

Coco betaine

Canatonic guar gum

sodium pca

Citric acid

Mica (for colour)

butter milk powder

CONDITIONER

butter milk powder

sodium pca

Cannatonic guar gum

Hydroxyethylcellulose (HEC)

Bentonite clay

Citric acid

Xanthan gum

Mica

I'll be making body butter, I'm just confused to use a glass jar. I wanna try those glass jar with metal clip on top. But it's kinda expensive here. Right now I don't have any container to store my body butter.

I often find myself looking at labels of products with ingredients ive never heard of and think, "How did they find these specific ingredients for this purpose?".

Do they just use Google, and search "Good conditioning ingredients" for their product? Most likely not, but that's what I mean. How do you guys know which ones to use, there's literally tens of thousands of ingredients. I'm working on a sort of conditioner/hair serum right now, but I've been wondering this forever! I always end up just googling/watching videos but my formulas come out basic and it's much harder to find ingredients that match the criteria I'm looking for, and then figuring out how to combine them in a way to get the ideal final product :/

Would greatly appreciate any help as always!

I am trying to formulate a cream that hydrates, moisturizes, is anti-aging and brightens dark spots. Besides the good oils emulsifier, and emollients I want to add Hyaluronic Acid, an active called Fission Active Bright, from from Lotioncrafters, (INCI: water, hydrolyzed oat protein, Ethyl Ascorbic Acid, alpha-arbutin), and another containing natural AHAs, from Formulator Sample Shop called FFS Fruit mix (INCI: Water Water, Vaccinium Myrtillus Fruit Extract, Saccharum Officinarum (Sugar Cane) Extract, Citrus Aurantium Dulcis (Orange) Fruit Extract, Citrus Limon (Lemon) Fruit Extract, Acer Saccharum (Sugar Maple) Extract). Should I consider/worry about how all these acids would interact with each other? Are there guidelines I could follow? Thank you in advance for your feedback.

Could not find anything like this when I searched, new to sub, hope this is not repetitive or not allowed.

I’ve started making my own lip oils (for my own use) and everything is going pretty well, learning little by little. While perfecting the formula I have been packaging my trials in inexpensive lip gloss tubes I found on either Temu or Shein ( somewhere like that, you get the idea) I genuinely have been having trouble finding small packs with the doe foots I like (for reference I wanted something that matched the NYX Fat Oil applicator) anywhere else, (I don’t need bulk supplier amounts) but so far the quality is hit and miss. One cracked, the others have squeaky lids, found one that I haven’t filled but feels solid, but is now out of stock, etc. I know I could keep trying but I don’t want to waste product just to find that the tube will break and spill it all over, or arrive and the lid fits annoyingly.

Can anyone recommend a place to buy a tube with this type of wand that they have used that works well? (If they are from sites like Temu or Shein, that’s not a problem but I’d want to know which specific listing to pick.) *Must ship to Canada

So many oils and extracts and this and that are put on labels for the sole purpose of using them for marketing. But a lot of these do actually have serious benefits that would work in a product (like for skin and hair). Why is it so uncommon to see a product that lists "With ____ and ___!" And actually use those ingredients at a noticeable amount?

Could anyone help me better understand how to determine what percentage of emulsifier I should use in a formula? I've heard that emulsifiers should typically used at 20-25% of the oil phase. But does the "oil phase" in this statement include emulsifier itself in the oil phase? Given the fake formula bellow how would you calculate the percentage or weight of emulsifier? (I know it doesn't have a preservative, etc. I'm keeping it simple for clarity).

If we want to use our Emulsifying wax at 20% of the oil phase, should it constitute make up 4.6% or 5.8% of the formula?

% - Ingredient

70 - Water

10 - Olive Oil

10 - Safflower Oil

3 - Cetyl Alcohol

? - Emulsifying Wax

I'm assuming I would slightly adjust other percentages depending on which emulsifier percentage I land on.

Thanks for you help with this or any other tips you have for a new formulator!

Hi All! I was redirected to this sub because I had some questions about wanting to create a hydrating conditioner specifically for dry, coarse, thick hair. I know oils are good at sealing in the moisture, but I was wondering what ingredients would help to moisturize. Also, I’m completely new to trying to create my own conditioner, so any pointers and helpful tips would be great! Thanks everyone!

Hello everyone, hope y’all are all having a wonderful day.

So I’m in the process of making hair oils and I was wondering if you guys have any high precision scales that you’d recommend for weighing different types of oils, especially because I’d like to start by making small batches of hair oils but the scale I’m using now isn’t really optimal.

Thank you very much.

Hello,

so below is a formula I have put together and wanted to ask if this is ok to mix, also I’m not really sure about the percentages but have given a rough estimate below of them , is this good to mix together and provide moisture for the lips ?

HYDROGENATED STYRENE ISOPRENE COPOLYMER - 18-20%

C15-19 ALKANE - 15%

HYDROGENATED POLYCYCLOPENTADIENE, POLYISOBUTENE - 12%

COCO-CAPRYLATE/CAPRATE - 10-11%

PETROLATUM - 10%

HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OIL - 6 - 8%

MACADAMIA TERNIFOLIA SEED OIL - 8%

TOCOPHERYL ACETATE (Vitamin e) - 3%

PHYTOSTEROLS - 2%

BUTYROSPERMUM PARKII (SHEA BUTTER) 1%

SODIUM HYALURONATE - 0.5%

Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil -2%

Squalane, MicrocrystalliNE WAX - 0.5%

Portulaca Oleracea Extract - 0.5%

last two is just colour and flavour for around 1%

CI16035, FLAVOR

Been wanting to try this ingredient for a leave-in conditioner/mask for hair for its prebiotic benefits. However, I can't seem to find it anywhere (Maybe it under a different name)? Would greatly appreciate any help.

Hey everyone - I've been attempting to make a face cream with similar ingredients for a little while, but something about my formulation seems to dry my skin out. I usually don't have sensitive skin at all and I've never experienced something like this from a moisturizer. About 10 minutes after I apply it to my face, my skin feels slightly tighter (like I just used a non-gentle cleanser) but I still can feel the occlusive barrier made by the cream. Does anything in this formulation strike you as the potential culprit?

The hyaluronic acid looks very high, but it's using a pre-hydrated formula from lotion crafters with usage rates between 1-10%. Also, I tested the pH and it was a something around 5.8.

Thanks for your help!

%

35 Water

10 Lavender Hydrosol

4 Propanediol

2 Panthenol

4 Hydrolyzed Oat Protein

1 Hyaluronic Acid 4-D

4 Green Tea Extract

0.5 Allantoin

6 ECOMulse (Ritamulse SCG)

3 Cetyl Alcohol

5 Frankincense Olive Oil

4 Baobab Oil

3 Mango Butter

0.1 Vitamin E

2.5 Leucidal Liquid SF

0.5 Optiphen Plus

0.4 Arnica Extract

1 Xanthan Gum Soft

Want to make lotion - is shea butter, argan oil and aloe enough to mix?? Was thinking to add a bit of arrow root powder to make it less greasy

I want to try to make it as natural as possible and non comedogenic

For convenience’s sake I like to apply moisturizer at the end of the shower while the body is still wet and is easier to spread. As I was fixing to make me another one the following questions came to me: Does applying moisturizer on wet skin helps locking more moisture in or am I just wasting the good stuff by watering it down and leaving part of it in the towel. Would a moisturizing oil be better instead? Thanks!

if I want to use multiple fragrance oils and/or essential oils together in a 1oz bottle of beard oil. For this example we will say two different fragrance oils to keep things simple. Lets say "oil #1" has a maximum usage rate of 7.5% listed on the IFRA certificate for said oil, and "oil #2" has a maximum usage rate of 3.5% listed on the IFRA certificate for said oil. The average maximum usage rate of the two oils combined comes out to 5.25%. So, with 1oz being 30ml, that would make 1 percent of the 1oz bottle of beard oil 0.3ml. This means that 5.25% of the 1oz of beard oil would be 1.575ml (we'll round it down and call it 1.5ml). With this info, does this mean I would be within the law by using a total combined measurement of 1.5ml between the two oils in a 1oz bottle of beard oil, using any number of drops for each of the two oils as long as the total of the two oils in the 1oz bottle does not exceed 1.5ml?

Or does it mean that I could use up to and no more than 7.5% of oil #1 and up to and no more than 3.5% of oil #2, for a total of 11%?

I guess the simple way to ask this question is if I wanted to use multiple fragrance oils and/or essential oils combined in a 1oz bottle of beard oil, could I legally use up to and no more than the maximum usage rate for each individual oil used?

Hi all, I made my pregnant wife a nice homemade body butter but it's a tiny bit too greasy and leaves her skin with a sticky feel and takes about 2 to 3 hours to fully absorb.

Here is the formula I used, this was the first body butter I made, hopefully not my last as I had fun making it.

Raw Shea Butter: 200g = 7.05 oz
Organic Jojoba Oil: 50g = 1.76 oz
Vitamin E Oil: 5g = 0.18 oz

I've ordered some organic arrowroot powder from Amazon to add to it as I read this helps with the greasiness/sticky feeling but how much should I add and how should I add it?

I have the feeling I need to melt the body butter and use 1 tbsp arrowroot powder, then sift it and stir it slowly into the oils until incorporated, chill it and then whip it again, would that be the right way to do it?

Can I mix those two? Or should I rather make a glycerin water mix and spray it om my skin, then use shea butter?

I'm trying a really simple, gentler shampoo formula this time. The only preservative I've worked with until now has been Liquid Germall Plus. I'm thinking about trying Gluconolactone and Sodium Benzoate as I always see the latter in many formulations, and Gluconolactone seems like it would be good co-preservative. Here is the formula:

|| || |Water| |Coco Glucoside| |Lauryl Glucoside| |Apple Cider Vinegar| |Glycerin| |Xanthan Gum| |Eucalyptus Fragrance| |Panthenol| |Tocopherol|

I haven't gotten to figuring out the quantities yet, so the formula is really just an ingredients list, so I'm not sure if it would be of any help.

Hi!I tried making my own whipped soap for myself and wanted it smooth but I used Stephenson FBB for my base and it looks nice but it’s a bit grainy What should I do

Not just in shampoos, but in many other products, trending oils and other stuff are added for marketing only.

Since shampoo washes off, I'm wondering what components (Other than the surfactants, thickeners, and water) would have a beneficial effect on the hair. This is confusing to me because the shampoo gets washed off, so, many ingredients can't stick to the hair like that.

I'm wondering if anyone here has tried SCG in their formulations and had a positive/negative experience with it. Would you recommend it? I'd probably be planning to use it with some Lauryl Glucoside as I really enjoyed it in some other stuff I made with it, or if someone has a better suggestion I'd be glad to hear!

Hi guys so i was making something quick on the spot an accidently dropped about 10/15 drops or so of SWEET ORANGE ESSENTIAL OIL into the full bottle of pure VEGETABLE GLYCERIN (was meant to go into empty absolute bottle but wasn"t paying attention and dropped it straight into the open bottle of glycerin...basically my question is can i still use this glycerin as an active ingredient in some of my formulations? Dont wanna waste as very expensive :( thanks in advance xx

My emulsion serum is :-

OIL PHASE — 80% oil (plant oils, wax esters, light esters, alkanes etc…)

question 1) which oil thickening agent should I use just to have enough viscosity to have the emulsion serum(body oil kind of consistency) stable for next 2-3 months? 3% Cetyl alcohol or x% Ethyl cellulose ?

WATER PHASE — 5% hydroethanolic (50:50) herb extracts, 0.2% Magnesium chloride 

question 2) will my emulsion serum oil be more stable with a higher water phase?

EMULSIFIERS — haven’t decided on the percentages yet…I’ve 15% left for emulsifiers, but obviously I won’t need to put such a high amount of emulsifiers so for the rest percentages I’ll probably increase oil or water phase as per you suggestions to ques 2

Oliver 2090(polyglyceryl-3 olivate/polyricinoleate), Olivem 900(sorbitan olivate){solid; hence will be dissolved in some isoamyl laurate(from the oil phase)}, Soy lecithin

question 3) so the main question, can I mix these emulsifiers first with water phase and later combine with the larger oil phase? (the herbal extracts will form micelles with the help of emulsifiers, while the continuous phase would be isoamyl laurate)

OR

should I water phase be added gently to the oil phase + emulsifiers ?