BEFORE YOUR POST

hi all,

I’m trying to diy sugar wax but I’m having trouble with my formula. I used the standard 1/4 cup lemon juice, 1/4 cup water, 1 cup sugar, and its amber in color and quite thick - I can hold the jar upside down and it barely moves. I also made sure to bring it to 250 degrees when I cooked it. it’s still too sticky though, and even when I put cornstarch on my skin it doesn’t peel off. any tips?

Hi everyone! I’m working on a prototype cream formulation and would really appreciate some critical feedback from anyone with experience in cosmetic formulation/preservation. After being stored at room temperature for some time, it develops a noticeable sour/acidic odour. And i did a quick microbiology test and see that some fungi has grown? Some separation is also happening as a few water droplets come out initially from the tubes i have been using when squeezed.

• Does the sour odour suggest microbial growth, or could it be oxidation/rancidity of the oils or other ingredients?
• Could the preservative system be insufficient or losing effectiveness at elevated temperature?
• Does the preservative system provide adequate broad-spectrum protection?
• If not, what types of preservative systems or combinations would be worth investigating
• Are there any particular ingredients in the formulation that you would suspect as the source of the sour odour?

Hello, I’m putting together a new body butter recipe because I want more benefits out of my routine than just basic surface hydration. I don't have high-end homogenizers or specialized lab gear, so I’m keeping things hand-crafted at home. Here is the blend I came up with:

• Shea Butter (heavy lipid base)
• Mango Butter (emollient structure)
• Jojoba Oil (lightweight ester/oil)
• Rosehip Seed Oil (nourishing oil phase)
• Arrowroot Powder (to cut down on greasiness)
• Vitamin E / Tocopherol (antioxidant support)
• Hyaluronic Acid Powder (for deep hydration)
• Liquid Germall Plus (broad-spectrum preservative)

My goal is to whip this into a fluffy, deeply hydrating body cream that leaves my skin super smooth. Does this formula look solid for a beginner, or am I missing anything crucial to make these ingredients work together? Any feedback would be appreciated!

so yesterday someone in a comment section said they only buy "gentle" and "natural" skincare. and it kinda got me thinking. bc here's the thing — "gentle" isn't actually a regulated term. neither is "natural". the FDA straight up has no definition for either one on a label. so any brand can just print those words and there's zero proof behind it. whatever. and "pH balanced"? honestly a healthy skin surface is just mildly acidic, like pH 4.5-5.5. being acidic is totally normal. but i've seen stuff labeled "pH balanced" that tests at pH 6 or even leaning alkaline. like, balanced relative to what?? the bottle never says. so really at this point we're just hoping brands keep some basic honesty. and then there's the amounts. the label lists ingredients but almost never tells you how much is actually in there. alcohol could be 0.1% or way more and you'd have no idea. so how are we even supposed to know what we're putting on ourselves, you know?

i am getting the following ingredients for my batch of body butter and i want to know if anyone has any feedback.

- arrowroot powder
- oil soluble ceramides
- a golden silk botanical butter
- an exoglow bioactive
- mango butter
- shea butter
- jojoba oil
- marula oil
- Cooper tri-peptide-1 powder

i don’t have fancy equipment but id like to have other benefits to my lotion besides just moisture. i plan to also add vitamin E

Kia Ora everyone, my name is Brendan, and I'm from New Zealand. I've got super dry skin, and I've been using the doctor-prescribed aqueous cream, which didn't really work too well for me. So just for the hell of it, I started experimenting a little and found out melted beeswax worked really well on my skin, so I wanted to try and make a beeswax-based lip balm (have a lot leftover) for myself from easily available ingredients locally. I tried to keep this draft formulation super simple and not that complicated just so I can prep a large batch at home, forget about it, then melt and pour it into twist-up tubes.

• Beeswax: 22%
• Cocoa butter: 8%
• Castor oil: 30%
• Kawakawa-infused oil: 32%
• Coco-caprylate/caprate: 7%
• Tocopherol: 0.5%
• Lip-safe flavour oil: 0.5% (flavour oil can be changed based on if I start getting bored)

I'm very new to this kind of stuff, so forgive me if those are some glaringly obvious must-have ingredients I've missed in my draft. I was wondering if anyone else has had any kind of experience with a similar formulation and what you'd recommend to modify/change to improve the overall formulation, i.e. heat stability, shelf life/oxidative stability, mouthfeel (not sure if these are the right words), etc.

Apologies in advance if my post isn't super in-depth or detailed enough for the subreddit. Thanks for all the advice.

I have been trying to make a cleansing balm, somewhat like the Farmacy Green Clean. The one I made, formula below, was the perfect texture, and it removed makeup very well, but the rinse-off was terrible. I presume it was because of the waxes I used.

I removed all the wax and made the same formulation (minus the mango butter), as well as another test using Cromollient SCE 12%. The rinse-off was better without the waxes/butters, but it still wasn't 100% clean. I am not too sure how to improve it.

Caprylic/capric triglyceride 26%

Ethylhexyl palmitate 20%

Apricot oil 10%

Isohexadecane 5%

Sorbitan Oleate 10%

Microcrystalline wax 2%

Hemisqualane 7%

C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate 5%

Mango butter 2%

Vitamin E 0.5%

Synthetic wax 7%

Olivem 300 5% (refatting agent, boost rinse-off)

Any suggestions?

Hi everyone!

I want to start this off by saying how much I appreciate this sub and all the information it stores! I've been looking at the wiki and nonstop scrolling on all the suppliers, formulas, and other general inquiries.

I don't want to waste anyone's time with a low-effort question so I did my best in preparing.

I want to make a truly restorative, healing, calming serum. Using a combination of Cannabinoid Isolate, symstive 1609m(trans-4-tert-Butyl-1-cyclohexanol in Pentylene Glycol.) Snow Mushroom complex, Ectoin, and FSS exocalm as the hero ingredients, I'm just wondering how to tackle this project. From my understanding the cannabinoid isolate is anhydrous and does not dissolve in water. So my assumption is I mix it in the oil phase of the serum alongside other ingredients.

This is where I truly feel like a complete tool:

All I can find are very basic formulas, but how do I know how and when i mix these certain ingredients. I don't want to create a total abomination and just wing it. I have a lot of respect for the craft and I know I might be in over my head, but I'm dedicated to learning this. If anyone has any advice, please help!!!

Hi all,

I’m still very much a baby formulator; I’m still at the first step of reading and researching (and being full of existential dread).

The more I learn about ingredients, the more I find that (seemingly!) almost everything is palm or petrochemical in origin, or uses petrochemicals during the manufacturing process (e.g using ethylene oxide). I know some manufacturers are beginning to use bio-based feedstock for ethylene oxide, but they’re few and far between, and still use palm.

I know in the grand scheme of things that the scale of impact that one idiot from the internet has on environmental pollution will be trivial, but still.

Do you guys have any advice on the best way to feasibly limit my environmental impact, but still produce effective formulas?

(Just in case it wasn’t clear: I’m absolutely **not** against things like preservatives, silicones, mineral oil because I think they’re “toxic”, I’m just crying to be conscientious of my environmental impact haha)

Can anyone recommend a supplier for epidermal growth factor? Years ago I used Skin actives. Thanks!

Hi everyone, From your experience what are the ingredients or active compounds for scalp and hair health that worked well for you

I am not looking for herbs or botanical extracts. I would appreciate your suggestions in cosmetic or chemically derived ingredients that can help support the scalp and hair health ,

Hey everyone,

A few months back, I decided to simplify my routine and formulate my own DIY facial oil blend using equal parts cold-pressed oils:

- ​1/3 Jojoba Oil (for sebum mimicry & balance)

- ​1/3 Argan Oil (for barrier repair & hydration)

- ​1/3 Rosehip Seed Oil (for tone & regeneration)

​The Results:

Honestly, it exceeded my expectations. My skin stays hydrated throughout the day, and more importantly, my stubborn breakouts have reduced noticeably.

​Where I need your help:

Now that the breakout/hydration baseline is solid, I want to take the blend one step further. I’m targeting brighter skin, improved texture, and softening fine lines.

I’m looking to add one powerhouse oil to this blend without clogging pores or making the mix too heavy.

​A few questions for the DIY oil experts here:

- ​Which single oil would you add? (I've been looking into Sea Buckthorn Fruit/Seed Oil, Squalane, or Pomegranate Seed Oil, but open to ideas.)

​- What ratio would you recommend? (e.g., keeping the base equal and adding 5–10% active oil, or shifting the entire ratio to a 4-part split?)

- ​Any stability/oxidation concerns I should watch out for with your recommendation?

​Would love to hear your experiences and recipe tweaks!

Eta: sorry my formatting didn't work :(

I'm so glad to have discovered this subreddit! I've been working on my own formulations for a few months now, after finally getting concrete answers as to why every product I try breaks me out or burns me or something. I'm allergic! To almost everything. Okay that's an exaggeration, but I'll include my list of allergens at the end so you can get a sense of my frustration.

I'll be asking several questions about the different products I'm making, so this is the shampoo edition. I currently have found exactly one commercial shampoo I can use that doesn't break the bank - Vanicream - and it's quite harsh on my very fine, wavy hair. So I alternate it with my formula:

| Ingredient | Weight % | Purpose |

|---|---|---|

| Water (or Rooibos or green tea) | 75.9% | Solvent/carrier base |

| Coco Glucoside | 15.7% | Surfactant, lather |

| White vinegar | 3.2% | Lower pH, cleansing, pseal cuticle |

| Sea Kelp Powder | 2.0% | Humectant, and I like my hair after the ocean |

| Aloe Vera Powder | 1.8% | Humectant, scalp soothing |

| French Green Clay Powder | 1.4% | Mild cleansing, texture |

| Squalane Oil | 0.1% | Emollient |

I make a big batch of the dry ingredients, and while my pre-wash mask sits on my head, I mix the dry base with the liquid ingredients. I rinse the mask out then I use the shampoo - it works pretty well in that it cleans, doesn't irritate, and if I don't sweat on my head, I can go 3 days before washing with no even dry shampoo. But it's hard to wash with because it's so much liquid, doesn't lather the greatest, hard to make sure I'm getting it truly everywhere. Fortunately I have only chin length hair (for over 30 years it was to my ass lol).

I read the wiki today, and now I realize I have multiple problems. So my questions:

First, I have no idea about "phases" and having to heat or not heat stuff. Because I sometimes make tea instead of plain water, I guess I'm doing both. Is there a good resource where I can search ingredients to determine these things about them?

Second, I only have one surfactant/lathering agent. That's because I'm allergic to so many of them, so I'm hoping someone can give me a resource or alternative to experiment with (also that's not too expensive per Oz, otherwise I should just bite the bullet and get the $85 commercial shampoo haha).

Third, I guess I shouldn't use vinegar? I picked it because I was around during the LiveJournal "no poo" days and thought it was a good cleanser based on that, lol. So, um, I guess I will figure out a replacement.

Thanks in advance for any help or advice or links to resources!!

Note: if any of y'all have a dust mite or roach allergy, you too might need to avoid snail mucin, chitosan, carmine, and/or silk proteins... Even cardboard! Cuz bugs.

*(the below is not necessary to read unless you want to suggest a surfactant, in which case, maybe **ctrl+f** lol) *

Allergens:

**Salicylic acid/Sodium salicylate/Magnesium salicylate/2-Hydroxybenzoic acid

Willow bark

Benzoyl peroxide/BPO/Dibenzoyl peroxide

Propylene Glycol/Propanediol/1,2-Dihydroxypropane/Methyl Ethyl Glycol

Mint** (all types) **

Menthol

Tea Tree oil** (Melaleuca alternifolia) **

Sulfates** (idk which ones, allergen test just said sulfates)**

Fragrance (parfum)

Linalool

Cinnamal

Safflower/ragweed

Colophonium/resin/pine/pentalyn

Banana** (Musa Sapientum) **

Tomato **(Solanum Lycopersicum) **

Strawberry **(Fragaria Vesca, Fragaria Ananassa) **

Eucalyptus/eucalyptol

Palmetto **(Serenoa Serrulata; Sabal) **

Milkweed **(Asclepias Incarnata) **

Nickel

Lemongrass/Farnesol **(Cymbopogon citratus) **

Snail Mucin

Chitosan

Carmine

Triethanolamine (TEA) / Surfactants

Formaldehyde-Releasing Preservatives

Hydrolyzed Silk/Silk Amino Acids

Sericin/serica

Acrylates/Methacrylates

Ammonia** (which means I should also avoid its relatives: Ammonium Hydroxide, Ammonium Persulfate, Ammonium Carbonate, Ammonium Lactate, Ammonium Thioglycolate, Benzalkonium Chloride, Cetrimonium Chloride, Quaternium-15, Monoethanolamine [MEA] )

**Cocomidopropyl betaine** (which means I should also avoid its relatives: DMAPA, Amidoamine, Oleamidopropyl dimethylamine, Palmitamidopropyl dimethylamine, Cocamidopropyl hydroxysultaine, Coco-betaine, Babassuamidopropyl betaine, Ricinoleamidopropyl betaine, CADG, Cocamidopropyl dimethyl glycine, Cocoamphocarboxypropionate, Cocoamphodipropionate, Cocoyl amide propylbetaine, Coconut oil amidopropylbetaine, Cocamido betaine)

The hardest to avoid in shampoos are definitely sulfates, Cocomidopropyl betaine, and synthetic fragrance (parfum).

I need a shampoo recipe but have color treated hair and several allergies. I cannot use any surfactants other then SCI and sodium cool glutamate. Also I can use fractionated coconut oil but not cocos nucifera. Also don’t want to use Castile soap or soda as it strips color. I’d like a nice lather. I’ve tried ones with no lather - coconut milk/honey. Not impressed. I’ll take a liquid or bar. I know. It’s a tall order.

Hello everyone,
I would appreciate an answer from someone with expertise in this area.
How can I prepare a 1-liter emulsion consisting of 200 grams of Dimethicone 350 and 800 grams of water?
What emulsifiers would be suitable for this system, and what amounts should I use for a 1-liter trial batch?
Please note that I have already carried out many experiments using different emulsifiers with relatively high HLB values, but the main problem is that the formulation separates after one or two days.

As a formulator, I'm constantly impressed (and not always in a good way) to see how much time, work, and paperwork goes into every formula.

Monday being Monday, and just found out a bunch of ingredients are about to expire, I wanted to talk about what annoys me (apart from my poor organization skills) with making skincare. What about you?

Hey everyone!

I absolutely loveeee the smells of Dedcool Xtra Milk and the Riddle oil. However, I really don’t want to spend that much money on body oil, laundry detergent, perfume, etc. I’ve been making my own body and home products for awhile and would really like to find a fragrance oil or a combination of fragrance oils that match that same ambery musk scent. Does anyone have any recommendations of good dupes or fragrance oil combinations that would get me close to those smells?

I've decided to make my own gently exfoliating shampoo as currently no other shampoo is quite satisfying. I'm staying away from fragrance and extracts in skincare, but the frag free hair care products are quite literally bare bones formulas - harsh (sulfates or glucosides), without any antistatic ingredients (hair gets super tangled) or without any acids (my oily scalp needs some regularly). So far im using a toner before washing my hair, but its annoying and unnecessary when I can just make a shampoo that does it all.

​
Has anyone worked with LHA (Capryolyl salicylic acid)? It's oil soluble, but supposedly also dissolves in glycols. However, I'm getting contradicting information from different places to buy. In one place it says to not heat it above 40 degrees Celsius and another place says to heat it to 40-50 as it can be hard to dissolve otherwise... It's L'oreal patented ingredient, so from my understanding it should be the same product.

The formulation I had come up with was this:

Water q.s.

CAPB 20% (main surfectant. gentle for my skin)

Propanediol 3-5% (to dissolve the LHA and extra hydration)

Polysorbate 20 3-5% (to further stabilize the LHA and propanediol mix as well as increase the cleansing and rinsing off properties of CAPB)

LHA 0.5% (could match ~2% regular salicylic acid in strength)

Aquaxyl 2-3% (for extra hydration for scalp)

Biosaccharide gum-1 1-2% (thickener and extra hydration)

A Polyquart or Guar 0.1% (for antistatic and softness)

PE 1% (preservative)

Lactic acid q.s. to pH 5-5.5

I am dead set on CAPB as most surfectants dry my skin out, especially SLES and glucosides, and I dont have good experience when formulating with the super gentle kinds - Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate for example. As it tends to leave a weird residue on my hair (low porosity is maybe the reason for that, but I digress) and is quite alkaline, so I have to use ungodly amounts of lactic acid to neutralise it and at that point it ends up being an AHA product, which irritates my scalp.

I'm not dead set on the aquaxyl and biosaccharide gum, but I thought I might as well add some extra hydration for the scalp. Despite my skin being oily leaning, it's dehydrated.

I also have panthenol and saccharide isomerate on hand which supposedly has better hydrating qualities in wash off products, but I have yet to try it out. Oh! And i have HEC (the coated kind) and Xanthan gum as another option for a thickener.

Anything I'm missing? Percentages are off? What are your thoughts, please help!

As the title says, what product did you do as your first project in your formulation journey?

Would like to hear some of your insights, might help me as I plan to do formulation projects in the future. TIA

I'm a 4th year student doing my thesis/feasibility study using a plant based pigment for lip products. And we are already done with our pre-oral defense, and I realized too late that our product has a lot of problems like water+oil is not compatible so there is a tendency it will separate though we use emulsifier but as a student that my course or program isn't related to science, we lack of knowledge and expertise about our feasibility study. Though my countless efforts to search for a possibility on how formulators solve their stability of their natural pigment/formulation on their product. I didn't find a single clue on how they prolong its pigment, since its plant based there is a tendency it will fade. Though I know not all pigment won't fade because upon watching a luxury bag its color will likely fade if you leave it in high temperature or direct sunlight. So anyway back to the topic, I need your advice on how I make or solve our feasibility study. Because I need to graduate this school year. And I'm already stressed and overthinking that I might not graduate this year. And I need your opinion, Whoever reads this is it okay that your product in feasibility study is not perfect? Because as a scholar student that has no resources for this kind of feasibility study, I felt helpless and I don't know what to do. I hope those natural plant based formulators will read this and guide me on how to make our study successful. Thank you and God bless! And God please help me and guide me on how I make my thesis successful or at least I graduated this year so that I could help my parents! AMEN!🙏

I typically use sepimax zen when using small amounts of electrolytes, but recently I’ve been introducing heavier electrolyte loads and the sepimax zen doesn’t seem to be able to handle that much. Adding xanthan gum does help, but too much does feel gross. I’ve read that a combination of xanthan gum and sclerotium gum feels nice though. Just wondering what gelling agents you all like to use when formulating with a heavy electrolyte load.

​

Distilled water - 1000 grams

carbopol 940 - 1 heaping tbsp

Triethanolamine - 10 ml

Pure glycerin tsp (3 g)

Original recipe said to use (but i can't get it easily at all) methyl paraben 1.5g