The home of SwiftCraftyMonkey Formulating Inc.! Join Susan as she obsesses about cosmetic chemistry and other things (some possibly related to monkeys). Often strange, occasionally useful, and always worth a stop as a point of interest on your journey through the Intertron.
As an introduction to looking at the various oils we can use in making our bath & body products, I thought I’d take a look at the various fatty acids on their own and see what they bring to the mix…and linoleic acid (C18:2 or octadecadienoic acid ) seemed like a good place to start....
Caroline posed an interesting question…My question is if I use a certain percentage of presevative how long will my product last? How long will it be protected? Is there a timeline? Great question! How do we figure out how long something will last? Preservatives and anti-oxidants are only one part of the equation. We...
Citric acid (or 2-hydroxy-1, 2, 3-propanetricarboxylic acid) is a chelating, anti-oxidizing, and pH altering ingredient that can bind metal ions, help prevent rancidity, and alter the pH of our lotions and surfactant mixtures. It’s also a key ingredient in bath bombs. There are two types of citric acid we can buy – anhydrous (water free)...
Let’s take a look at including EDTA in a lotion formula…The disodium EDTA I have from the Personal Formulator recommends usage at 0.1%, so I’ll use that as my number.A THICKER FOOT CREAM RECIPE (originally in this post…)WATER PHASE59.9% water3% glycerin0.1% disodium EDTA OIL PHASE15% oils – olive and rice bran are great choices here...
EDTA (or ethylenediaminetetra acetic acid) is a wonderful polyamino carboxylic acid that has the ability to chelate, sequester, and offer anti-oxidizing properties to our lotions. And we only need to use 0.20% to get maximum benefits in our lotions and surfactant based products! What exactly is a chelating or sequestering ingredient? EDTA binds with metal...