Chemistry

Oleic acid (C18:1) is another fatty acid that shows up a lot in the oils we use in lotion making. It is found in olive oil at really high rates (78%) and high oleic sunflower oil (74%). It has only the one double bond, so it has a longer shelf life than those oils with...

Polyphenols are found in oils and other botanical ingredients in five major categories… phenolic acids, the derivatives of hydroxycinnamic acid and hydroxybenzoic acid hydroxycinnamic acid – caffeic acid, ferulic acid, p-coumaric acid hydroxybenzoic acid – vanillic acid, syringic acid, gallic acid flavonoids, which include flavones, flavonols, flavanols, flavanone, isoflavones, and anthocyanins (but not Flavour Flav,...

I realized I’m going to be writing a lot about our friends, the phytosterols, in the next few weeks, so I thought I should take a moment and post a little about them… Phytosterols are plant based sterols like cholesterol that give structure to the plant’s cell membrane (the way cholesterol does for our cells)....

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....

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)...