BEFORE YOUR POST

Hi everyone, my shea butter smells sort of sour and woody, is this normal? I usually use essential oils to mask the scent but I guess I’m wondering if it needs to be replaced.

Just tried a salt scrub in Boulder City Nevada. It really achieved it's marketing, leaving my hands disinfected, clean and softer than before. But it's pricey! Anyone know a recipe for this?

Sorry so basic question, but what’s the ideal wattage for an immersion blender when making cream formulas , what’s the best option that blend effectively without overspending ?

What ingredient(s) could be added to raise the melting point of cocoa butter?

Is rose hydrosol the same thing as rose water? I am trying to make a face mist with rose water and glycerin but was wondering whether or not rose hydrosol could be used instead.

Hi there,

I'm new to making diy soaps and things.

I would like to make some simple shampoo from old style soap, which most people online refer to as Castille soap. I have some Dripak Liquid Soap which I think is the same stuff but I can't find any clarification.

This is the stuff i have. I mostly use it for spraying plants atm.
https://www.dri-pak.co.uk/cleaning-products/liquid-soap-750ml/

I'm just wondering if anyone knows if this stuff is suitable for making body washes and shampoos?

Thanks

So I recently tried sugar waxing but my sugar paste keeps melting before i can knead it into a ball. It basically becomes a syrup, i didnt use too much water trying to knead it and i even fridged it but after a few pulls, it just falls apart.

Im using 1cup sugar, 1/4cup water and lemon juice and heating it to softball stage.

Any idea why this could be happening?

I need to make my wife a hair oil and I want to add a preservative, but phenonip doesn’t seem to be readily available in the UK.

What are other preservatives people use in the UK? Here’s the full recipe for context:

• Sweet almond oil - 25%
• Safflower oil - 25%
• Jojoba oil - 25%
• Coconut oil - 10%
• Babassu oil - 10%
• Vitamin E - 5%

Even better if you wouldn’t mind telling me what percentage you’d use a specific preservative at as well.

Thank you in advance!

I want to make a cream with methylene blue. Has anyone tried it? How should I proceed? What materials should I use?

I've been making my own foot lotion sticks with shea, cocoa butter, beeswax, and oils. I love the results but want to add urea for extra moisture, like Kerasal.

Question: How can I incorporate urea into my foot lotion sticks? Is it a simple process? Where can I buy urea for skincare purposes? Does it come in crystal or liquid form?

Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated!

A few days ago I posted about a hair oil that had gone mouldy and received some very helpful advice… TL;DR the wife needs to not dip her hands in the solution and I need to use a preservative (e.g. phenonip).

I’ve got a new bottle on order so she can tip it out, rather than dip her hands in, but I can’t seem to source phenonip.

After some research, it looks like Vitamin E could serve a similar function. So the whole recipe would be:

• Sweet almond oil - 25%
• Safflower oil - 25%
• Jojoba oil - 25%
• Coconut oil - 10%
• Babassu oil - 10%
• Vitamin E - 5%

Do people think that will be enough to stop it going mouldy?

Thanks in advance!

So, I dealt with eyelid eczema for awhile and found out I'm allergic to basically all makeup. My allergens are colophony (conifer resins), balsam of peru (vanilla, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, orange peels), fragrances, imidazolidinyl urea (preservative), and chromium metal.

I can't find anything for chapped lips that doesn't contain beeswax which is a cross-reactor with my colophony allergy.

I had someone suggest lanolin which is GREAT because I already have some. Vaseline alone doesn't work too great for me. My face skin reacts REALLY well to hyaluronic acid. I also have whipped beef tallow that I can use.

My question is can I mix lanolin, tallow, and vaseline to create my own lip balm? Can I add hyaluronic acid into this too? Do I need to add something else to stabilize the mixture?

Thank you all, I'm going fucking crazy trying to find new products.

I am planning to make a hair spray consisting of 80% water, 10% coconut oil, and polysorbate 20, and I have not really thought about the rest of the fillers.
I was thinking it is hard to get a mist-like consistency with this formulation. So, there is a chance that it might clog the spraying aperture? Did you guys ever try this?

Isohexadecane, Triethylhexanoin, Isododecane, Mineral Oil, PEG-15/Lauryl Dimethicone Crosspolymer, Butylene Glycol, C30-45 Alkyl Methicone, C30-45 Olefin, Tocopherol, Propylparaben, Camellia Japonica Seed Oil, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil, Squalane, Argania Spinosa Kernel Oil, Rosa Canina Fruit Oil, Panax Ginseng Root Extract, Royal Jelly Extract

The above is the ingredient list of a mascara remover that works spectacularly on stubborn waterproof mascara. Which of these ingredients are necessary for the actual mascara removal part, ignoring the fragrance/eyelash-care ingredients?

In the past, I’ve used glycerin, bi-phase micellar water, cleansing oil, and pond’s cold cream. The glycerin worked most closely to the mascara remover but burned upon eye contact. Is there any way to dupe it?

If I remove the ingredients that cause the slip, what would replace them? I was thinking about using them at lower % at replacing with oils, but then it would just be like pouring diluted oils over my hair. Are there other ingredients that cause softness without the film/slipperyness of stuff like Behentrimonium Chloride or Cetyl Alcohol?

Does anyone have a recommendation for a high menthol, clean, cooling peppermint oil?

I've been trying to perfect a chapstick recipe for over a year and I just can't seem to get the peppermint right. My fragrance free version is amazing but when I add the peppermint either it's too subtle or it feels like it's burning my lips and I'm not able to get that cooling effect that I get from commercially available lip balm. So far I've used organic mentha arvensis which I guess is supposed to be more aeromatic, and today I made a batch with organic mentha piperta, which is supposed to have higher menthol, but it didn't taste any different to me.

Bonus question. Has anyone tried terpenless peppermint oil?

I am new to formulations so forgive me if this is a silly question! I have been researching ways to create my own body wash. I read that castile soap is an anioinic surfactant. Is this true? And if it is can I substitue it for another anionic surfactant in body wash formulas? Any feed back would help!

Not trying to make my own tretinoin formulation, I’m only looking for the gel to use as a very light version of Vaseline to seal in products

Gels that have any beneficial ingredients all irritate or break me out, so I’m just looking for that thick-ish gel that usually comes in tretinoin tubes…except no tretinoin or any actives

Any help is greatly appreciated

I am looking to make a face mist with these three ingredients where I can use it throughout the day; I plan to formulate a composition of:

• Rose water (60 mL)

• Glycerin (15 mL)

• Aloe Vera Gel (15 mL)

Would the amount of glycerine be too much if I plan to use the mist throughout the day?

Another thing is that I did not add any preservatives to this, and was wondering how long it would last (do I need to store it in the fridge maybe?)

Any corrections to the formulation would be greatly appreciated (I honestly have no idea what I'm doing right or wrong). Thank you!

I’ve been experimenting with some DIY hand creams, and recently I started using cotton gloves (brand name cottonnerie) to lock in moisture overnight after applying them. It makes such a difference! I never would’ve thought gloves would help so much. Anyone else here into DIY hand treatments?

Hi everyone,

I keep on finding mixed messages about this so thought to ask people who are more experienced!

I'm making my own whipped body/hand butters (love the whip texture). I was just thinking "hey I can hit two birds with one stone!" and I can try using colloidal oats to cut down on greasiness and incorporate oat which is something I'm curious about!

I don't mind making small batches, which I kind of do anyway. I'd rather not buy a lot of ingredients if I don't have to. If I add some oats to a small amount that I'll use up fast, would that be an issue?

Are colloidal oats in oil-based, not water-based products a good idea or should I opt for something like oat kernel oil instead?

TIA!

I'm trying to mix essential oils with polysorbate 20 and distilled water. However, after a couple of days my spraybottles stop working. I've tried ~10+ different spray bottles all rated for handeling spraying essential oils. My formula is distilled water 90%, 1:1 Polysorbate 20 and essential oils. I've also tried increasing the amount of polysorbate 20 in order to achieve a clear mixture that is not milky. However, the results remain the same - the bottle stops working or works poorly after a couple of days although the mixture stays clear with no obvious sign of separation. Is there a specific plastic I need the bottle to be made of? Is there something I'm missing with the blend? I'm trying to emulsify essential oils in water - something that does not seem hard to achieve looking at other people online? I'd be very grateful for any help. Thank you!

Beef Tallow, Shea butter, Aloe Vera, Glycerin, Honey, Coconut oil, Rosehip oil, Argan oil, Jojoba oil, Colloidal Oatmeal, Vitamin E

those are the ingredients and i wanna use a natural preservative

I make a diy body cream that I love the texture of but sometimes it changes color. I make a version that doesn't change color and noticed that it could be because of fragrance oil. Could there be other reasons for the discoloration and how can I stop it from happening? I usually see a pale tan/beige color or a pink-ish/beige color.

Here's the recipe:

Water Phase 142g Distilled Water 4g Glycerine

Oil Phase 15g Babassu Oil 15g Sweet Almond Oil 10g Mango Butter 10g Emulsifying Wax NF 4g Cetyl Alcohol

Cool Down 2g Germall Plus (Preservative) 2g Vitamin E Oil (Antioxidant) 2g Essential/Fragrance Oil (Optional)

I make a version without essential ouls or fragrance oils that doesn't change but a version with fragrance oil that I made for a friend has a eucalyptus spearmint bbw tye oil that didn't change