Good Emulsifying Scrub recipe?

I know this question has been previously asked, as I've done a search... None of the recipe links work as of today's date.

I made an emul scrub with stearic acid, almond oil, cocoa butter, emulsifying wax, and sugar... It came out great at first but after a few days, it feels hard and pasty. Is this because I need more oils? Different oils?

Suggestions would appreciated... I'm just starting out so if I sound amateur that's why.

What a coincidence!!!! I was lying in bed this morning thinking about trying to make an emulsifying scrub. Hope you get some good replies.

Me too! I have one but it turned into a pasty rock!

there is a great one up in the classes/tutorials section... it works like a charm every time and is really great on the skin.

I use a variation of Kat's that I altered just a bit to go with the oils I keep in house.

This is the original recipe (found here http://www.craftserver.com/forums/showthread.php?t=54110&page=2)

40% olive

10% fco

5% coconut oil

5% cocoa butter

20% cp or hp soap (shredded)

10% ewax

8% stearic

2% fracrance

preservative i use .05% germall plus liquid

SUGAR- I add 1/2 total weight of batch ( batch 8 oz -4 oz sugar)

Here's my alteration to it:

40% RBO

10% Sunflower

5% Coconut Oil

5% Shea (Or Shealoe)

20% shredded cp or hp

10% ewax

8%stearic

2% fragrance (optional)

preservative - I usually use about an ounce for what I deemed my "single batch" which i threw into the calculator... blah blah, go with kat on this one and do the .05% or whatever the preservative supplier says.

Sugar - I use a little bit more then kat as I like a really scrubby scrub, start were she starts and add if you please.

Thank you guys so much! I will be trying this recipe tonight, I'll let you know it works.

Did you try it yet?

I use a recipe of Swift's from her blog for my sugar scrub.

I also tend to replace some of the sugar in it for pumice stone, which make it really scrubby. And I usually use SAO instead, but I think any combination of fun oils will work.

Here it is:

"EMULSIFIED SUGAR SCRUB WITH SOY BEAN OIL

10% emulsifying wax (e-wax, Polawax, or BTMS)

10% cetyl alcohol or stearic acid (5% cetyl and 5% stearic is very nice)

10% cocoa butter (or other really hard butter)

10% shea or mango butter (or quite soft butter - shea aloe would be great here)

56% oil - I'm using soy bean oil here

1% Vitamin E

2% fragrance or essential oil*

1% Phenonip"

from here

No I haven't tried it yet, because I don't understand percentages, and I was too embarassed to admit it! :whistle:

I find I don't jar mine the same day. I melt everything together and mix on and off. I cover over night and it tends to harden up somewhat. I then beat it again with my mixer and you get a nice fluffier mixture. Jar up and you are ready to go!

Angela

No I haven't tried it yet, because I don't understand percentages, and I was too embarassed to admit it! :whistle:

Try this I love it just put in your percentages & the size batch you want to make. Easy Peasy

http://www.wholesalesuppliesplus.com/Calculators/Percentage_Calculator.aspx

if it makes it any easier this is a simple formula you can use...

say you want to make an 8oz jar...

if you need 10%... you would put into a calculator

8(oz) x .10 = .8... or .8oz

if you need 5%.. you put in

8 x .05 = .4.... make sense?

so on this recipe...

10% emulsifying wax (e-wax, Polawax, or BTMS)

10% cetyl alcohol or stearic acid (5% cetyl and 5% stearic is very nice)

10% cocoa butter (or other really hard butter)

10% shea or mango butter (or quite soft butter - shea aloe would be great here)

56% oil - I'm using soy bean oil here

1% Vitamin E

2% fragrance or essential oil*

1% Phenonip"

if you wanted to make... say... 10oz (283 grams)... you're looking at:

1oz ewax (28.3)

1oz stearic (28.3)

1oz cocoa butter (28.3)

1oz shea butter (28.3)

5.6oz oil (158.5)

.01 vitamin e (2.83)

.02 fo (5.66)

.01 phenonip (2.83)

... now, when I'm working with a recipe thats less than 2 lbs, I prefer to work in grams.. because how the heck are you going to measure .01oz, u know? SO... there are 28.3 grams in an ounce. So.. for this recipe, in BOLD you will see the grams. Most good scales come with grams and its WAY more accurate when you are working in small amounts.

Thats really all you need to know to calculate any recipe.

16oz in a pound... so 452.8 grams in a pound

28.3 grams in an ounce...

and any percentage when you are trying to find it is just the base number of the batch.... like 10oz... times the percentage you need... .05% for 5%... .10% for 10%.

Percentages can be a real PITA. Then again, I suck at math. It seems like you got some pretty good breakdowns on it though. Hopefully it makes more sense to you now.

percents are simply "parts per hundred parts".

so 5% means that 5 parts (grams, ounces, whatever) of 100 are that component.

Try this I love it just put in your percentages & the size batch you want to make. Easy Peasy

http://www.wholesalesuppliesplus.com/Calculators/Percentage_Calculator.aspx

Thank you, you're amazing!

To the person above me, sorry but my brain doesn't compute that way at all.

if it makes it any easier this is a simple formula you can use...

say you want to make an 8oz jar...

if you need 10%... you would put into a calculator

8(oz) x .10 = .8... or .8oz

if you need 5%.. you put in

8 x .05 = .4.... make sense?

so on this recipe...

if you wanted to make... say... 10oz (283 grams)... you're looking at:

1oz ewax (28.3)

1oz stearic (28.3)

1oz cocoa butter (28.3)

1oz shea butter (28.3)

5.6oz oil (158.5)

.01 vitamin e (2.83)

.02 fo (5.66)

.01 phenonip (2.83)

... now, when I'm working with a recipe thats less than 2 lbs, I prefer to work in grams.. because how the heck are you going to measure .01oz, u know? SO... there are 28.3 grams in an ounce. So.. for this recipe, in BOLD you will see the grams. Most good scales come with grams and its WAY more accurate when you are working in small amounts.

Thats really all you need to know to calculate any recipe.

16oz in a pound... so 452.8 grams in a pound

28.3 grams in an ounce...

and any percentage when you are trying to find it is just the base number of the batch.... like 10oz... times the percentage you need... .05% for 5%... .10% for 10%.

I am not the original person who asked for this info but THANK YOU! You explained it the way I learn..a-b-c-d-e-f-g. You took it step by step and made it EXTREMELY easy to understand. Ever thought about being a teacher?

Okay so I tried the recipe by luminousboutique and it's PERFECT! I love it, just hard enough to scoop it out and not rock hard at all!

Very moisturizing.

I have a really stupid question ...What is the main difference between an "emulsifying" scrub and a regular scrub? I have made sugar scrubs that I love but I'm just wandering if I'm missing out on something even better!!!!

Non-emulsified scrubs have no emulsifiers (ingredients that prevent the sugar and oils/butters from separating) so you will have a layer of oil sitting on top of the sugar and it will need to be mixed in before you use it.

Emulsified scrubs have additives (like e-wax, polysorbates, stearic etc) that help to keep eveything mixed together...no oil slick on top of sugars. Just a thick scrubby scrub that can be used without pre-mixing.

I make a mean shea butter scrub with poly 20 and stearic...no e-wax and I like it much better than those with e-wax. I can use it with no lotion needed after, no oil slick on my skin or the tub and no waxy afterfeel.

I found that when I formulated with e-wax my drains would eventually get clogged.

correct me if I'm wrong, but emulsifiers work by holding water and oils together - and that capability is not what would hold the sugar and oils together. the thickening would do that, which doesn't necessarily have to be an emulsifier.

right? or wrong?

emulsified scrubs rock because they rinse off partially as the water in the shower turns the mix into a lotion - which means your skin is not left oily.

Carebear...you are right and explained it much better than I. I love the scrubs that turn into lotion as you scrub.

I am not the original person who asked for this info but THANK YOU! You explained it the way I learn..a-b-c-d-e-f-g. You took it step by step and made it EXTREMELY easy to understand. Ever thought about being a teacher?

hehe not a problem, I'm awful at math so I had to re-teach myself when I started working in lotions and scrubs.. and thats how my husband explained it to me, it was like a lightbulb went off and I was like.. OH.. now i feel dumb. hehe

Okay so I tried the recipe by luminousboutique and it's PERFECT! I love it, just hard enough to scoop it out and not rock hard at all!

Very moisturizing.

awesome!! not my recipe.. but glad it worked out for you!

The very kind owner at lotioncrafters gave me the greatest tip about working with grams. Just round each gram (28.3) up to an even 30. That way 1 oz = 30 grams, 10 oz = 300 grams. Keeps the numbers soooo much simpler to calculate. Since you always have a bit of waste on your tools and in your bowls with each batch, this makes up for it and gives you a bit extra if you need to top off a jar or bottle.

Best tip I've gotten since getting into scrub, lotion and cream making!

(actually an ounce is 28.35 grams which gets rounded UP to 28.4)