EWax question......

[Michi]

The sugar scrub thread got me to thinking about adding ewax to it.

When I was adding it to my scrub I would melt it with my hard oils (shea, etc.) and then incorporate, and everything was fine.

But, when I tried melting it by itself and then adding it to the other ingredients, it immediately hardened, and then I had basically little beads of ewax all through the scrub, like I had never melted it at all. :undecided

Is there a trick to adding it after the other oils are already incorporated, say if it's still separating and you want to add more?

I know that I err on the stingy side when using it because I don't want it to be too hard etc. but there's gotta be a way to add it in later if needed???

[daniedb]

I learned this same lesson the hard way when I was experimenting with lotion - if you add the melted, warm e-wax to a room temp oil, the variance in temperatures causes the e-wax to cool immediately on contact, which makes it impossible to mix in, and you get the little re-cooled bead of e-wax. You have to warm whatever you add the e-wax (and anything else heated, like shea) to bring them to approximately the same temperature.

If you want to try to add e-wax to the already-made scrub, to tweak it after the ingredients are all combined, the best thing to do, IMO, is to heat the product to about 100* or so, then try adding a melted (but cooled to 100-110*) amount of e-wax. I don't know how it will work, but that's the ONLY way it won't seize on you.

Also, mine stayed separated until it was cooled almost to room temperature, which meant that for at least an hour, it was still oils on top, sugar on bottom - I thought it wasn't working and that I would need more ewax, but I just stirred it up every fifteen minutes or so and when it cooled off enough, it stayed emulsified.

I just finished experimenting, and I can tell you that I topped out at 5% e-wax, anything more was just too clumpy and hard. I suggest starting at 5% and letting it cool overnight, because that's how long it takes for the e-wax and butters (if you use them) to harden completely and give you a true idea of the finished product.