Scenting bath powder

[Candybee]

You may laugh at me for this but this morning I put one of my 'wettest' powder mix tests in the oven to see if it will dry out. The oven is set on the lowest temp 'warm'. I spread the powder out over paper towels and will be checking on it periodically. Don't know if I will get hardened stoneware or dry powder! But I got curious to see if it would help. So......   will let you know how it goes.

 

Edited June 25, 2020 by Candybee

[Candybee]

It's working! I put a layer of damp powder on paper towels and left it in the warm oven for about 1 1/2 hours. Sifted it and put some in a powder shaker. If you just shake the container the powder barely comes out. But if you squeeze and shake the bottle it whooshes out! Yeah! Whoopee! Some positive progress!

 

So I will continue to dry out the powder in the oven until I am satisfied it comes out easily from the powder shaker. My storebought powder comes out with ease with a simple shake. No squeezing needed for it to shake right out.

 

Next I put some of the damp powder (unbaked) in the bottle and tried shaking it out. Nothing. Not even with a hard squeeze. So I am happy to report I am having some progress!

 

I am still going to try the wetting technique with the kaolin clay then see if I can dry it out in the oven. If it works this means I can start making batches of powder with both fragrance and vitamin E!!

 

 

Edited June 25, 2020 by Candybee

[Candybee]

I also noticed that all the powder tests the powder has a sort of oily feel. Like dry oil. I don't know how to describe it. I'm still drying out my powder as I write this but am wondering if the dry oil feel will remain forever and keep my powder from ever being free flowing. 

 

As frustrating as this is trying to get my powder to work, it still feels so silky soft and luxurious on my skin even damp. Like the best powder I have ever used aside from J&J's original Baby Powder with talc. I have never felt a powder more soft and silky! That magnesium stearate is da bomb for silkiness and glide! It also helped absorb some of the moisture.

 

Another problem is I am working in a home with 70% humidity so its impossible for moisture not to get into everything. Just doing a little work around the house and I am sweating a lot. Even with air conditioning and a fan running. It gets super humid in Virginia this time of year and all up and down the eastern seaboard.

[TallTayl]

I would scent and cure the magnesium stearate only to see if it improves the entire blend.   It is an oil absorber so in theory it should not coat the starch molecules in oil while the volatile  scent molecules are allowed to freely permeate the starches. If this works as I suspect, you will be able to create powders in a variety of scents quickly, on demand.  Just keep small amounts of the scented magnesium master batched in jars, and add to the other ingredients as needed when packaging. 
 

If the blend still needs some lift, then add a little fluffy natrasorb to give the airiness.

[Candybee]

Thanks. I will try scenting the magnesium stearate next.

 

Right now I have a batch of scented kaolin clay baking.

 

I was perusing WSP site and came across this: Slick Fix - Oil locking powder

 

I am a little confused about this as most of the description for use tends to lean towards bath bombs since it 'releases' the fragrance oils in bath water. So not sure it would work for body powder so I submitted a question to them if it can be used in body powder and at what %. I forgot to ask if the scent would be looked up in the powder. Don't want that for a scented powder.

Edited June 25, 2020 by Candybee

[TallTayl]

The inci reminds me of natrasorb 

[Candybee]

3 hours ago, TallTayl said:

The inci reminds me of natrasorb 

 

Yes. It has similarities to natrasorb in that it holds oils in powders then releases them in water. Don't know what natrasorb is made from but the Quick Fix is Tapioca. Its INCI name is also simply "Tapioca". Description on WSP site does not say what it was treated with to have the oils holding properties. But pure tapioca has absorption properties so the Quick Fix is an enhanced form of that.

 

Also got my answer back from WSP. Its perfect for body powders and gave me a link to a powder recipe that uses it. The recipe calls for about the Quick Fix at 30% of the prime dry ingredients. So I guess I will be ordering some to test out.

 

BTW-- the clay scenting and drying was a complete mess. The clay actually did absorb the moisture but it also 'grained' on me. I tried to rub out the grainy texture but it didn't work well enough. When I put a little on my skin it was definitely scratchy and grainy feeling. Won't be using that method.

 

I am drying out the rest of my test powder in the oven on warm. It's worked out well enough I can use it in the powder shaker by squeezing. Hoping that the quick fix tapioca will indeed 'fix' my oil problem. It's just that it takes about 3 weeks from day that I order til when it arrives at my house. Sigh... I am so impatient right now.

 

Edited June 25, 2020 by Candybee

[TallTayl]

Natrasorb is a modified tapioca starch 

 

https://www.saveoncitric.com/naba1lb.html

 

have you tried adding scent to only the magnesium portion? That is the key oil absorbing ingredient. 

[Candybee]

I just noticed steps 4 & 5 on the WSP site. Hmmmmm..... I am doing something similar with the test powder right now. It's on a baking dish spread out on paper towels drying in the warm oven. Here is what the instructions for their body powder recipe on WSP:

 

NOTE: If you are making these products for sale, good manufacturing practices recommend you wear a hairnet, gloves and a mask. We also recommend a clean apron and workspace.

1. Into bowl, measure cornstarch, arrowroot powder, and slick fix. Mix with whisk.
2. Using a dropper, add 3 mL of fragrance oil at a time. Mix well with whisk before adding the next 3 mL. Continue until all 24 mL are incorporated.
3. Add both mica powders to mixture and whisk well.
4. Divide mixture out onto 3 baking sheets to dry.
5. Allow to dry for 36 to 48 hours.
6. Add 1.55 oz of body powder by weight to each jar.
7. Label accordingly.   

To Use: Apply powder with a powder puff to body, avoiding eyes.  

[TallTayl]

[Candybee]

4 minutes ago, TallTayl said:

Natrasorb is a modified tapioca starch 

 

https://www.saveoncitric.com/naba1lb.html

 

have you tried adding scent to only the magnesium portion? That is the key oil absorbing ingredient. 

 

Yes. That was test #3 or #4. Have to check. Anyway, same thing happened with any of the starch powders I also tried; arrowroot, corn starch. Did not try it with the tapioca.  Maybe I should whip up a small batch of tapioca with the magnesium stearate and add the oils. I guess I will try this too while I wait for my Quick Fix. BTW, I need to order that asap because it takes so long to get my orders from them.

[TallTayl]

Something tells me the “tapioca starch” sellers are using is natra sorb and not the stuff used for cooking. 

[Candybee]

47 minutes ago, TallTayl said:

Something tells me the “tapioca starch” sellers are using is natra sorb and not the stuff used for cooking. 

 

I couldn't see on your post the INCI name for Natrasorb but the first part is "Aluminum Starch....". 

 

Even if the rest is tapioca its a far cry from simply listing "tapioca". That is what is bothering me about the Quick Fix. I know its modified but on WSP site the INCI name is "tapioca". Makes you think..

[TallTayl]

2 hours ago, Candybee said:

 

I couldn't see on your post the INCI name for Natrasorb but the first part is "Aluminum Starch....". 

 

Even if the rest is tapioca its a far cry from simply listing "tapioca". That is what is bothering me about the Quick Fix. I know its modified but on WSP site the INCI name is "tapioca". Makes you think..

It is definitely an inci of “tapioca starch”,  no aluminum 

 

it is super fluffy. A normal measuring cup full weighs less than an ounce. 

[TallTayl]

Camden Grey has a nice suggestion:https://www.camdengrey.com/essential-oils/natrasorb-bath-starch.html
measure your fragrance, then add double the fo amount of natrasorb. Mix. 

 

[Candybee]

I think I may have some Natrasorb buried in my backroom stockpile from years ago when I was making bath teas with it. Will have to check it out. Anyway in the meantime, I ordered the Quick Fix and can't wait to try it out. 

 

So here is my latest. The powder I had in the warm oven all day yesterday I left in overnight too. This morning it is nice and fluffy and comes out of the powder shaker fairly well but not quite yet with total ease. So, I am going to leave the powder in the warm oven all day today. According to WSP instructions even with the Quick Fix you leave the powder mixture spread out in shallow pans to dry for 1 1/2 to 2 days.

 

Its a relief to finally get this figured out and done. That is the good news. The bad news is I will have to do this with every batch when I am making powder. Kind of a bummer as its times consuming. Plus now my house smells like baby powder factory. 😉

[TallTayl]

25 minutes ago, Candybee said:

Its a relief to finally get this figured out and done. That is the good news. The bad news is I will have to do this with every batch when I am making powder. Kind of a bummer as its times consuming. Plus now my house smells like baby powder factory. 

I would still just scent the dry flow and/or magnesium stearate portion and leave in open jars to cure. Then seal jars until needed.  Then add scented bit to corn starch and other ingredients when packaging for sale. No need to leave open powders to collect dust and fill home air space if the order of operations can be modified.

[Candybee]

That's the plan. Just mix the fragrance with part of the dry portion to let it dry out and store. Them make up powder batches as I go.

 

Just mixed up a batch of Natrasorb (found it in the back room-its about 10 yrs old I think!) and mixed in the fragrance/vitamin E. Used a mister to spray on the Natrasorb a little at a time as I sifted it in using a whisk. It did get clumpy but they are really soft fluffy cloud like clumps. Am drying it out covered with paper towels over the oven burner that is warmest. I was afraid to put it in the oven with the other powder thats drying thinking either batch could absorb the others fragrance in a way to ruin the scent so I am keeping the two seperate.

 

Will wait and see if the Natrasorb treated scent powder dries out in a day or two and can be sifted back into a free flowing powder again. Honestly looking at it I have my doubts but time will tell. Also, even if the clumps stay, they might still blend out in a full powder batch. KWIM?

[Candybee]

Update on my powder tests.

 

So yesterday I did the test with adding scent blend to Natrasorb. I followed instructions from both Camden-Grey and WSP.  So I then put it in a shallow pan to dry out with a little heat/warmth to help it along. This morning I checked the mixture and the lumps were solid. I could still mush them into powder but some remained grainy regardless. Plus it was a lot of work just to do a very small portion. For me this experiment was a fail. I don't want graininess and having to do the extra work of working out all the lumps manually.

 

So from all my powder experiments the one(s) that worked the best were making up a full batch, misting in the fragrance/vitamin E blend and mixing it in with a whisk a little at a time. Then placing in shallow pans, one lb of powder blend per paper towel lined pan, and keeping the pans in a warm oven for 2 days. BTW, I turn the oven off at night and back on in the morning.

 

So this morning when I pulled out a batch of powder that had been drying in the oven for 2 days it was nice and dry. Put some in a powder shaker and it came out with ease. 

 

So I won't be mixing small portions of any particular ingredient with scent to keep on hand. It just didn't work for me. The smaller powder/ingredient was always overwhelmed with the moist oil scent mix and either clumped badly, would not dry properly, remained too oily, or turned hard or grainy.

 

The best method by far and the one that actually worked was to make the full batch, sift and mist in the scent in small increments at a time, then dry powder in shallow pans holding 1 lb powder each in warm oven for 2 days. 

[TallTayl]

That’s super that you found some thing that satisfies you right now.
 

Operationally, how would that be scalable to do more than four bottles of powder at a time that take two + days?

[TallTayl]

As for the dry hard nuggets or grains, could be that they’re oversaturated with oils. This is where diluting with perfumers alcohol or some thing else volatile like that is very helpful. Mist it on instead of mixing it in.

[Candybee]

1 hour ago, TallTayl said:

As for the dry hard nuggets or grains, could be that they’re oversaturated with oils. This is where diluting with perfumers alcohol or some thing else volatile like that is very helpful. Mist it on instead of mixing it in.

 

That would be an option to try out maybe at some point in the future. Right now I am just happy as a clam I found my technique and powder formulation. 

[Candybee]

1 hour ago, TallTayl said:

That’s super that you found some thing that satisfies you right now.
 

Operationally, how would that be scalable to do more than four bottles of powder at a time that take two + days?

 

I have to work with the 2 day period so knowing that will help me plan. Right now my recipe is a 30oz batch which yields 6 - 8oz powder shaker bottles. They only hold 5oz of powder. I can increase that up to 35-40oz per batch making up to 4 batches in a day if need be and still be okay with the time frame and production. That would give me 32 bottles in 2 days. I doubt I will sell them that fast but you never know.

 

Until the day comes when these start selling like crazy I don't think I will need to do more. If they ever become that popular then I am sure I can figure out a way to increase production if not improve time.

[SuzyK]

Hello all! 
I don't check in here nearly as much as I should.  But I'm doing some research for finally making some cp soap from scratch so here I am.

It sounds like you'e done most of the research and trials to get something you like but I'll add my input too. I have been making body powder for around 8 years and it's one of my best selling products. I don't bake it or let it dry. I make a huge master batch of all my powders mixed and when it gets ordered, I scent it and package it up right away and send it off.  I package in powder sifter bottles. 
my ingredients in random order are  Arrowroot powder, tapioca powder, kaolin clay, baking soda, zinc, allantoin.  

[Candybee]

On 9/28/2020 at 8:31 PM, SuzyK said:

Hello all! 
I don't check in here nearly as much as I should.  But I'm doing some research for finally making some cp soap from scratch so here I am.

It sounds like you'e done most of the research and trials to get something you like but I'll add my input too. I have been making body powder for around 8 years and it's one of my best selling products. I don't bake it or let it dry. I make a huge master batch of all my powders mixed and when it gets ordered, I scent it and package it up right away and send it off.  I package in powder sifter bottles. 
my ingredients in random order are  Arrowroot powder, tapioca powder, kaolin clay, baking soda, zinc, allantoin.  

 

The powder itself does not need drying. Its adding in the fragrance/essential oils that require the drying out process. So if you skip the drying out process and just put it in and ship it off what keeps it from clogging up in the tops of your sifter bottles? This is why I do the drying process. If not, the powder clogs and won't come out of the sifter bottle.