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Emulsified Body Butter


cindym

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ugh, ok THIRD attempt and I can NOT get this right. I heat my water and then put aside. Heat my oils,butter,stearic and ewax and then mix into the water once it is all melted. then I have been randomly stirring it with a spoon to mix it up. It is just getting all clumpy and like cottage cheese. Am I suppose to just mix it and leave it alone after the first time? Ahhhh,help!

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You say you are setting your water aside? Is it cooling down a lot when you do that? If so, I think your oils are clumping up when you add them to the cooled water. I bring my water to a boil, cover it and turn down to simmer then proceed. My oils and water are hot when mixed.

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ugh, ok THIRD attempt and I can NOT get this right. I heat my water and then put aside. Heat my oils,butter,stearic and ewax and then mix into the water once it is all melted. then I have been randomly stirring it with a spoon to mix it up. It is just getting all clumpy and like cottage cheese. Am I suppose to just mix it and leave it alone after the first time? Ahhhh,help!

Normally when I make this, I melt all my oils, butters ewax & stearic and put that in a 170 oven. Then I nuke my water til hot and put it in the oven. I also have a small container with extra water for any that has evaporated.

Then I get my jars and lids and such ready. By the time everything is ready to go, my oils and water are the same temp. Weigh your water again and add in any additional that is needed and I mix them at that point.

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You say you are setting your water aside? Is it cooling down a lot when you do that? If so, I think your oils are clumping up when you add them to the cooled water. I bring my water to a boil, cover it and turn down to simmer then proceed. My oils and water are hot when mixed.

I add the melted oils when the water is still very hot...I was thinking maybe not enough ewax but I measured out the 1.5oz.

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Are you melting your butters and ewax until clear? The first time I made emulsified body butter my butters were liquid but not clear and I had the same problem.......maybe your butters are not hot enough. Hope this helps.

Sheli

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  • 3 weeks later...

ok, I just had a thought that might make this easier for me...I am gonna try using a lotion base and add the butter , fragrance , dry flo, and a pinch of germall plus liquid. and see how that turns out.

I would feel better using a lotion base that has been tested for sale than test stip testing my self. Although I will still test it to be sure nothing grows.

Thanks so much for the idea. gonna give this a try today and I think I am gonna use a combo of cb, fco co, in place of the avacado butter.

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ok, I just had a thought that might make this easier for me...I am gonna try using a lotion base and add the butter , fragrance , dry flo, and a pinch of germall plus liquid. and see how that turns out.

I would feel better using a lotion base that has been tested for sale than test stip testing my self. Although I will still test it to be sure nothing grows.

Thanks so much for the idea. gonna give this a try today and I think I am gonna use a combo of cb, fco co, in place of the avocado butter.

how will you calculate how much preservative to add? excess can cause irritation in sensitive folk, and of course too little is useless.

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Carebear, i will use what ever I add to the lotion base as the amount to figure preservative. I think the amount will be very slight but I will have to experiment today and get back to you

Edited by katshe
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Just a quick questions- if I use distilled water, is it stilled required that I boil liquid for 20 min at 170 degrees? I typically heat the water to between 100-110, melt the oils/butters and mix. Just hope I'm doing it correctly! I've been using cosmocil for preservative and seems to work well with my other lotions with no nasties growing even after 1 yr. I'll be trying the recipe soon- sounds wonderful!!!

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Just a quick questions- if I use distilled water, is it stilled required that I boil liquid for 20 min at 170 degrees? I typically heat the water to between 100-110, melt the oils/butters and mix. Just hope I'm doing it correctly! I've been using cosmocil for preservative and seems to work well with my other lotions with no nasties growing even after 1 yr. I'll be trying the recipe soon- sounds wonderful!!!

Best practices call for a period of heating and holding of both phases for 20 minutes at approximately 176 degrees. The moment the container of distilled water is opened contagions are introduced. Your mixing utensils and vessels potentially introduce contamination along with the environment you create your products in. The typical kitchen ceiling and walls harbor loads of dust particles and such that can, and do, enter the product.

You don't need to boil, just hold at temperature. Nasties can be present and thriving even if not viewable with the naked eye. If you're ever curious about what's growing, send a sample of your product to a certified testing lab. You will be amazed...

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I am so frustrated! I thought this recipe only separated when I used olive oil. But it seems to be a hit or miss. When it doesn't separate it's wonderful!! People who try say it's amazing! I mix up the e-wax with BTMS at times could that be the problem? Sometimes I add some glycerin could that be the problem? Last night I thought I had the problem solved because the moment I added the FO it separated but tonight it separated before the FO. PLEASE can anyone help me?

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I am so frustrated! I thought this recipe only separated when I used olive oil. But it seems to be a hit or miss. When it doesn't separate it's wonderful!! People who try say it's amazing! I mix up the e-wax with BTMS at times could that be the problem? Sometimes I add some glycerin could that be the problem? Last night I thought I had the problem solved because the moment I added the FO it separated but tonight it separated before the FO. PLEASE can anyone help me?

It would help to know the exact formula and process you used.

An exchange of ewax and BTMS would definitely impact the final texture of the product. Ewax is a more powerful emulsifier than BTMS. Adding, deleting or substituting ingredients, such as the glycerin, can also alter the final texture. the FO and preservative choices can also cause separation as you have seen.

It's like baking a cake... If you accidentally mix up baking soda for baking powder the texture will be different. Then add in extra milk on top of the oil called for and you get pudding. B&B, like baking, is based on formulas. Changing one variable makes a different product in that formula.

Likewise, the order of ingredients and amount of time spent stirring at different temperatures can change the final outcome in both baking and B&B formulation.

What I would do is go back to the original formula that worked, and make that one again exactly as written, then sub out one variable at a time to identify where things are beginning to go wrong.

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  • 9 months later...

I'm going to revive this thread once again! I made a lot of tweaks but stayed within the % suggested in the original. I did use a mix of ewax and btms 50. Some of the jars look like they are separating, but the very last one I poured is very thick and creamy like I was hoping for. The first one seems to be the like a mousse, which could be nice too. Any thoughts on why I got such inconsistent results from the same batch?

Thank you for posting the recipe!

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