Lecithin and Xanthan Gum help

[DREWSMOM]

Hi,

I wanted to try to switch out e wax for lecithin as a emulsifier in my lotions. I'm having issues with this with ALL my regular recipes. I usually use 4% of e wax in my facial lotion. When I mix this in I heat/melt it with my oils and thickener. It comes out in a yellow gooey sticky yucky mess!

Any suggestions?

Also, I haven't used xanthan gum before and was wondering if anyone could offer advice. I know to use 1% in the formula, but should I put this in my oil phase or dissolve in my water phase? Just wondering if it's different. THanks so much!

[ah-soy]

can't say what might be happening with your ewax without more info...can you post your recipe so we can help troubleshoot? If it's a good recipe, may be you have some bad e-wax.

sorry can't help you with the lecithin issue...never used it

you might try reading up on lotioncrafter.com or the herbarie.com for more info on it

[DREWSMOM]

Hi,

Here is my complete recipe.

48 % water

15 % aloe juice

15% rose water

2% glycerine

9% grapeseed oil

4% ewax

1% xanthan gum

1%preservative

2% oat protein

2% panthenol

other %'s are extracts

I substituted the e wax for lecithin and made it the same way. I've done this in my regular hand lotion and body butter recipe too.

[fairylite]

Are you having issues with your e-wax, or lecithin as the emulsifier?

If it's the latter, I suspect you're having issues because lecithin is not a complete emulsification system like e-wax or BTMS is. In order to use lecithin successfully, you'll have to combine it with another emulsifier using the HLB system. Lecithin has an HLB of anywhere from 4-9 depending on what kind you're using, so you'll need to know what HLB your first particular lecithin is.

[DREWSMOM]

I was replacing the e wax with soy lecithin completely. How would I work with using soy lecithin instead of e wax? What else do I have to add to it to make it a complete emulsifier?

Thanks:)