What's the difference?

[Guest PassionSunKiss]

What is the difference between emulsifying wax, stearic acid, and cetearyl alcohol? Can these be substituted for one another in a recipe?

How about Shea, cocoa butter, kokoum, mango? What is the difference between all these?

Edited August 10, 2010 by PassionSunKiss
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[rebeccajo99]

I'm not sure about the first 3 listed as I never used them. However, I use Cocoa and Shea Butter in my soaps. They are different in texture, qualities and where they come from. I don't know what you are going to use them for, but you probably could use one or the other or both depending on what benefit you would like.

If you do a search on g.oogle and here for Shea Butter and Cocoa Butter, you will find websites/forums that talk about the qualities and what is "said" that they do for skin.

One note, if you use Shea Butter, remember that does come from a nut and therefore people who have skin/contact allergies to nuts will not be able to use that product.

[Faerywren]

The first 3 ingredients are emulsifiers, they all impart different feels to your recipe that is why you may see all, one or a combo of all three (and even some other ones) in a recipe. In small amounts you could sub one for the others, but you may not get the feel or consistency you were looking for.

The information about the difference between the butters is copius. Remember the "search" feature and Google are your friend.

[Guest PassionSunKiss]

Awesome guys thanks! I'm trying to research all the different butters for making a body butter and so far I haven't had any luck on whether they are oily or slightly oily types...all I find are descriptions of where they come from and what they're used for. For shea and cocoa so far I've found that they're pretty much do the same thing.

Edited August 10, 2010 by PassionSunKiss

[Faerywren]

Rule of thumb: Oils are oily, butters are buttery, therefore they are both greasy.

[Kitn]

I would just try the two butters on your skin, which feels greasier.Shea feels "greasier" than cocoa butter to me.

[mychellec]

Hello PassionSunKiss! E-wax is an emulsifier, which means it will bind together oils and water to create a stable formulation. Stearic acid and cetearyl alcohol are co-emulsifiers and thickeners/hardeners - they will help to keep and emulsion stable but can't do it on their own, and they will add thickness to a cream or hardness to a bar. Stearic and cetearyl (and cetyl alcohol) are interchangeable with each other depending on the feel you like (stearic has less "slip" than the others), but none are interchangeable for the e-wax. E-wax, polawax, BTMS, and sometimes the old beeswax/borax method are required to create stable emulsions.

As for the butters, cocoa butter and kokum butter have similar densities and can be interchanged freely. Shea butter is much softer, and can be exchanged for a variety of butters (mango, almond, etc), but will not lend the hardness to a bar or cream that cocoa or kokum will.

I hope that helps!

[Judy, USMC]

I'm not the Original Poster, just doing some self-eduction surfing. But I did learn a lot ~ thanks for all the posts I've read in this thread ~ and particularly enjoyed yours, mychellec.

[CareBear]

How about Shea, cocoa butter, kokoum, mango? What is the difference between all these?

Shea is heavy and oily but doesn't seem to clog pores on my back - I like it in bath melts and skin products. If I put it on straight it has a kind of "drag" and when rubbing it in, exhibits a warming characteristic (slightly). It seems somehow "nourishing" but I cannot use it straight on my legs - but my hands love it and it seems to have a healing quality as well - especially on hands that got lye burns from washing with lye heavy soap or the like.

Mango is lighter than shea. In contrast to shea, when I rub it in straight it's almost cooling. Nice, but not as therapeutic, to me.

Cocoa butter goes on lighter, FOR ME, but clogs pores and while I use some in lip balms I'll never use it in bath melts. Feels cooling going on and the neighborhood teens beg it off me for their skin after being at the beach.

Kokum is neat in that it leaves a kinda powdery feel on my hands. I use it in everything except lip balm.

ETA: they all have different melting points and degrees of hardness - what I wrote is very general indeed.

But taking my word for it isn't enough to choose between them when it comes to formulating. You need to get your hands on some of each and see what I mean. Also they are often best used in combination. And don't forget that different oils can have different characteristics as well - ain't nothing simple.

Edited August 13, 2010 by CareBear