Help me here fellow crafters

[katshe]

I just emailed WSP to ask if I add 50% water to their Satin & Silk lotion base ...what preservative do I need or would be best.

WSP RESPONSE

YOu really don't need a preservative if you are just adding water, color and fo

I also asked if I was to add just butter(shea or cocoa) to the base

How much could be added and does it need added preservative.

WSP RESPONSE

If you are adding the shea butter, you will need a preservative.

The precentages are on the preservative page[/b]

OK , Ive been making soap and scrubs for longer that 5 years now and I know anytime you add water to something it needs a preservative and

WSP site for this lotion in the description says.....

Quote " If more than 5% additives are incorporated into the base, the current preservative system will be diluted and additional preservative will be required.

I did find my answer in their forum that 20% water can be added without separation and the water should be preserved with Germaben II or germall plus llquid at .5%-1% reccommended by their moderater of wsp forum.

Am I crazy?

Still not sure bout the shea butter... I suppose if i only add 5% or less is should be fine...again I thought if adding oils/butters that it didn't need preservative unless water would be and issue.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

[mychellec]

Since emulsification is based on the amount of the oil phase, not the water phase, of a product you can add up to 100% water to a lotion without experiencing separation, as this is an oil-in-water emulsion. I.e., the rate of emulsifier is based on the percentage of the oils phase, so if you add to the oil phase then you would have to increase the emulsifier. You can continue to add as much water as you need to a recipe without adjusting the emulsifier. I also saw that thread on their forum, and posted this there. I don't know where they are getting this 20% from, but rest assured you can go higher.

As for the preservative, you would want to add for sure if you are adding water. The additional preservative would be based on the volume of water or shea added. If using LGP, for example, and adding 8 oz water then you would add .5% of 8 oz to the lotion. You don't want to add according to the total batch size as this would be too much. HTH!

[katshe]

Thanks for the info...Very helpful mychellac.

I did see a post on wsp forum that says to add preservative to distilled water. like to the gallon and use as needed... so you would be figuring that for the amount of water added

To start with... I will do as you suggest and do 8 oz lotion and add water with .5 % LGP. based on water added.

thanks again.

I am just thinking that if some newbie would have taken that info to not add preservative when adding water...that could potentially be big problems with that lotion:shocked2:.

Anywho...

Off I go to play with this stuff.