My Formula Botanica Final Project – Part 6

This is my experience of doing the final project of my Diploma of Organic Skincare Formulation with Formula Botanica. It’s a two year course, but you can do it in one year if you can spend more time on studying than I did. I dedicated one full day to practicing formulating and some more time during the week and weekends for studying. In case you missed the first part, you can find it here.

So in my last post, I was trying to figure out how to remove that greasy after-feel from my hand cream after applying. I realised the skin on the palms of your hands is really difficult to work with, and that the choice of oils is really important. Some oils are faster absorbing than others, some condition deeply and others just leave your hands feeling oily and greasy. I had most of the oils at home, but there were a few that I had to order in. Turns out, these were exactly the oils I was looking for. But first, let’s talk about that special ingredient…

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From my notes:

4/8/22 I have a few hand creams (bought ones) that I like, so I had a look at their ingredients. I noticed that a lot of them contain fatty alcohols, like cetyl alcohol or cetearyl alcohol. Fatty alcohols are long chain alcohols that are mostly used as co-emulsifiers in skin care products, to thicken and stabilise and bind the ingredients together. I thought they were just part of the emulsifying system in the products, but as it happens, I came across an interesting detail on one of the websites: ”They are non-greasy emollients that impart a silkiness to an emulsion”. I will try this out.

8/8/22 Adding cetyl alcohol to my next formulation to find out how it changes the feel of the cream. I also want it to thicken the cream.. I think that people tend to use a larger amount when an emulsion is more fluid, and only small amounts when a cream appears rich and thick. As this is a very rich cream, I don’t want people to apply too much and leave their hands feeling over-moisturised (greasy). The cetyl alcohol should theoretically also add a silky slip and feel to the cream, which I hadn’t achieved with the natural silicone alternative. I’m going to add 3% cetyl alcohol and reduce the water amount by this much.

Soapmakers Hand cream V3.2

Water phase
33.8% distilled water
20% chamomile hydrosol
3% glycerine
0.2% guar gum

Oil phase
7% jojoba oil
4% baobab oil
3% kukui oil
3% babassu oil
5% Emulgade PL68/50
3% cetyl alcohol
3% squalane
3% colloidal oatmeal

Cool down phase
3% hydrolysed oat protein
4% marshmallow root extract
1% natural fragrance
2% pro-vitamin B5
1% vitamin E
1% Microcare DB (preservative)

The cetyl alcohol definitely made a difference to the feel of the cream. The cream is a lot thicker and looks richer than it did before. It also has that ’silky’ feel to it that they describe, but in a rather solid way, not silky fluid. I will definitely keep the cetyl alcohol in the formula. It is natural and plant derived.

This is the version that I published in the New Zealand Soapmakers’ Association magazine, Aug/Sep 22 Edition. (For more information about the New Zealand Soapmakers’ Association and why you should join click here)

And then the other oils arrive….

12/8/22 I got my hazelnut oil today and it’s unbelievable how amazing that oil is. It absorbs very quickly and doesn’t leave any greasy residue, and yet the skin feels very soft and conditioned afterwards. I have to change the formulation again to try out these new oils. I’m removing the babassu oil and kukui nut oil and replacing it with hazelnut oil, and also meadowfoam oil, because it’s also much faster absorbing than the the other oils. I’m removing the kukui nut oil because I feel it’s too oily and there are other oils that are better conditioning and don’t leave a greasy after-feel, even if it’s only slight. I really want this cream to not leave my hands oily or greasy.Because I’ve removed the babassu oil, I want to add a butter back into the mix. Instead of kokum butter that I used in my first formulations, I’m going to add shea butter. Initially I did not add shea butter because it’s a common ingredient and everyone uses it in their formulations, and I wanted to be different, but this seems a silly reason for not using it. Of all the butters, shea butter felt the most conditioning on my skin and with the least greasy after feel. The skin also felt very soft and conditioned. And having a butter in the formulation, makes the cream thicker and richer. I’ll be using refined shea butter, so it may contain less unsaponifiable content (the good stuff like vitamins, phytosterols, etc), but the main reason I’m adding it is for the emollient properties and the thickening and feel of the cream and I don’t want the strong (unpleasant) scent of unrefined, raw shea butter. And lastly, I’m removing the squalane from the formula because I don’t like the feel of it on my palms. It’s nice on the back of the hands or in other products, but on my palms, it leaves them greasy. But I am keeping the cetyl alcohol.

And lastly, I’m also replacing the guar gum with the new xanthan gum (clear) from Pure Nature. I tested it out and although the clarity of the gum isn’t important in the cream, it feels like the new gum is also a bit less slimy and tacky. So will give that a try at the same time. Note I did some slight formulation tweaking as well.

Soapmakers Hand cream V4.1

Water phase
33.3% distilled water
20% chamomile hydrosol
3% glycerine
0.2% xanthan gum (clear)

Oil phase
10% meadowfoam oil
7% hazelnut oil
3% shea butter
5% Emulgade PL68/50
3% cetyl alcohol
4% colloidal oatmeal

Cool down phase
3% hydrolysed oat protein
4% marshmallow root extract
1% natural fragrance
2% pro-vitamin B5
0.5% vitamin E
1% Microcare DB (preservative)

Love the feel of it. Finally nailed it. Cream is rich, but not oily. Leaves hands feeling soft and well-conditioned, without an greasy after feel.

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The cream was exactly how I wanted it to be. In the next and last part, I’ll post the exact formulation and the instructions on how to make the cream, if you want to make it yourself. I totally love my hand cream and have been using it constantly ever since. And not only after soap making, I actually keep it in my handbag so I have it always on hand (pun intended!)