Skin Cleansing Foam and Beauty Elixir (Part I)

This is a set of mild skin cleansing foam and bauty mist for sensitive skin. It would be a great gift for someone you know or an enrichment for your product package.

In this part we'll prepare the facial cleansing foam and in the following part the beauty elixir which is a kind of mild, moisturizing and anti-inflammatory mist/spray tonic. Both are made in about half an hour. A perfect fast project for mass production.

I hope you've read my previous post about foam formulations and do agree with me that despite all our love and passion for soap making we shall try foam formulation and add them to our product range. 

Look at my previous foam formulations in the past as well: Fruit garden project,  mild skin cleansing foam, or the gentle hand washing foam.

For this project for sensitive skin I'm using Cocamidopropyll betaine which is a very gentle foaming surfactant for natural cosmetics as well as a blend of coco glucoside and glyceryl oleate which is another mild surfactant for natural cosmetics.

I've applied floral waters (hydrolats) of witch hazel and cornflower, both of them with anti-inflammatory, astringent and soothing functions. Additionally I've applied aloe extract for its soothing and moisturizing function and patchouli essential oil which is the king of skin care essential oils (soothing, anti-inflammatory, barrier repair).

The product would be a fluffy foam, very gentle to skin and mucous membrane which would not sting the eyes. This is extremely recommendable to people with sensitive skin and sensitive eyes. To balance the skin after cleansing and close the pores, we'll prepare a gentle mist in part II of this tutorial.

Before we start: please have a look at our previous posts about hygienic manufacturing practice in a cosmetic lab and basic equipments for a cosmetic lab.

The procedure is super easy: mixing all ingredients in a beaker or a suitable jar. Mixing the ingredients with a magnatic stirrer, with a glass rod or spatula or with a low speed stirrer. Your stick blender which you use so passionately for soap making is rather unsuitable here because it causes too much lather. But don't worry, if you don't have any suitable mixer or stirrer you can simply stir small amounts (up to 5 kg perhaps) simply with a suitable spatula manually.

For this project (100 gr facial cleansing foam) you need: 

61,0% freshly boiled distilled water (to balance 100%- 39,0 gr)

10,0% witch hazel hydrolat (10,0 gr)

10,0% Cornflower hydrolat (10,0 gr)

5,0% cocamidopropyl betaine (5,0 gr)

2,0% coco-glucoside, glyceryl oleate (2,0 gr) 

5,0% glycerin or organic glycerin (5,0 gr)

1,0% aloe extract (1,0 gr)

0,5% panthenol (0,5 gr)

4,0% solubilizer:Symbio®solv XC (4,0 gr) (this is to solubilize patchouli oil)

0,5% patchouli essential oil (0,5 gr)

1,0% preservative: Euxyl® PE9010 (1,0 gr) 

(occasionally) 1-2 drops of lactic acid

You'll need as well:

A glass beaker (250 ml) or other suitable container for mixing

pH indicator paper or a pH electrode for reading pH

disposable pipettes

glass rod or glass spatula for hand stirring

A foam dispenser

Disclaimer - In my case, my foam had a pH of 5,45 without addition of any lactic acid. You should however check the pH of your product. The pH of a 10% solution (10 gr foam diluted with 90 gr distilled water) should be between 5-6,5 for a physiologically acceptable pH. Very probably you won't need any lactic acid but in case you have a higher pH value you should add lactic acid (1-2 drops) to adjust the pH.

Here we go:

One: Add all ingredients (except preservative and lactic acid) to a suitable beaker. Mix ingredients manually with a spatula or stirring rod or apply a magnetic stirrer or any other suitable stirrer.

Mix until you've a transparent and homogeneous liquid.

Two: Add preservative and mix for a few minutes. 

Three: Measure pH with an indicator paper or an electrode attached to a pH-meter. 

If you're applying a pH-meter dilute 10 gr of the foam with 90 gr of distilled water. (10% dilution) 

The pH should be between 5-6,5. If you have a higher pH value, adjust the pH with 1-2 drops of lactic acid (read disclaimer 2)

Your foam should be like this at the end. I've applied no colorant. The color is due to aloe extract and the essential oil.

Fill the foam in a foam dispenser and enjoy the fluffy foam and the silky feel.

I hope you've enjoyed this tutorial. Thanks for your visit.



You can purchase all the ingredients for this project @ SkinChakra® Online Shop.

Click here for part II of the tutorial (beauty elixir).
 

BeHappy and have fun