How to make a foot pampering ice gel

Ice gel is one of my companions since over 10 years. I love these cooling and relaxing foot and leg gels. Have you ever been on high heels on a long exhibition or conference day? Or been walking, hiking, wandering, skiing for a long day?

If yes, then you know what I'm talking about .

Long before I converted to "natural and organic" cosmetics, I made the ice gel with synthetic polymers and I was quite satisfied with the performance and stability of the gel. It was however my ambition to make an "all natural" version of the gel and have tested various "natural" gum blends during the last years. They were all OK to be carried in my suitcase and to be applied on my feet that felt blessed after applying the cooling gel but were not pretty enough to show-off.

This version that I'm going to share with you is so far the prettiest and the best natural ice gel I've ever made.

I have used peppermint hydrosol for this formulation and added peppermint essential oil for its relaxing, cooling and disinfecting properties. It is absolutely sufficient for me. To incorporate the hydrosol (and the preservative) in the aqueous system, I've applied the "natural" solubilizer Symbio®solv XC.

Feel free to add other essential oils and hydrosols if you want to or even add menthod for a stronger cooling effect. I feel quite comfortable with the gel as it is. I couldn't resist the urge of applying tiny amounts of gardenia powder to imaprt a bluisgh colour to the gel. You can add other herbal colorants and extracts or even food colour to the gel. It is all up to you. I'm sharing the basics with you which you can modify according to your requirements and preferences.

As always before we start I want to recommend you to read our older posts: hygienic manufacturing practice in cosmetic lab and introduction to Basic equipments and utensils for a cosmetic lab.

Ingredients:

Phase A:

to 100.00%       Peppermint hydrosol 

0.1%                 Dermofeel PA-3  

Phase B:

2.0%                Solagum Ax

5.0%                Plant based and organic pentylene glycol       

2.5%            Organic hydroglyceric horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum) extract

2.5%            Organic hydroglyceric peppermint extract

2.0%             Organic hydroglyceric yarrow extract

0.5%               Panthenol

0.1%                Allantoin

1.0%               Sodium lactate

Phase D:

0.5%              Organic peppermint essential oil

3.0%              Symbio®solv XC

0.7%              Euxyl® K903

Phase E:

Sodium Hydroxide to adjust the pH between 5.0-5.2

Procedure:

1- Disperse the gum in Pentylene glycol. I've used Pentylene glycol instead of glycerine because I'm using 7% extracts that already contain glycerin. If you don't have access to pentylene glycol go ahead with glycerin or disperse the gum directly in the water phase.

2- Blend the hydrosol (whatever hydrosol you want or even freshly boiled distilles water) with Dermofeel® PA-3 which is a natural chelator and a preservative booster. I've added a pinch of gardenia to the hydrosol at this stage. It's up to you to add any colorant or use colourful infusions and extracts.

3- Solagum Ax could be dispersed both cold and hot and we dispersed it cold. If you want to make a hot dispersion, then it is better to use distilled water as a part of your liquid to disperse the gum (not heating the hydrosol) and then adding the hydrosol as the gum dispersion is cooled to room temperature.

Disperse the gum phase in phase A. Stir for some 10-15 minutes till the gum swells to a nice and smooth texture.

4- Blend ingredients of phase C together at RT and add this slowly to the gum-hydrosol phase.

5- Blend the preservative, essential oil and the solubilizer and slowly add this to [A+B+C]

6- In our case the pH was 4.7 and we added a few drops of Sodium hydroxide solution to adjust the pH between 5.0-5.2. Depending on which ingredients (extracts and hydrosols) you use, your pH (I mean the pH of your sample) might be lower or higher. If the pH is above 5.5 use lactic acid to decrease it and if it is below 5.0 use sodium hydroxide or sodium bicarbonate to increase the pH.

Disclaimer: Since my hydrosols and extracts are already contain sodium benzoate in the preservative system I reduced the concentration of the preservative (0.7%). The efficacy of the preservative should be tested and confirmed by challenge tests.

After adjusting the pH and taking your mikro kit (dipslide or compact dry) sample fill your gel in a suitable bottle (a bottle with a lotion pump would be optimal) and enjoy the cooling and relaxing effect after a long day.

It's your turn now to create some amazing ice gel. Feel free to send us your photos and comment either per mail or to our Facebook page. If you post any photos on Instagram, don't forget to tag @SkinChakra.

BeHappy and have fun