"Wake me up" shower gel tutorial

Today I have an easy and basic shower gel to share. I know that during the pre-Xmas stress you may hardly find time to create a complicated recipe for yourself and them you may land in the shower and realize that you have absolutely nothing to wash yourself with (don't ask how I know this )

This is quite a mild shower gel with lots of foam. Quite strange for my formulations, I didn't use any yucca extract in this formulation to create a kind of white shower gel. Feel free to use coloured extracts to create your own favourite colour.

About the ingredients and procedures:

I've used a blend of Solagum AX and konjac gum to adjust the viscosity. This is quite a lovely blend. To avoid excessive foaming, we usually blend the gum/glycerine phase in the hydrosol/water phase under high shear (an overhead stirrer works perfectly for this purpose). We blend the surfactant phase separately with a magnetic stirrer.

After the gum phase and the surfactant phase are both homogeneous, you can either slowly add the surfactant blend to the gum phase and slowly blend with a spatula. This method, no matter how slowly you blend, creates lots of foam. Another methos is to turn your overhead stirrer to a very slow speed (50-300 rpm) and slowly add the surfactant phase to the gum phase. This method creates much less foam than blending with the spatula.

I have used a preserved hydrosol for the water phase and hence reduced the concentration of the preservative blend. The efficacy and the concentration of the preservative you're using should be determined by challenge testing.

Now let's go to the formulation:

Procedure:

1- Blend phases A,B and C separately in beakers. We blend the surfactant phase (C) with a magnetic stirrer. Since this is a cold process, we blend the essential oils from the beginning in the surfactant phase.

2- Disperse the gum phase in the hydrosol phase. We use a high shear overhead stirrer for this purpose.

3- After the gum is dispersed and the surfactant phase is homogeneous:

• either slowly add the surfactant phase in slow portions to (A+B) and slowly blend with a spatula
• or turn your overhead stirrer to a very slow speed and slowly add the surfactant phase

4- After all of the surfactant phase is added, prepare a 10% dilution of the mixture for pH measurement and adjustment. In our case the pH was about 7 and it was OK for adding the preservative (Versatil BL +Dermosoft 1388 eco).

5- Add the preservative blend, mix and make another 10% dilution for the pH measurement. In our case the pH was 7,19 and we added 1,6 gr of 80% lactic acid to reduce the pH to 5,4. Do not add all of the lactic acid at once. pH adjustment is a long process that needs patience. You may need to add your lactic acid (or citric acid if you use it) in several steps.

6- Take your stability and microkit samples and fill the rest in a suitable bottle. We used this cute brush bottle that gives your skin/muscles a good rub as well.

I would love to hear your feedbacks about this formulation. Please share your photos and experience with us either via Facebook or Instagram.

BeHappy and have fun