Making lotions

[SharonStudent]

DOC: How much of lavender would you put in lotions to give them more shelf life and what is the longest that you would think they could last?  Also, you mentioned on another post “I’d use a lotion. I’d put Hops, Marshmallow and Calendula in it.”  Should this be equal parts of these herbs?  Thanks 🙂

[Susan BrygStudent]

Hi Sharon –  I once had a thriving luxury natural lotion business that was very successful.  Unfortunately, COVID killed the business, but I still make the lotion for myself, etc. and, of course, I still know a lot about making lotion.

I am not sure what you are referring to when you spoke about adding lavender to a lotion.  From my experience adding any botanicals directly to a formula will create pure havoc; because, by nature, lotion is a hydrous product which means that it is subject to microbial contamination.   Microbial contamination in lotion is not pretty.  It means that little orange and green moldy things start growing everywhere.  YUK!

You can ameliorate the healing aspects of a lotion by first infusing  botanicals such as the ones that you referred to in the above post into some type of oil.   An infusion, in this case, simply means filling a mason jar 1/2-2/3 full of the herb and then to top it off with the oil.  Then, like so many of the other products that we are making for this course, you let that infusion sit in a dark place for a month or longer.  I have often gone as long as 6-9 months, but you can shorten that time frame by slowly heating in a low temp crock pot.  Of course, that is not the preferred method because many botanicals lose their efficacy when they are heated.

Oils have widely varying properties that you may chose based on what you would like to achieve with the oil.  Some properties  to consider are the density of the oil, ie medium, light, heavy, solid.  Also, how well does it penetrate into the skin?  Will it absorb quickly or will it take forever to get it rubbed in.  How about the oily feel?  Do you want something that is light, heavy, medium, etc.

All of these factors come into play and then there are other considerations.  What kind of shelf life does the oil have?  At first, I used almond oil as the primary oil in my formulations, because I could buy it for $28 a gallon.  Unfortunately, that oil began to oxidize and smell quite rancid after only 6-7 months.  Not good for profitability.

As it turned out, I lost so much money because of all of the bottles that had to be tossed due to the very short shelf life of the almond oil.  I ended up going with jojoba oil, a much more expensive oil that, depending on where I was able to buy  it, cost me $80-$100 a gallon.  Should have done that all along.  From my experience, jojoba oil has a shelf life of about 5 years.  And, when the costs were all calculated, I actually saved money because I didn’t have to keep throwing product out.

You can also greatly enhance the shelf life of an oil by adding two antioxidants to it:  Vitamin E and ROE (Rosemary oil extract).  In my opinion, those two additives are a must.

I hope that can give you some help.

 

 

6 users thanked author for this post.

Karen Wilson, Sonia Jacka, Camelia Balow, Sharon, Natalie Schmidt, Michelle Babcock

[SharonStudentTopic Author]

Wow Susan – I never saw your reply till today – sorry to seem ungrateful for your great information.  Thank you so much!

[Judy MillerStudent]

Sharon wrote:

Wow Susan – I never saw your reply till today – sorry to seem ungrateful for your great information.  Thank you so much!

Susan, would you ever add Konjac Gum from the Konjac plant (Glucomannan powder) as a thickener, gelling agent, emulsifier to a lotion?  In the oil infusion, I used dried marshmallow root, comfrey, calendula, and chamomile (processed in spice grinder to pulverize) in a sesame seed and avocado oil, with a tiny amount of Vit. E, then added fresh, chopped plantain.  Double boiler, low heat, hours till it turned dark.  Strained, 2 cups infusion + .90 and .95 of beeswax (were sold as 1 oz blocks), and blended, then added 1 cold water infusion with the same dried herbs (no plantain) and it whipped up beautifully.  But then . . . it expanded a little like bread, lifted lid, ran down the side.  What does this mean?  Is there a bacteria in there that is causing the growth?  Should this be thrown out?  : (  Or kept in fridge and used quickly?

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