Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Mad Scientist

I apologize for the lack of posting lately. I have been furiously concocting formulations of moisturizers and by the end of the day, I am pretty much spent. That energy I get from working a typical day here was depleted, because I was in my mad scientist mode. I am out to make the perfect concoction. A skin moisturizer that leaves skin unbelievably soft,but not greasy....completely natural and smelling lovely. I am working on a way to make a "cream" without water as my base. Butters tend to be, well....buttery and greasy. Lotions and creams are made with mostly water, which helps in that it's not so greasy, but with water one must use preservatives. There are limitations. Natural preservatives like vitamin e and rosemary extract are great for increasing the shelf life of oils, but do nothing for protecting the product from mold, yeast, and preventing against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Once water is introduced to a formulation, it will start to degrade and grow bacteria and/or mold.

There are synthetic paraben-free preservatives, but still sadly synthetic. So here I am trying to create the masterpiece of creams, without chemicals and without being too greasy, and I am frustrated. (sigh).

There are other alternatives, so I must continue researching and just you wait, I will create the elixir magnifique! However, I still remain humbled...

1 comment:

Anne-Marie said...

I'd be trying lots of Dry Flow and Natrasorb to help with that greasy feeling. The problem I get with the whipped butters is that they get hard though - it's difficult to keep them soft, fluffy and pliable.

Good luck! I'll be your first customer if you manage to get the holy grail of lotions! =)