DIY Skincare: How I Put Together My Formulations
This entry will explore what I do to put together my formulations when it comes to DIY skincare.
I’m fairly new to this world but learning really quickly. I’m also devoted to making really good skincare that my whole family (and friends) can use, so I give my best when formulating, even though I’m not always 100% sure of what I’m doing!
It’s about improving over time and that’s something that happens naturally.
There’s also a little ‘secret’ to my formulations: spirituality and an Awakened Mind. When I formulate there’s ‘divinity’ coming through and setting within the final product. As an Awakened Mind this is a very natural process and, in fact, it is really what makes my DIY formulas work beautifully because they heal beyond the surface.
I might write a post about this some other time. For now, I’ll list the things I do here before I get started with a product. This will also serve me as a reminder, so let’s get started.
Foundation
Foundation will be around 50 to 80% of the total formula.
Here’s what goes into products:
- Water – Distilled water, floral water (hydrosols), aloe vera leaf gel, etc
- Oil – Rosehip oil, Sweet Almond oil, Avocado oil, etc
- Butter/Fat – Shea butter (love it!), Cocoa butter, Coconut oil, etc
- Wax – Beeswax, Candelilla Wax
Layers
- Foundation ingredients – between 50% and 80% of the total product (water, oil, butter/fat, wax)
- Active botanicals – up to 10% of the product (medicinal and therapeutic plants [powdered herbs, tinctures, macerations, glycerites])
- Functional ingredients (sunflower lecithin, pumice, glycerin)
- Additives – 10% of less of the total product (citric acid, vitamin E, PH modifier, etc). Preservatives are usually used at around 1% of the total.
- Aromaceuticals and aromas (essential oils at 0.1 to 3% of the total product, vanilla extract, etc)
- Aesthetics (flowers, dried fruit, petals, etc)
Working backwards (adding what I know needs adding at the percentages I know need adding) helps me balance the rest of the ingredients (so, I would write down first the preservative at the right percentage, the Vitamine E [tocopherol] at the right percentage if the product has oils, any aromaceuticals at the right percentage, etc which makes then easier for me to ‘fill in’ the rest of the ingredients if that makes sense). Then, depending on the thickness of the product I’m making I know that I have a certain percentage of water and oil which makes it easier for me to calculate the ingredients. For example, a lotion texture would have 23% oils (oil phase) and around 74% water/hydrosols (water phase). The rest has to be added within the cool down phase. All these things make it easier to ‘build’ my formulation calculations.
Calculations
I prepare my formulations in %. Percentage has to add up to 100% always. I have a fantastic .xls file that makes all the calculations for me. All I have to do is tell ‘it’ how many grams/oz of the product I want to end up with as well as the percentage of each particular ingredient. The file then calculates for me how many gr/oz of each ingredient I have to add in order to end up with the exact amount (gr/oz) I inserted at the very beginning (it is really cool).
If I already have a formula in gr/oz instead of percentages but I want to make a different amount of product the best thing then would be to turn the weight into percentages: number of grams (per ingredient) x 100 divided by total grams. Now I can make an exact replica of the formula in any amount I like.
Formulating
- What type of product am I making? (moisturiser cream, facial toner, body butter, lip balm, etc)
- What’s the purpose? Properties (soothing, moisturising, anti-ageing, refreshing, cleanser, super-food, makeup remover etc)**
- What is the base formula? (decide skinfeel function of the product> oil-based, water-based, emulsion)
- Choose the active botanicals (which herbs and ‘form’ of herbs [macerations, infusions, tinctures, etc]
- Additives I want (antioxidant, preservative, etc)
- Aromaceuticals/aromas I want to add (essential oils or fragrances)
- Finishing the look of the product
**To take into consideration gender, age, purpose of the product, mood of the product (uplifting, sensual, soothing, etc), therapeutic value (anti-acne, for dry skin, etc), specificity (allergies, sports, etc)
That’s it more or less.
I learn as I go along – I’m quite new to DIY formulating but I know I’ll get better and better over time.
Let me know if you have any tips, questions or simply would like to say hello!
Resources from Oh Mighty Health:
Courses I Recommend from Personal Experience:
- Formula Botanica (Full on courses)
- Naturally Thinking [UK based] (A 3 day cosmetic production workshop)
