Teach Soap

Hi All, I have just made my first ever lotion BUT I really wanted a cream! I know there is only a minor difference in the proportions of the oil phase to the water phase (well I think I do) and so before I go playing and perhaps waste lots of ingredients and time can someone please tell me what it is? I don't really want to be like the Old Woman whose porridge pot wouldn't stop producing and be surrounded by oceans of lotion whike I experiment. Many thanks.

What was your recipe? That might help so we can help you tweak it.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Oil Phase 10g emulsifying wax 30ml vegetable oil (typically sweet almond, grapeseed or olive)
Water Phase 5ml vegetable glycerine 150ml purified water 2ml benzoin tincture plus I have used a few drops of essential oil.
The method seems standard but heats to 75 not 65 as I've seen in some recipes but we use cekcius.
I have now made this with grapeseed oil twice and ended up with a cream once and a lotion once. With olive oil and ended up with a lotion and sweet almond and ended up with a thicker lotion but not a cream. I just want to be able to control what I end up with. I think VBG it is the water or oil or the temperature or none of the above that makes the difference.
Thank you all so much for being there and giving of your time and knowledge so freely.

That's a pretty small batch. What did you use to mix it with? What was the temp when you combined the oils phase with the water phase? How long did you mix?

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Small batch cause I take craft classes at a school holiday/after school programme and am wanting to make sure I know the answers before the questions as it were. AND I need to know whether I buy pots or bottles for the kids to put it in. Mixed the oil and water phase at 75 c as per instructions and stirred till arm was sore with a spoon. Did try using a stckblender but quantity is too small. I am being very particular about temps and quantities. Have read lots of recipes and this seems the simplist for kids and I can get all the ingrdients which is a big plus. Thanks once more,

I bet it's the spoon that you are using. You need a tool to emulsify it properly. See if you can find something like this in your area. http://www.aerolatte.com/
You will also need a proper preservative. I presume you are using the benzoin tincture for that? That won't work for long term storage or use.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Got a cupboardfull of those. Almost enough for one per child. I was sold the ben tinc as a natural presevative. The other choices I have are tea tree oil and Potassium Sorbate. What sort of shelf life would you expect fron the ben tinc which I WAS going to use with lavender essential oil? Off to try another batch with my milk frother,

The benzoin might give you a shelf life of a couple of days. Potassium Sorbate works the best in food. It's not a complete preservative. You could combine it with Cosmocil CQ. Or use a standard preservative like Germaben, Germall Plus, Geogard Ultra, Liquipar Optima or Phenonip. Tea Tree or Lavender will not help as they are not preservatives either.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Hi iteachabc123's.

I cannot answer your question, but if your focusing on e-wax. You could always do something a bit simpler like with an emulsified sugar scrub. No lye, easy to color if white sugar and easy to scent and a mason jar will do for packaging.

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"Maintaining Balance Between People and Nature"