Teach Soap

Why do some lotion recipes call for citric acid and others do not ?

It changes the PH of the lotion slightly. I can't use it at all. It stings my skin and makes me itch. I haven't had any problems at all making lotion without citric acid.

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

Soapbuddy, does that mean you can't use bath bombs either?

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

Is that something you knew caused you problems, with the citric acid? Or did you just use it and were like ouch!

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

See what worries me is that kind of thing. You were smart about it, and tried to narrow down what caused it. One thing that makes me nervous about going into business is even if you know what you are doing, and follow the letter of the law, and label everything correctly you can still be sued if someone has a reaction (this is what the rep I spoke to from RLI told me today). It is kind of scary to me to think that hypothetically, I could do nothing wrong, and a person could be allergic to citric acid and not know it and then try to sue me because of it. At that point, how could someone prove it wasn't my fault? Would they go in and test the whatever, item in question and see if it could cause problems or that the person just didn't know they were allergic to something. Maybe I am paranoid, but this day in age it seems like people are sue happy and they will sue over things that they shouldn't be able to sue over (i didn't know the hot coffee could burn me, etc). I have so much fun making stuff at home, but it worries me to think someone might just cook up a get rich quick scheme to make me pay you know? That is one of the main things that is holding me back from starting a business.

There is always that possibility Beautyinabasket. Do your homework, study and search as much as you can, test thoroughly for short term as well as long term, use the best and/or freshest ingredients and be familiar with all the ingredients that you use. That's the best you can do.

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

I also don't use citric acid in my lotions. I have the same issue as soapbuddy and it burns my hands like crazy. Just putting my hands in citric acid without gloves hurts if there is a cut on them. Not that I do that if I am making products to sell. But cleaning up after, I have taken my gloves off and some got on the back of my hand and it burned! Oh did it burn. I also can't use products with a high amount of vitamin e in them. I am allergic to it topically. No one ever believes me until I show them. So I have to offend everyone and look at the ingredient listings and if it has Vitamin E close to the top, back it goes. Bet ya' never heard of that one, have ya'? LOL!

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Haven