Teach Soap

I made a basic lotion using

water
glycerin
coconut oil
grapeseed oil
shea butter
cocoa butter
Emulsifying wax 5%
Stearic Acid 2%
Optiphen preservative 1.5%
Fragrance oil

and am surprized to find that the PH value is as low as
4.

Are one of these ingredients bringing the PH down?
And if so what can I do to fix it?
What are some ingredients I have to look out for when considering PH value?
How unsafe is it to use a lotion with a PH of 4?

Please help!

Sharon

What instrument did you use to get this PH? Since you have no milk, herbs or hard to preserve ingredients, you do not need to use your preservative at the highest % allowed.

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

Ditto above.

I think the preservative is too high. I also wouldn't use grapeseed as it isn't that stable for a long shelf life. Other than that I can't see anything and would think the pH measurement is incorrect.

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Goldenearthgirl

Thanks ladies for your contribution.

I used colorpHast PH indicator strips

Would 1% be sufficient preservative if I wanted to sell my lotion?
Can I even go as low as 0.5%?
Also I think I may be getting an incorrect reading from my scale when I
try to measure very small quantities.
Any idea how many drops of Optiphen or Phenonip would equal 1gram
and would this be an acceptable form of measurement?

Regards
Sharon

I am confused about the PH reference. Do we always have to check that? And if we do, what is good vs bad? How do we check it? If I follow the recipe on the BB Lotion video, is this a necessary step? Sorry, I'm such a DUH.. Is there anything else that I should be aware of if I want to sell my lotion?

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JKM Creative Enterprises

Ph strips are not very accurate for lotion. The only true way to get a reading is to get a PH meter made for lotions. Learn about as much as you can on your preservative. The more in this case is not better. It could be irritating if you are using more than the manufacturer recommends. Different preservatives have different usage and some are temp sensitive.

Before you sell your lotion, I would get it tested for safety. I would recommend the Sage Script Institute if you are in the US http://www.sagescript.com/microbiologyservices.htm

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

_________________
JKM Creative Enterprises

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

_________________
JKM Creative Enterprises

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