Teach Soap

I've been trying my hand at making lotions/creams (just for myself and a few close friends/testers) and am LOVING it! However, I don't have "dedicated" equipment for lotion making and before I consider selling it, I want to be prepared with all the tools/equipment I need.

This is my preliminary list of items I *think* I need to have:
Stick Blender
Glass containers (for heating water and heating oils separately)
Container for mixing lotion in (will a plastic pitcher do?)
Long handled spoons (plastic?)
Thermometer
Scale (already have this)
Funnels
Small bowls (measuring preservatives, FOs)
Spray bottle for Alcohol (already have this)
Pipettes

What am I missing? Also, I know with soap it is important to have the equipment be stainless steel or the right type of heavy plastic (PP5). Are there similar concerns I should be aware of with lotion making?
I'd like to do things "right" from the start as much as possible .

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Carrie
Wife to my Best Friend and Homeschool mom to 7 beautiful gifts

I would add gloves to your list, prediluted bleach solution to clean your counters with and a stainless steel pitcher instead of glass. You need to heat and hold your water at a gentle simmer for at least 10 minutes and a microwave is not capapble of doing this.

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

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Carrie
Wife to my Best Friend and Homeschool mom to 7 beautiful gifts

a 10% bleach solution will disinfect your counters better.

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

_________________
Carrie
Wife to my Best Friend and Homeschool mom to 7 beautiful gifts

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

_________________
Carrie
Wife to my Best Friend and Homeschool mom to 7 beautiful gifts

In the microbiology lab we clean the surfaces with a 97% ethanol solution. You can probably pick this up from chemical suppliers online. Safe for stone counter tops!

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

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Carrie
Wife to my Best Friend and Homeschool mom to 7 beautiful gifts

Stick Blender essential
Glass containers (for heating water and heating oils separately) beakers: 80mL, 200mL, 500mL, 1L, 2L.
Container for mixing lotion in (will a plastic pitcher do?) yes, it needs to be reasonably deep to avoid splashing
Long handled spoons (plastic?) plastic, because using metal will crack the glassware
Thermometer yes
Scale (already have this) should be accurate to 0.1g
Funnels don't use these much
Small bowls (measuring preservatives, FOs) 80mL beakers .. KIMAX are good value. Don't buy Chinese quality
Spray bottle for Alcohol (already have this)
Pipettes for tiny amounts of liquids, perhaps

add: Microwave oven, vital: sterilises containers and heats at the same time. I use a hotplate for lipids, but the microwave oven is invaluable.

Have to disagree about the microwave being invaluable. I don't use mine at all when making lotions. I heat my water and oils in double boilers on the stove. Carrie, at Walmart I bought a couple of the large Pyrex measuring bowls (they have a handle) and set them in a pot of water on a rack and it works perfectly. They are heavy enough so they don't want to "float" in the simmering water. Mine also came with a lid which is nice for storage to keep dust out.

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Linda
I know the voices in my head aren't real, but they sure have some great ideas!

I made my lotion via the instructions with the BB kit. Melted the oils and heated the water in the microwave. Took me about 5 minutes in all, then the blending took a little while because I wasn't exactly sure when I should stop and pour.

_________________
~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

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

Barquentine & Linda.....thank you both for giving me specific suggestions.....very helpful! Will look for the Pyrex measuring bowls this week at Walmart. Linda, do you mix your lotion in these, or pour the water and oils into a different container?
Barquentine, my scale does not go to .1 g, so might need to invest in a more accurate one. I was thinking that funnels would help with filling bottles. Thanks for the reminder about using the plastic spoons......I thought I had remembered reading it should be plastic, but couldn't remember exactly why. Now I know .

I feel like I'm on the right track, thanks to everyone's helpful input!

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Carrie
Wife to my Best Friend and Homeschool mom to 7 beautiful gifts

I make batches of up to 5 litres, so you can imagine how long it would take me to get the temperature up to 70C in a water bath! Using the microwave I can get up to temperature quite quickly, it heats the whole batch all the way through, and at the same time it sterilises the inner and outer surfaces of the mixing vessel.

You can get accurate scales on EBay very cheaply. I have a 1Kg scale accurate to 0.1g that cost around $12, and another one, a 200g (max) scale accurate to 0.01g - I use this mainly when I'm working with test batches of less than 1Kg and some of the ingredients are very small amounts. I also got a larger scale on EBay which weighs up to 10Kg in 2g increments, but I think a better option would be a 5Kg scale with 1g increments, I've seen these on EBay too.

KIMAX beakers are a lot cheaper than Pyrex and very good. The Chinese ones are so thin they don't survive long. I'd say a good selection of beakers is pretty much essential. Makes it easy to see what's going on. Also you want a sharp knife for cutting stuff like shea butter!

Interestingly, someone just brought me a sample of an extremely expensive face cream, by L'Occitane. "Creme Ultra Riche Visage" haha.
It has 25% shea butter according to the ingredients on the label! I've never heard of so much % of that being used. Deciphering the label, my best guess at its percentages is:

1. Water Q/S to 100%
2. shea butter, 25%
3. dicaprylyl carbonate 5 - 10%?
4. glycerine - 5%? (humectant)
5. modified corn starch (a thickener) 2.5-5%?
6. cetearyl alcohol - emollient and thickener - 2-5%?
7. sorbitol - 2-5%? (humectant)
8. ppg benzyl ether myristate - an emollient and shine enhancer, 1-2%?
9. dimethicone - film former, 1-2%?
10. glyceryl stearate - pearliser, emulsifier. This should be higher up the list as should the other emulsifier, Tween-20, which lists near the bottom?

and a whole pile of other minor compounds.
I'll have to try it on myself. Maybe I will try formulating a cream with 25% shea. The components that I identify as emulsifiers are listed in the 'wrong' places (i.e too far down the list to work as an emulsifier) so I suspect that the list of ingredients is deliberately inaccurate.