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Question regarding what mixing utensils to use when working with chemicals like vitamin c that react with metal:

I'm rather new to DIY (made a brightening serum & moisturizer so far using heat/hold method & a broad spectrum perservative). I want to make a SAP serum but it occurred to me I cannot use metal utensils like the metal spoon and milk frother I have been using so far. What would be recommended for mixing? SAP needs to be mixed very well according to my research. Would glass stirring rods and this [plastic hand mixer](https://www.amazon.com/Fit-Fresh-Portable-Drink-Formula/dp/B000FNH01E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1496194675&sr=8-1&keywords=small+hand+mixer be) good? Shouldn't I concerned about chemicals leaching into the plastic, though? Maybe some nylon spreaders or corning lab spatulas for scraping it out of the beaker?

 

This is the recipe I am going to use.

 


SAP serum

79.3% distilled water

10% propylene glycol

5% SAP

3% glycerin

2% green tea extract

0.5% liquid Germall Plus

0.2% sodium carbomer

<1% citric acid solution (pH adjuster)


Directions:
Heat water in double broiler, making sure water is above 158F/70C in double broiler. Add propylene glycol to distilled water in a beaker and stir until dissolved. Add glycerin, stirring until dissolved. Weigh entire phase, beaker and all and make a note of the weight. Place in double boiler and hold at 158F/70C for 20 minutes. Remove mixture from double broiler, dry it off, weigh it and note the difference. Add distilled water to equal the difference in pre and post heating weight. Let cool down to 104F/40C. Once mixture is below 104F/40C, add green tea extract and sodium carbomer, one at a time, mixing and making sure each one dissolves before adding the next. Add SAP- it is essential that you do NOT add the powders to the water at once, sticky lumps WILL form. It is best to sprinkle tiny amounts at a time, mix that, and then add more. Mix 50% citric acid and 50% warm distilled water in a separate container until it dissolves. Use a pipette to add the pH adjuster in the SAP solution. Add about 2 or 3 drops then test the pH and repeat until you have reached to 6 pH. Add preservative, mixing until dissolved.

Moved across state successfully w my massive DIY collection. My insight...

XL plastic art/craft supply storage containers with adjustable sectioning are your answer. Make sure you get the deep kind. Heres what I used

It was literally a godsend for storage/keeping everything organized. Worked for my packaging & container collection, tools, Minimixers, old products I created, beakers etc. IME there wasn't anything I had in my DIY hobby that was too big to fit. Stacks nicely, maximizes space in car.

I purchased 4 of them when the aqua colored one was $13 (but I see $ went up).

For my active ingredients (my babies) I took extra protection. Old prescription bottles house 1-2oz ingred vials to keep them protected from sunlight. Also have used amber color ziploc bags (used for photo film, sold on Amazon) for larger vials. Then I kept them all inside an XL airtight re-sealable storage container (the ones meant for food). Mine's meant for dogfood so it was way huge enough to fit everything. $10 for 25lb one.

My actives that required refridgeration were tricky. I eventually ended up triple-gallon-ziploc-bagging them wrapped with ice. And then got one of those Hot-Cool temp preserving bags they sell at grocery stores. 8 hours later & ice hadn't even melted.

Assuming you don't own a $1000+ overhead mixer and lab furniture, I'd say all your bases are covered. I definitely ditched extra things that I routinely replace (like my pipettes, old actives I didn't care about, labels).

Being a college student myself, I understand the need to be frugal. If you're going to be in a car, any old box or plastic storage totes you have would surely suffice. Only thing I'd say is a necessity is watching your active ingredients. Spend $ to keep them secure, otherwise you'll end up paying more $$ to replace them.

Thank you so much for correcting my formatting error! It seems adding the pound (octothorpe) sign before my numbers to answer OP's questions unintentionally bolded the text :)

However, your information seems extraordinarily basic. All vendors selling a Vitamin C variation (like SAP, MAP, Tetrahex, etc) will recommend using a "blanket" low % of the active (somewhere b/w 0-3) to achieve "added antioxidant benefits". These recommended %s then change to 10% and above in order to yield skin lightening effects (what everyone is traditionally searching for with Vit C usage). SOURCES: Vit C SAP https://www.makingcosmetics.com/Vitamin-C-sodium-ascorbyl-phosphate_p_1040.html ; Vit C MAP https://www.makingcosmetics.com/Vitamin-C-magnesium-ascorbyl-phosphate_p_323.html ; Vit C Tetrahex http://www.lotioncrafter.com/tetrahexyldecyl-ascorbate-BV-OSC.html ; L-Asc Acid http://www.lotioncrafter.com/ascorbic-acid-ultrafine.html .

Further, the recommended % for skin lightening effects of a specific Vit C are typically exceeded in commercially-made products (think 15% L-Asc. Acid in the award winning CE Ferulic). Here are some links to Vit C SAP serums that use a 20% concentration and are wildly successful: https://www.amazon.com/TruSkin-Naturals-Vitamin-Anti-Aging-Hyaluronic/dp/B01M4MCUAF/ref=sr_1_4_s_it?s=beauty&ie=UTF8&qid=1506303615&sr=1-4&keywords=vitamin%2Bc%2Bserum&th=1 ; https://www.amazon.com/Amara-Organics-Vitamin-Serum-Hyaluronic/dp/B00G2TQNZ4/ref=sr_1_5_s_it?s=beauty&ie=UTF8&qid=1506303638&sr=1-5&keywords=vitamin+c+serum I USED TO USE THIS ONE ; https://www.amazon.com/Radha-Beauty-Vitamin-Serum-Face/dp/B00VNXQE94/ref=sr_1_8_s_it?s=beauty&ie=UTF8&qid=1506303638&sr=1-8&keywords=vitamin+c+serum .

Plus any good formulator knows that manual pH adjusting (via Triethanomine or Citric Acid) of DIY skincare products is essential.

If you have any other credible resources that contradict my information provided, please feel free to share :) I'd be happy to take a look. But currently it seems all points of your argument have been invalidated.

Please stop your misguided fear mongering. xoxo

Ugh. Sorry if I'm getting a little bit frustrated with this, but you're really not stating your problem clearly here. If you describe what effect you're after in more detail, and what purpose the cream serves, it would be a lot easier to point you to something.
So far I gather : you need to prevent dryness, add moisture if possible, and prevent it from feeling unpleasant when rubbing against fabric. Sounds like an occlusive / anti-chafing gel more than a moisturizer.

Here is a really good product that's specifically designed for women's parts. I have it at home and it's really great for making the skin feel smooth and comfortable, and retaining moisture : https://www.amazon.com/MONISTAT-Complete-Chafing-Relief-Powder/dp/B00AXVJF52/

In the UK specifically, searching for "anti-chafing gel", there seem to be a couple of options :
Lanacane : I've had this one before and it's not as smooth / silky as the Monistat one, but it's ok.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lanacane-3284726-Anti-Chafing-Gel-28grams/dp/B00YCQGRJG

These two - I have no idea if they're good but have good reviews and the first one has suitable ingredients :
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Udderly-Smooth-Chamois-Chaffing-Butter/dp/B002DR4ISI
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bodyglide-AB4-Anti-Chafe-0-45oz/dp/B000KIMTCY


Won't recommend you DIY this because it has more complex ingredients that you'll need to source and figure out how to assemble.

For the dry shampoo, if you actually want to use it not just right before you wash your hair (Which I definitely recommend because I can get away with washing my hair twice a week, it's a lifesaver if you sometimes live a busy life, and I use it even on freshly washed hair because I achieve volume I would never get without a blow dryer.) Then I would get pre-made dry shampoo here's the one I currently am using (But get the one for blondes if you're blonde)

The way I use it is I pour some on my oily areas like the back of my head and massage it in to distribute, flip my hair to the side, repeat, flip my hair to the other side, etc, until it no longer looks or feels oily and I have hair to the havens. If you don't have a ton of hair you might prefer a more precise application using a clean makeup brush. If there's any visible tint of the powder I brush it to distribute it.

Although the powder takes a bit longer to use than the spray, it's alcohol free, without all those awful chemicals, less drying, and lasts longer.

As for making your own there's a lot of recipes and most of them will probably work just as well as pre made ones. I just prefer them because they're scented and conveniently come in bottles with shakers.



For blondes:

• Arrowroot powder (this is preferable over others)
  
  
• Cornstarch
  
  
• Baby powder
  
  For ginger hair:
  
  
• Cinnamon
  
  For deep red tones:
  
  
• Sugar free DUTCHED cocoa powder
  
  For brunettes:
  
  
• a mixture of arrowroot and sugar free non-dutched powder
  
  For black or almost black hair:
  
  
• sugar free cocoa powder
  
  
  If your hair looks too dull to your liking, brush it out more and apply a shine serum on the bottom half of your hair.

Tsubaki oil is great as a leave-on. It's not crazy expensive but I still don't cleanse with it (unless I'm out of other stuff!) because I feel like it's more precious than mineral oil.

In Japan, tsubaki oil is used as knife cleaner (much the way mineral oil is used as a wooden board cleaner) so it's available very cheaply in that "format" and it's food-safe. Here's the one I buy on Amazon Prime. I'm sure you could find a better per oz price somewhere from a bulk supplier but I simply don't make enough stuff to need more than 8 oz of the tsubaki at a time. Since I don't use it for cleansing, I don't go through it very quickly!

Hi! I posted this in sca but just realised diybeauty may have more knowledge regarding this-

Anyone knows a tool that lets you enter ingredients of a particular product, to see if the ingredients will still be effective when put together?

If certain ingredients react to each other or operate at different pH levels, wouldn't they be rendered ineffective?

The product I'm trying to look into has these ingredients: Pure Hyaluronic acid, Kojic acid, Alpha Arbutin, Vitamin C(L-Ascorbic acid), DMAE(Dimethylaminoethanol), Vitamin E, Optiphen, Potassium sorbate, Citric acid, Distilled water

From this active ingredient pH list, it seems like Vitamin C (ph3-3.5) and DMAE (ph6-7) are not effective at the same pH levels.

I have oily skin as well and have found that coconut oil tends to make me break out! It is comedogenic/can clog pores so its best for people who aren't prone to whiteheads to begin with. That's probably what's causing the problem! To get rid of the whiteheads you have now, I recommend a clay mask or spot treatment (I really like the aztec clay mask mixed with apple cider vinegar and Cosrx patches, both are trendy but I find they work well). If you really like using oil as a moisturizer, try something formulated especially for skin that doesn't clog pores (Trader Joe's has one that's pretty nice), but I find a water based moisturizer best for me (right now I'm using this Tonymoly moisturizer).
(edits: formatting is hard)

For small DIYs, I use that setup: hot plate with some sort of pot/tub holding water, silicon trivet, and beaker. I use a digital thermometer to check it every few minutes and adjust the temp that way.

For larger DIYs, I use a sous vide machine. I just get a big plastic tub (I like the Rubbermaid Commercial ones), fill it with water, and let the sous vide do its thing. It's the BEST - it holds an exact temperature indefinitely, it pairs with an app so you can adjust it remotely, and it keeps water circulating so you don't have to worry about different temps in different places. It's maybe overkill for small personal projects, but I super duper love it.

So sorry I don't have a DIY suggestion for you, but I have a cheap alternative that you might like.

I use Monistat Chafing Relief Powder Gel as my primer. It can be had for under $10 and works really well, just as well as an expensive primer.

I had received a sample of Smashbox primer and decided to compare the two. The Smashbox was a teeny bit thicker, but other than that, no difference except for you get loads more product with Monistat.

Check out the reviews on Makeup Alley: http://www.makeupalley.com/product/x_showreview.asp?itemid=98437

I got mine at Wal-Mart for about $5. I've also seen it at Target. It's on drugstore.com for $6:
http://www.drugstore.com/monistat-soothing-care-powder-gel/qxp139254?tab=1#TblTabStrip

It's more expensive, but you can find it on amazon for about $10:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0012ZNSWE/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1411792724&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40

I hope this helps!

If you're looking for a paper book, I'd recommend The Idiot's Guide to Making Natural Beauty Products by Sally Trew. About half the book is dedicated to cosmetics recipes (most books of this sort are dedicated to skincare, with a few cosmetics recipes thrown in at the back), and she explains things very well for someone that's new to the field.

Thanks for the reply! I don't know why I didn't think you'd be here, your like my skincare godmother lol. I was thinking about using it in it's original packaging but if something like this is necessary I can switch over to that.

So I've looked into some more DIY threads and I'm assuming you mean percentages, so for that I'm unsure if I need a digital scale. So I measure out the amount of oil cleanser I have now, roughly, using the digital scale. Then using another type of container, like a beaker, I measure out the correct number of Cromollient SCE I need, for example 0.60 ounces if I had about 5.40 ounces of mineral oil, to make the total batch 6 ounces. Am I missing anything?

Find a good digital scale that goes as precise as 0.01g. I use My Weigh Triton T2 for almost a year and I'm happy with it.

Does anyone have Make It Up by Marie Rayma? Do you recommend it? If not, what would you recommend instead?

Personally I would recommend the book Make It Up , especially if you think you'll end up dabbling in other cosmetics (lipstick, foundation etc). If you haven't placed an order from TKB yet I'd wait until finding recipes so you can make sure to get everything needed in one go. I have a few other recipe sources bookmarked but I'm on mobile right now, I'll come back to edit this comment later.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AE0GVYK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

recommended to me by a mod and I like it. You need a 200g (i believe but double check that one) calibration weight that you can probably find on ebay.

skinessentialactives might also have calibration weights and scales. I don't know much about other brands though.