A gel scrub contains exfoliating particles that are suspended in the gel. When making gel scrub, the gum is the gelling agent that will turn the mixture of hydrosols, distilled water, and botanical extracts/essential oils into a lovely gel. By far, Xanthan gum is the most commonly used gum that disperses in vegetable glycerin. It will create a gel that can tolerate the addition of a wide range of water-soluble active ingredients. However, I have added Acacia gum to help solubilize oils into the water without increasing viscosity.
I had gotten this surfactant Plantapon® LGC Sorb from Formulator Sample Shop – INCI: Sodium Lauryl Glucose Carboxylate (and) Sodium Lauryl Glucoside. It is an anionic surfactant, mild yet with excellent foaming and sensory properties, making it especially suitable for use in mild rinse-off applications, like gel scrub.
Jojoba beads are often used in manual exfoliators and are popular due to being naturally sourced and relatively gentle. The spherical shape of jojoba seeds offer less aggressive exfoliation and are more suitable for regular use compared to some other natural exfoliators.
To protect the integrity of the gel from undergoing unwanted consistency change, a small percentage of Disodium EDTA is added to the formula to primarily work as a co-preservative, chelator, and improve product stability.
How To Make Gel Scrub – Key Ingredients
Panthenol (Vitamin B5) has the potential to improve the appearance of the skin, including dryness, roughness, scaling, pruritus, and erythema. Further, its moisturizing properties improve skin hydration by drawing water from deeper layers of the skin into the upper layers of the skin. It has in reducing trans-epidermal water loss and maintaining skin elasticity and softness. It stimulates skin regeneration and boosts healing.
Lavender hydrosol is analgesic, anti-inflammatory, calming, and cicatrizant (healing scars). This hydrosol contains skin-healing properties by adding a couple of drops of Lavender essential oils to the lavender hydrosol, and your skin will heal more quickly. It acts as a mood stabilizer and can be used in skincare as a facial spray and toner. It is gentle enough for use in any and child care.
Green tea extract is known to help diminish the signs of aging, such as wrinkles and fine lines, and often used in skincare products to calm irritation, even out skin discoloration. It is especially beneficial for skin conditions that are similarly characterized by dryness, itchiness, inflammation, and irritation.
Lavender essential oil calms and soothes the skin, suitable for all type of skins. It balances oil production and stimulates circulation to the skin. It is very safe to use, versatile and gentle. It helps you and your body to relax and has great benefits for the skin by regenerating skin cells. Another great oil for all skin types and needs.
Lavender Green Tea Gel Scrub
Tools & Equipment Needed
0.1g / 0.01g digital weighing scales
Glass beakers
Glass rod
Measuring spoons
pH strip / pH meter
Squeeze bottle
Ingredients
Phase A
- 28.90 g Distilled water | 57.8%
- 10 g Lavender Hydrosol | 20%
- 2.5 g Green Tea Extract | 5%
- 0.50 g Panthenol (Vitamin B5) | 1%
- 0.05 g Disodium EDTA | 0.1%
Phase B
- 2.5 g glycerin | 5%
- 0.5 g Xanthan Gum | 1%
- 0.5 g Acacia Gum | 1%
Phase C
- 2.5 g Plantapon LGC Sorb | 5%
Phase D
- 0.05 g lavender essential oil | 0.1%
- 0.5 g Jojoba Beads | 3%
- 0.5 g Preservative | 1%
Instructions
- Blend the glycerin and the gums in a glass beaker.
- In another beaker measure out all the Phase A ingredients.
- Now you can add the gum-glycerine to Phase A while stirring well
- Slowly blend the Phase C - surfactant into the mixture of Phase A-B, but be very careful to avoid creating foam
- Because the essential oil needed is a very low amount, you will need to use an accurate scale—preferably one accurate to 0.01g. Add the essential oil and stir well.
- Check that the pH using a pH strip or pH meter, check that the cream has a pH range that is compatible with your chosen preservative. This range is normally indicated by the supplier of the preservative. If your pH isn’t in a suitable range, you can lower it by adding an acid or raise it by adding sodium hydroxide or sodium bicarbonate.
- Finally, blend in the preservative
- Transfer it into the choice of your packaging
Notes
Notes
- Because this foam wash contains water, you MUST include a broad-spectrum preservative to ward off microbial growth. In the event, you notice any change in colour, scent, or texture, chuck it out and make a fresh batch.
- A formula should be written in a percentage of ingredients as well as grams. Our popular formulation calculator can be used to convert from percentages to weight easily. It also gives you warning alert if any of the category ingredients are out of recommended range to make sure the ratios between the ingredients are as desired.
- You can use a different hydrosol instead of the lavender, or you can also use more distilled water instead of a hydrosol.
- If you wish to use more natural chelator, you can use Dermofeel PA-3 to replace Disodium EDTA
- You can always use a different essential oil blend as you wish
- You may wish to replace surfactant Plantapon® LGC Sorb with other suitable surfactants
Adding green tea extract creates a dark orangish solution. However, when jojoba beads added to the mix, it changes to slightly darker greyish gel. If aesthetic is important to you, you can replace green tea extra and add in some interesting herbal extracts in glycerine (aka ‘glycerites’) to give your gel a colourful boost.
Buy it from an online DIY ingredient supplier or Amazon.
