What is a Toner?
This is a copy and paste of what wikipedia says;
"A toner a lotion, tonic or wash designed to cleanse the skin and shrink the appearance of pores, usually used on the face. It also moisturizes, protects and refreshes the skin. Toners can be applied to the skin in different ways:
On a cotton round. (This is the most frequently used method.)
Spraying onto the face.
By applying a tonic gauze facial mask—a piece of gauze is covered with toner and left on the face for a few minutes."
- note; you could also use compressed sheet masks to apply toners
How to / When to use Toners
Use after cleansing, but before serum or moisturizer. Can be used morning and night. Pat or gently wipe onto skin using a cotton round or mist onto skin and let skin dry before applying moisturizer or serum. If applying a hyaluronic acid based serum overtop apply serum while skin is still damp from toner.
toners can and could play a crucial rule that you are missing in your skincare routine.
toners can help remove any excess dirt or makeup left over after cleansing.
they can help incorporate actives into your skincare routine that may not be in the other products you are using
they can help with minimizing the appearance of pores
toners can also help restore your skin after cleansing. Your skin is in its most vulnerable state after cleansing. So applying the right toner after cleansing can help restore your skin and prep it to better absorb the ingredients in the rest of your skincare routine. I see this being pushed more with essences.
Different Types of Toners
Since I got my definition of toners from wikipedia I figured I'd also share what categories they divided toners in. This is a copy and paste
"Skin bracers or fresheners
These are the mildest form of toners; they contain water and a humectant such as glycerin, and little if any alcohol (0–10%).
These toners are the gentlest to the skin, and are most suitable for use on dry, dehydrated, sensitive and normal skins. It may give a burning sensation to sensitive skin.
Skin tonics
These are slightly stronger and contain a small quantity of alcohol (up to 20%), water and a humectant humectant ingredient. Skin tonics are suitable for use on normal, combination, and oily skin.
Acid Toners
These are a strong form of toner that typically contains alpha hydroxy acid and or beta hydroxy acid. Acid toners are formulated with the intent of chemically exfoliating the skin. Glycolic, Lactic, and Mandelic acids are the most commonly used alpha hydroxy acids, best suited to exfoliate the surface of the skin. Salicylic acid is the most commonly used beta hydroxy acid best for exfoliating into the deeper layers of the skin.
Astringents
These are the strongest form of toner and contain a high proportion of alcohol (20–60%), antiseptic ingredients, water, and a humectant ingredient. These can be irritating and damaging to the skin as they can remove excess protective lipids as well as denature proteins in the skin when a high percentage of alcohol is used."
My thoughts on these categories.....
I personally think that this is a pretty outdated categorization of toners. Every single category mentions using alcohol besides the acid toner category. Alcohol isn't really recommended to be used on the skin because they can really dry out and damage the skin. So I personally don't like this way of categorizing them. Instead I came up with my own version. I do agree with the acid category and the astringent category, but astringents aren't the best for the skin so I won't even be talking about how to make those because I don't recommend using them.
How I categorize the different types of toners
hydrators
These are the easiest to make and include very minimal ingredients and humectants. Typically for dry, sensitive and normal skin types, but can be used by any skin type. Those with oily skin may not feel the need for these types of toners as there are better options out there for oily skin.
active toners
These are basically the same as hydrating toners but they include actives like niacinamide, ceramide complex, alpha arbutin or any other more expensive active ingredients.
acid toners
Formulated with AHA’s or BHA’s. I won’t be talking about these types of toners in this video as AHA’s and BHA’s are advanced ingredients. but let me know if you’d like a video/series over AHA and BHA products.
I do think these categories can overlap with one another so don't take this categorization too seriously. There are also other types of toners like milky toners or essences. The beauty industry is so vast and constantly innovating new types of products so it can be pretty difficult to really narrow one product down to just one description.
Toners vs Mists vs Essences vs Astringent
Let’s start from beginnings, astringents had their moment first. Astringents can help cleanse skin, tighten pores, and dry out oil. It’s crazy to see how much skincare has changed since I’ve been a teen. Astringents were all that back in my teen days, but now, they kind of have a bad reputation, but for good reasons. They are alcohol based and pretty drying. & I’m not talking about fatty alcohols like cetyl alcohol or cetearyl alcohol, those are moisturizing. I’m talking about the alcohols that actually dry out your skin.
When I first got into skincare I remember astringents were what was recommended for those with oily and acne prone skin. They contained alcohol which helped dry out the skin so us teens thought it was perfect! This has definitely been shown to NOT be the best option to fight off acne. Drying out your skin just causes your skin to think it’s dry causing it to produce more oil to make up for the oil loss, thus causing your sebaceous glands too clog and that is how acne is formed. Even if you have oily skin it’s important to keep some kind of moisture on the skin. & if it means anything, the more oily your skin is the less likely you are to get wrinkle.
So I would completely rule out astringents as a possibility in your skincare routine. They aren’t recommended and are extremely outdated. So I won’t even be talking about formulating these, ever. Just forget they exist.
Now, toners, mists, and essences.
As for toners and mists. These are basically the same thing, just different marketing and packaging. Obviously if it has a misting pump that is what makes it a mist, but sometimes toners will have ingredients that shouldn't be used around the eyes, so this is when it would be marketed as a toner and not have a misting pump.
Essences, these are the newest addition to the toner family. Essences got popular due to k beauty and are uniquely Korean. I thought I understood essences, but as I was doing research for this video I found that there is much more to these than I thought. There are two types of essences. The first preps your skin. You use it after cleansing and its water based which preps your skin for better absorption of other products. It also usually has a high concentration of fermented ingredients. The second type is a toner and serum hybrid. It can target specific skin concerns while also keeping your skin hydrated. Essences usually contain galactomyces or saccharomyces ferment filtrate, which are yeast-based filtrates that help address a lot of skin concerns; oiliness, acne, uneven texture and premature aging. So I actually want to do a whole separate video on essences, so let me know if you wanna see that.
Ingredients found in toner
water - this is the base for toners and will be the highest percentage of your formula. If you prefer you can replace the distilled water with witch hazel hydrosol, or another hydrosol.
witch hazel - specifically alcohol free witch hazel. Yes, there are toners that use alcohol based witch hazel, but those are more similar to astringents as we talked about before. Which I don’t recommend for the skin, so that is why I recommend using alcohol free witch hazel instead. Witch hazel can help soothe the skin, help with redness, help with razor burns inflammation, and it acts as a non drying astringent to help with cleansing skin and tighten pores.
hydrosols - (according to sedonaaromatics.com ) “A hydrolat is an aromatic water that is “leftover” from the distillation of an essential oil. In the past, hydrolats were considered the more valuable product, a role which today goes to essential oils. However, hydrolats are making a comeback and are growing in popularity with aromatherapists. You might also hear the term hydrosol used interchangeably with hydrolat, particularly in the United States.” Essential oils and hydrosols of the same plant may not smell the same though.
- Real vs synthetic hydrosols. - According to quinessence.com “What many people are not aware of is it has been common practice since around 1950 to manufacture products sold as floral waters by adding pure essential oils or synthetic perfumes to water by means of alcohol or some other unwanted solvent, in order to manufacture them quickly and at a lower cost. The availability of true hydrosols is restricted to the number of harvests a crop can produce, which is typically only once a year, although there are exceptions. This regularly causes a shortage of supply until the next year’s crop is distilled."
"This scarcity, plus the cost of transporting hydrosols in bulk around the world explains why manufacturing them artificially is much more convenient and profitable to the industries that use them. In case you were unaware, a large proportion of the cost of hydrosols is due to the cost of shipping them from the distilleries around the world to a whole range of manufacturers and suppliers outside of our industry.”
You can usually tell if a hydrosol is synthetic by if it’s listed as a floral water or a hydrosol. For example, instead of the product being called rose hydrosol it will be listed as rose water. You can also tell by the price. If the price it too good to be true, it’s most likely not a true rose hydrosol. You can also contact the supplier with your question.
There are so many different hydrosols out there with unique benefits, so there is no way I can mention all of them, but here are a few I’ve worked with.
rose water - great for dry and mature skin types, gives your product a lovely rose scent and is a great ingredient for soothing the skin.
Lemon hydrosol - best suited to oily skin and makes a wonderful addition to body care products geared toward skin clarity.
lavender water - great for balancing dry or oily skin types. serves as a lovely fragrance in products and is a great ingredient to help soothe the skin.
chamomile hyrdosol - It is one of the most gentle anti-inflammatory's of all the hydrosols. Well known for its healing, soothing, effect on skin.
turmeric hydrosol - offers the gorgeous aroma of turmeric and is said to help with relieving bruising, swelling, and related pain.
cucumber hydrosol - can be used in soothing and cooling skin care applications and offers a very nice refreshing scent of cucumber
fruit essences - these aren’t to be confused with the essences we talked about before. I know confusing, but these are more similar to hydrosols. They can sometimes go by the name essence, hydrosol, or Distillate . According to transparencymarketresearch.com "Fruit essences are fruit flavors obtained during the concentration process of fruit juice and during the separation process of aromatic compounds from various fruits."
I’ve worked with strawberry essence, blueberry and green apple essence. They all smell wonderful. They definitely don’t smell like a synthetic scent. So don’t expect it to smell like your strawberry candy or soap, it’s more of a natural type of scent. These are becoming harder and harder for me to find. Lotion crafter used to sell all kinds of them, but unfortunately they only carry apple essence now, which smells so freakin good! There are some other places I’ve found that sell essences, but I noticed every time I check the sites their selection gets lower. So not sure what’s up with that.
humectants - glycerin, propanedial, hyaluronic acid, propylene glycol, butylene glycol, sorbitol, sodium PCA, panthenol, ect. humectants help the skin hydrate and retain moisture so the skin doesn’t dry out
aloe vera - this can come in the form of aloe vera liquid, aloe vera liquid concentrate, or my favorite aloe vera powder. I’ve seen aloe vera 100x powder and aloe vera 200x powder, which is the one I usually use. I prefer the powder since it is much more concentrated and lightweight, so it take up less space in my lab and it’s cheaper to ship. It also lasts longer since it’s concentrated so I don’t have to buy it as often.
extracts - extracts are a fun and easy way to add all kinds of unique benefits to your toners. It’s also a great way to brand and market your products. For example if you wanted to make a watermelon theme toner you can easily do so by adding in watermelon extract. There are so many extracts out there and I definitely can’t go into detail about all of them, so I’ll name a couple that I have a lot of experience with.
willow bark extract - exfoliation, problem Skin, antimicrobial
calendula extract - provides anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, astringent, soothing, healing and protecting effects to skin.
Licorice extract - has brightening and soothing action. helps fade sun damage and hyper-pigmentation safely for all skin tones, while blocking melanin production to prevent more from forming.
strawberry extract - rich in vitamin c, known for containing soothing properties, and can reduce the appearance of pores.
chamomile extract - has anti-inflammatory properties and helps soothe skin from irritation
cucumber extract - soothes skin, moisturizing, has vitamin C, vitamin K, and potassium, vitamin A, vitamin B6, thiamin, folate, pantothenic acid, magnesium, phosphorus, copper, and manganese.
hydrolyzed proteins - there are lots of different hydrolyzed proteins like rice, quinoa, wheat, and baobab to name a few. They all have unique benefits for the skin, but something they all have in common is that they are cationic and can help condition the skin.
vitamins - niacinamide and DL panthenol are two really common ingredients found in toners. I mentioned panthenol early in the humectants section because it acts as a humectant to help hydrate the skin. It is also known as vitamin B5. Niacinamide is a very effective skin-restoring ingredient that offers multiple benefits for aging skin. Among these benefits is the ability to visibly improve the appearance of enlarged pores, uneven skin tone, fine lines, dullness, and helps improve the overall appearance of the skin. There are lots of other vitamins like C, E, and A (retinol) but these are more advanced to work with or they may be oil soluble so they can be a bit more difficult to formulate with in toners. So we will just ignore those for now.
thickeners - helps give toner a bit of viscosity. Allows it to not soak to much into a cotton round so you don’t waste as much product. Also doesn’t soak into the skin as fast giving some people the feeling of their skin being hydrated more. Examples of thickeners in toners are carbomer, xanthan gum, sepimax zen
Other water soluble ingredients - the list could be never ending. Any water soluble ingredient that is properly formulated with could be incorporated into a toner. Ceramide complex is a good example. Ceramide restores the protective barrier function of the skin and offers enhanced delivery and exchange of skin lipids. Ceramide Complex is especially suitable for dry skin, aging skin and sensitive skin. Another example would be arbutin or alpaflor gigawhite, which helps help brighten the skin. If the ingredient is water soluble you can probably use it in a toner, just make sure you read the ingredients formulating guidelines and use it properly.
Preserving toners
We’ve already established that toners are a water based product, so that means we need a water soluble preservative like liquid germall plus. I definitely recommend watching my video all about preservatives.
The reason I recommend Liquid germall plus is because it is by far the easiest preservative to use because it works in so many different formulas, it doesn’t have issues solubilizing in water, it doesn’t destabilize emulsions, it isn’t extremely pH sensitive, it’s inexpensive, and is very easy to find. A lot of other water soluble preservatives like euxyl k 903, euxyl PE 9010, and optiphen plus has issues solubilizing fully in water, even though they are considered water soluble. What happens is the preservative kind of just settles on top and you can tell it’s not fully mixed in, so with preservatives like this, you will want to mix them with your glycerin, propanedial, or propylene glycol first before adding in the water. This will help solubilize the preservative into the water phase. I've tried this with tristate ECO, geogard ECT, euxyl K 903, and euxyl PE 9010 and it worked with all of them.
That's all for now. In the next blog post we will be formulating 4 different toners for beginners.
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