An emulsion isn't going to last forever. But it's our job as the cosmetic formulator to do our best to make an emulsion as stable as possible for as long as possible. Not only that but also feel perfect on the consumers skin, rubs into the skin in a timely manner, and leaving the skin feeling moisturized but not too sticky or oily. Without emulsifiers we can't have our favorite lotions, creams, moisturizers, or hair conditions,
What is an emulsion?
An emulsion combines two fluids that can’t be mixed together, like water and oil. We can mix or shake them to combine, but this only lasts a little while before they separate again. In order to keep the water based ingredients mixed into our lovely oils and butters we need to use an emulsifier to keep it all together.
Beginners look at Emulsifiers
There are lots of ways to do different types of emulsions and we will get into all of that as we continuously progress into this series on emulsifiers, but let’s start with the basics.
As a beginner, the types of emulsions I recommend you making are Oil-In-Water Emulsions. Also abbreviated as O/W using All-In-One Emulsifiers. This means the oil is mixed into the water.
All-In-One Emulsifiers allow home crafters to make relatively quick and easy emulsions that are pretty reliable as long as you follow the directions. Here is a list of waxy All-In-One Emulsifiers that I recommend you using as a beginner.
All-In-One Emulsifiers for Beginners
And when I say waxy I'm not referring to soy wax. Bees wax, sunflower wax or any other regular type of waxes that you might be thinking of. These are specifically made waxy emulsifiers that blend oil and water together unlike regular wax like beeswax which is not an emulsifier.
Oil-In-Water Emulsions
These are the types of emulsions most of us use and see others making.
Oil is the dispersed / internal phase and water is the continuous / external phase.
You usually have more water than oil, but this isn’t always the case. It really comes down to what the HLB is of your emulsifier.
Oil in water emulsifiers have an HLB ranging from 8 to 15. (but it isn't always based on the HLB system, some emulsifiers don’t have an HLB.) You don’t need to fully understand HLB in order to make a stable lotion.
Blending for Stability.
Even though the ingredient is sold under the name RitaMulse SCG / EcoMulse, it actually contains a blend of different ingredients; Glyceryl Stearate (and) Cetearyl Alcohol (and) Sodium Stearyl Lactylate. Combining a blend of different ingredients together is actually the best way to create a stable emulsion. That is what is so great about using All-In-One emulsifiers. The manufacturer has already done the work by blending the best ingredients together for the most stable formula. All of these All-In-One emulsifiers that I have mentioned contain a blend of different ingredients to create the final raw material sold.
Dealing with Emulsion instability. (A quick list)
Let me know if you want any videos talking more about these
Using too many oils - Check the formulating guidelines of your All-in-one emulsifier to see what percentage of oils they recommend using.
Some oils can be harder to emulsify than others. Silicones can be harder to keep emulsified. So sometimes it can depend on what kind of oil soluble ingredients you were trying to emulsify that determines the emulsifier you use. If you want to mix a bunch of silicones into water you would use a water in silicone emulsifier like EmulThix™
Might Need a co emulsifier.
Might need to add in a polymer. Using a a polymer can help increase emulsion stability while keeping the emulsion thinner. I do currently have a video where I talk a lot about them. Skip to timestamp 21:28 to learn more about polymers
Let’s recap.
An emulsion includes a dispersed phase and a continuous phase.
The continuous phase is usually the phase that takes up the most space and the dispersed phase is trapped inside the continuous phase that is usually taking up the least amount of space.
The dispersed phase forms droplets which are surrounded by the continuous phase.
So an emulsion is a combination of two immiscible phases being held together.
There are so many different types of emulsions and different types of emulsifiers. This is just a quick introduction for beginners who want to understand the basics of emulsions.
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