Best ingredient for thickening?!
Best ingredient for thickening?
This isn't exactly a cooking question, but I think I'm going to end up using food ingredients so I thought I'd try it here.
I've been making my own facial cleanser using castile soap, honey, glycerin and water. It works well but it's really watery - this makes it hard to use.
I want to come up with a way to thicken it. I've thought cornstarch, gelatin or agar could work. Ideally I'm looking for something that will not separate and will be suitable for cosmetic use. Any ideas on which of those would be best, or a different ingredient?
3 weeks ago
The recipe I got called for water, probably because castile soap comes as a concentrate & has to be diluted for most uses. Every skin care recipe I've seen that uses castile soap also includes water to dilute.
Answers:
3 weeks ago
The recipe I got called for water, probably because castile soap comes as a concentrate & has to be diluted for most uses. Every skin care recipe I've seen that uses castile soap also includes water to dilute.
i would agree agar agar is a good candidate, i would add arrow root to your list of things to test as well as it is clear, and not animal based too.
Try using ALOE, the fresh ones are better, just find out where you can pick them and go get some, use the aloe, its good for your skin because its a plant.
you should be really careful when puttng things on your face but try oatmeal!
Why add the water, then, if it turns out too watery? Gelatin should work, though.
ARGO food starch
Whipped petroleum jelly, like the Vasaline kind. Take it and whip it with one of your ingrediates then add the rest. As it whips it becomes fluffy. My mom uses Vasaline, whipped with just water to make it lighter and thin it out, on her face.
polyacrylic acid with an allyl sucrose crosslinker, typically at a concentration of about 0.075%(v/v)
I'm no expert on facial cleansers, but I do know that if you use cornstarch, it won't provide much thickening unless you boil the entire mixture. The starch granules won't swell up at cooler temperatures.
Either gelatin or agar will behave in much the same way, although you could boil the gelatin, let it cool, and then add it to your product. That could work.
One other idea: since there's already oatmeal in your cleanser recipe, put some rolled oats (oatmeal) into a food processor, and grind it into a fine powder; add the powder gradually to your mixture, until its the thickness you want.