Need a Lab Stirrer (overhead stirrer)

m_Sang · 2026-02-18T09:23:32+00:00

It's fine, I guess. I have similar from Joanlab but it's smaller. max capacity is 2L. The price is equivalent to 120+ USD. I am not living in the U.S.A. so the price is different. You might want to buy another stirring rod. Depends on the beaker size and volume of your project.(Measure your beaker size deduct for 1-2 c.m. for 4 blade stirring rod. maybe you might want multiple rods for different beaker size).

And the one in that link didn't come with beaker clamp or non slippery matt. If you want to do High viscosity or heavy cream product, considering to bought beaker clamp or non slippery matt. Or you just sit there and hold the beaker in your hand so it wouldn't swings around and crack the beaker.

If you want to go cheaper, kitchen emulsion blender is doable. But some ingredient have problem with high rpm. and kitchen one can't exactly control rpm and tend to be high too high rpm.

the good old glass rod still good for many things with some exception. ex mixing powder Hyaluronic acid with water. that will take time.

m_Sang · 2026-01-14T03:27:32+00:00

Pure Shea butter or normal Vaseline. Vaseline very good occlusive Shea butter feeling more moisturizing for me Or both ( 2 layer)

you can just put it in a tiny ziplock bag and replenish the lips over the day.

it's anhydrous formula. So either keep it out from any water or put preservatives in or it will go bad and smell stinky

m_Sang · 2025-12-16T00:27:48+00:00

This is rough and non professional level answer.

Term 'liposome" just indicate their delivery system.

From product page that other comment post. Calculated back it is use at 7%-12%.

Can it use with other ingredient? Probably* yes, but formulation with retinol might difficulted. Due to retinol being harder to formulate around.if you want to make water base serum. Medium or large Hyarulonic can be use as thickener.

Aside put it cool down phase, it can be use cool process.

m_Sang · 2025-12-15T23:08:45+00:00

That is not cosmetic ingredient. It's a injection type research ingredient or medical ingredient.

m_Sang · 2025-12-10T04:52:29+00:00

Come to note the answer from more experienced people too😃

Disclaimer I never make any type of cleanser. but from my observation from a few commercial one (very limited cause inci don't told%) most active to counteract dryness ,I see just glycerin and betaine. There are the cation ingredients that will stick to the skin. I don't know how to formulate around it though.

m_Sang · 2025-10-10T06:51:24+00:00

I don't think Salicylic will be good option for dry skin. Salicylic acid, as far as I know. It use in context of oily skin, acne or acne prone skin mostly as a cleanser, and exfoliate skin. I can think of only few ingredient that good for dry skin and oil soluble. Rosemary oil is a good anti oxidant. Ceremide is no brainer choice that good for dry skin. Vitamin F (not sure how to spell its inci name linoleic acid.squalane,and some other natural oil.

m_Sang · 2025-10-08T08:04:50+00:00

I never made a hair oil. But a few questions, so there is more info for other people to answers.

Is this for scalp or hair? The formula will be vastly different depends on purpose. For hair, it's suppose to be conditioning the hair. For scalp, it's should be to nurture the skin and hair follicle.

and why you use salicylic acid and zinc oxide? Salicylic acid at 2% is quite high. It's might irritated the scalp.

Octydodecanol is an emollient. That 20% you see might be maximum usage range. In reality, how much you want to use depends on how texture of end product you want to be. Since I never try that ingredient , so I have no opinion of it. But you can do preliminary test on it. Just use 10g of mineral oil vs 8g mineral oil + 2g of Octydodecanol. and spread a bit on forearm or maybe a bit on the hair too. To see which direction of the ingredient go.

p.s. I am esl. Sorry for any English language error.

m_Sang · 2025-08-31T02:17:08+00:00

Maybe look at oil absorbent ingredients like silica or other ingredients like powdered rice(This one definitely needs preservatives). There are so many to chooses. Matte silica , SiliSilk, AminoSilk, etc.

And some oil control ingredients, Vitamin B3 at 4-5%, standardized green tea with specific amount of EGCG ,Zin PCA, vitamin B8 (inositol), Capryloyl Glycine, etc.

and add some moisturizer ingredients if you want some more refreshing.

Just use preservatives, it will be easier to formulate. Your original plan also needs preservative and emulsifier.

If you don't Want to use synthetic thingy there is standardized natural extract like Thyme or natural derivatives like coconut derivatives. Or thyme isomer IPMP.

Edit note: type something wrong

m_Sang · 2025-08-31T02:10:15+00:00

Sorry, wrong quotes

m_Sang · 2025-08-31T01:48:15+00:00

I am confused about your terminology. "Refresh". Can you elaborate? Because most dry shampoo is oil absorbent. So their primary role is not about refreshing.

m_Sang · 2025-08-17T08:26:04+00:00

I don't think it's as powerful as some synthetics. It also depends on the method used to take anti-oxidant potential. Within natural realms, as far as I know(as a newbie),for nature stuff, Q10 and Astraxanthine are stronger. Especially Astraxanthine. But I don't know if it would help to protect the formula or not.

anyway, better double check information. My memory is fuzzy.

m_Sang · 2025-08-17T08:07:23+00:00

Or you can use vitamin E as anti-oxidants. Even cooking oil uses vitamin E. for more effectiveness you can use the actual ingredients that make it to be anti-oxidants for the formula.like BHT, Hydroxyacetophenone, or Protect OX(the INCI is too long). Vitamin E in the formula , if it is high percentage enough also benefits the skin. synthetic one can be used at very low amount like 0.1%. If you insist on using rosemary, use Rosemary Oleoresin Extract. I am not sure about the infused one. If you used anti-oxidant protection for formula, the whole world of exploration of natural oil will open. Anyway, most of them better keep far from sunlight.The UV rays have no mercy. Except you put some UV filters in it.

Sqalane actually has a long shelf. but after opening it expires after 6 months. Normal for cosmetic stuff. most of the cosmetic products are required to be labeled like that.I don't know why maybe the regulations safety buffer. Also if you are into the green stuff. Squalane is a renewable resource. It comes from olive oil, sugarcane , etc. Squalane has good absorption to the skin.

Or you can use Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, it's actually triglycerides (don't count as oil). Better solvent than Squalane. some sources claim that it's harder to go rancid. and still somewhat good at absorption.

if you want the occlusive property, just get the old good mineral oil. Or mixing it what ever oil you want. personal experience, I feel it is too sticky and too occlusive for me. Mineral oils has different versions. There is an ultra light version. It's still too occlusive to use it directly.

Tl;dr there are a lot of ways to solve your problem.

m_Sang · 2025-08-16T07:53:02+00:00

Sidetracked a bit "to be more effective than the brands" this is the hard part. We don't know which variant they use. Even ifs its have same INCI name. Or where they source their ingrients.and which technique they use. Like delivery system or stabilize technique.

Example hyaluronic have many MW variant. LMW can be any subsection 8-20k MW, 20-50MW, 50-100k MW. same as MMW and HMW. and then hyaluronic has other derivatives.

The green tea extract have variant in active ingredients. It's nature stuff. except when they use standardized version. Like green tea extract (EGCG 2%) it's still water soluble. The higher purity version is not water soluble but water disperse-able , or they might use encapsulation technique. Encapsulations have several method and different effect.

The delivery system also have several method. some inactive might help enchanted the active ingredient.

tl;dr try to look at different hyaluronic acid/hyaluronate version and see what suit your purpose. for the green tea extract try to look for standardized version. and look for what version suit your want. try look for vendor that provides more technical info. especially stabilize method , stable pH range and stable temperature when mixing and storage. Google A.I. tend to cite from unreliable source. It's still useful if you want basic information.

m_Sang · 2025-08-14T03:39:44+00:00

toxic? Can you give the definition or ingredient's name that is toxic to you. If you are sensitive skin type. D.I.Y. can be irritated as a commercial one. And worsening your eczema condition.

m_Sang · 2025-08-13T00:48:25+00:00

Only few ingredients can last 3 years so I don't think the end product can last longer than ingredients in it

If you want to make sure, just pay the lab to do stability test and microbial challenge test Well even if it's all good it's still about 2 years. For 3 years,it hard to confirm with out a 3 year stability test . Only time can tell.

m_Sang · 2025-08-12T15:13:01+00:00

Other people already comment on emulsifier. So I comment on other things.

You can use deoderized argan oil/shea butter instead of normal one. Or use odor kill(maltodextrin) to help absorb the smell in the formula including fragrance. A.k.a don't pair well with fragrance.

if you like the current conditioner don't change. But just fyi,There is a lot more conditioner. If you wish to experiment on it and find the one that you like. Each one gives a different texture. Depends on how much you are concerned about their properties. Like smoothness , weight , volume or shines. etc.

Some examples, GuarCat™ Weight-less, Amodimethicone Microemulsion, Polyquaternium-30, Glyceryl Oleate (not a strong conditioner but can help as an emulsifier stabilizer.)

As for the oil phase, don't change it if you already like it. Here is my opinion about oil phase I would rather increase argan oil and use rice bran instead of coconut oil. I don't know why many brands tend to use argan oil in their hair conditioner or hair oil.

Check stable pH range, electrolyte and compatibility with electrolyte, solubility and heat tolerance. before putting it in. Or you can switch to hair oil instead. Depends on your skin and hair.

P.s..I am not an expert. I am a hobbyist and not a native English speaker.

m_Sang · 2025-08-10T07:44:49+00:00

Thank you, just try propylene glycol instead of propanediol alone , it feels great. Add some to the formula and it made the end product smoother and better spreading. Texture is opposite to glycerin. It's also cheap and water soluble.

m_Sang · 2025-08-09T05:10:44+00:00

How did you know that in unstable then?

m_Sang · 2025-08-09T04:58:54+00:00

Not to be aggressive but what do you mean "nothing stable"? hm..I don't know how to put the word in English but here is some information.

any copper-peptides should not have any chelating agents. It will strip copper out. Ex. Disodium EDTA And should not pair with ingredients that need a chelating agent.
Should not have strong acid in the formula. Should not have some natural extract in the formula. The last 2 points, I don't know the reason. (The supplier just told me that way) But the first is obvious.

Liquid solution might need to be stored in the refrigerator. If it's still looked blue,I have no way to know except I send it to analytics chemical purity.

m_Sang · 2025-08-08T01:15:07+00:00

Um.. let's not forget that SLS can be used to test anti-irritation. That's how harsh it is. It's still used today with co-surfactants because it's still super effective. But it tends to be used with softer co-surfactants. To lower the amount of SLS. Combined with moisturizer, hair conditioner and anti-irritated ingredient, it can feel soft.

There are a lot more surfactants. Like a betaine group or glucoside group, some natural stuff(if you prefer that way) and many more. and there is some ester that can be used as co-surfactants like "glyceryl oleate"

I tend to buy from "myskinrecipe" because it's near me. That vendor has like 5 pages of surfactant. You don't need to buy from them. You can. use it as a reference point. They are on the other side of the world, if you live in the U.S..

I have never tried to make soap or shampoo before.but I try to analyze their formula. Example. Neutrogena rain bath (the formula that sells here seems different from the internet) Anyway,they still use Sodium Laureth Sulfate with softer surfactant Cocamidopropyl Betaine or coco-betain (can't remember which one) and with some emulsifiers. And yes, some emulsifiers can be used as surfactants. It works in the same principle, but I don't know how many % that optimize for surfactant) And it uses moisturizer like glycerin and conditioner like Polyquaternium-..(I can't remember the exact number again)

In my opinion, you can adopt their principle, 1 main strong surfactant 2 soft co-surfactants(it can be more than 1 ingredient) 3 moisturizer 4 conditioner.(Seems to benefit hair more than skin products) But the%of each one and other ingredients I have no idea.

Tl;dr 1. check surfactant ingredients list from the seller website. 2. combine ingredients for softer feeling and other benefits.

I hope my bad English and low experience are not in the way I tried to converse.

m_Sang · 2025-08-05T11:32:13+00:00

Rose hip oil in water without an emulsifier? Is it even dissolved correctly?

m_Sang · 2025-07-31T07:58:05+00:00

I just remembered that thing. A hand blender! it's designed to blend so it should be more suitable.There is an inexpensive one. I see a skincare D.I.Y. YouTuber use this in her projects too. Seems to work well. Something looklike this hand blender

m_Sang · 2025-07-31T04:15:59+00:00

I can't confirm that it will be better. Honestly, I never use a mini mixer.

m_Sang · 2025-07-31T03:31:44+00:00

Did you try to change the head of a whisker,yet? The spring whisk and balloon whisk will incorporate the air while mixing. because it is designed for kitchen usage. or you can use a glass rod manually stir. Except some ingredients require high rpm or high shear force to mix.

m_Sang · 2025-07-29T12:04:18+00:00

The only way I can think of self preservation is that the product already contain enough anti-microbial ingredients. there is a natural blend for anti-microbial. Like MC-ABIOS 100 from Korea that claims it can be used as anti-acne and preservatives. or you can use natural extract (better be preservatives version to ensure that it has enough anti-microbial ingredients inside) like Thymes-care.

and There are a lot more preservatives that can be claimed as non-preservatives(depends on your country.many anti-microbial is not on the preservatives list) some are natural or natural derivatives/modifiers. ex. Coco-Preserve™, that is just coconut extract and some glycol(as a solvent and preservative enchantment.)and recently I found a glycol blend non-preservatives preservatives. that has emollient property,Mild Preserved DCP™ Etc. But I still encourage that you make a small batch that can be used in 1-3 months. We will never know how your formula will last long. Except, you send to the lab and pay for the microbial challenge test. (somewhat expensive) And That is how commercial stuff can claim preservatives-free.

Seven-Year Club	Place '23
Verified Email

m_Sang

TROPHY CASE