My sister is a huge fan of Cetaphil. For those who have never used this face cleanser before, it's basically a non-foaming, very gentle cleanser for nearly every skin type except very oily. It's unscented, contains no dyes. But it does have SLS (Sodium Lauryl Sulfate) which is a widely used surfactant/cleanser that's a little on the harsh side (at least on my skin). I swapped the SLS for LSB (a gentle surfactant blend) simply because of all the bad things I've been reading about SLS lately. I also added just a few drops of a special essential oil blend (mixed 50/50 with Polysorbate 20 to make it disperse in water) as I really wanted a pick-me-up in the morning.
I should mention that I used Swift's post on re-creating Cetaphil as a starter point for this recipe, with a few minor changes due to what I had, or didn't have on hand.
The finished product is pretty much identical (at least to me) to the appearance, feel, and thickness of Cetaphil. I did two variations- one without additional thickener for a basic face wash. A second with extra thickener, a dash of colour, and 5 grams of Jojoba beads to make a gentle face exfoliant scrub. Both are winners, and cost me a fraction of what a bottle of Cetaphil costs at the drug store.
This cleanser is essentially thickened water with a very small amount of surfactant- around 5%. The cetyl alcohol conditions, and the humectant draws moisture to the skin. It's a very inexpensive, basic and easy to make product.
Extra Gentle Cleanser
This made almost exactly 8 ounces.
Heated Phase:
200g Water
10g Cetyl Alcohol
10g Surfactant of choice - I used LSB here
10g Humectant of choice - I used Glycerin
Cool Phase:
0.5% Liquid Germall Plus
9 drops Valor EO blend, mixed with 9 drops Polysorbate 20
Heat and melt the Cetyl Alcohol. Add the water (hot) and the surfactants and mix gently with a spoon or fork. It will emulsify a bit, just like a lotion would at this stage. Gently mix until thoroughly blended. Add the Glycerin, continue to stir. Once cooled to 45*C or lower, go ahead and add the fragrance and preservative. This will be fine in a pump bottle. If you use a different surfactant that isn't as thick as LSB, then you may want to add a bit of Crothix (1%) or salt to thicken the mixture up. Only do this once it's reached room temp. though, or you might end up with a mixture that is way too thick.
Extra Gentle Jojoba Face Scrub
This made almost exactly 8 ounces.
Follow all directions above. I used ALeS as my surfactant here, mostly because I wanted to see what it felt like. Turns out I like it! Haha. Also, at the very end I decided that I needed the Crothix to thicken my scrub up. I didn't want my Jojoba beads (5grams) to sink or float, but stay suspended. So I added that at 1%. I added a bit more fragrance, about 1g of Mango/Polysorbate blend. Not a heavy scent by any means, but just a little somethin extra.
The end result for the face scrub- it's thick, perfectly thick to put in a jar and scoop out what you need. It's so gentle, doesn't dry your skin out but leaves it very soft.
Photos to come soon!
I've been making face/eye wash too with surfactants at about 5 percent total (I use cocobetaine and DLS). Do you find the crothix thickens it anyway? I used something else for the first batch and then found out I'd have to add more surfactant and salt to get it to thicken. I don't want salt in the wash, so I have moved to carbomer 940, but I'd be willing to try the Crothix!
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