Extra Gentle Cleanser (aka Cetaphil knock-off)

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!

Kokum Butter Eye/Face Cream

Lovely, but not as thick as I had hoped.  Light, but slightly greasier than my other lotions.  It could be packaged in a pump or a jar if you're not tossing it in a purse or bag.  Kokum butter is apparently non-comedogenic so it's safe to use on the face.  It definitely adds a slightly greasier feel than I am used to, but I usually use oil free, or very light lotions on my face.  This is not a bad thing- by any means.  Dryer skinned people will certainly like it better than oily skinned.  I am certainly still using it, and liking it although I use a little powder on my face to make up for the extra oil.  Next batch I would probably use BTMS-50 as my emulsifyer, and just skip the Multifruit BSC as they do not work well together.  That alone may completely change the texture of this cream/lotion.  I would also up the Cetyl alcohol by just a tad- to make a real cream texture that would stay in a jar properly.

Kokum Butter Face/Eye Cream

For dryer-skinned people
I x'd the percentages by 3 and it yielded about 9ish oz

Heated Water Phase:
34.5% Water (103.5g)
20% Aloe Vera (60g)
15% Rose Hydrosol- you can use any here (45g)
2% Sodium Lactate (6g)
2% Hydrolyzed Oat Protein (6g)

Heated Oil Phase:
4% Jojoba Oil (12g)
4% Macadamia Oil (12g)
2% Kokum Butter (6g)
4% Polawax (12g)
3% Cetyl Alcohol (9g)

Cool Phase:
2% Panthenol (6g)
5% Multifruit BSC, Natural AHA (15g)
3% Acai Liquid Extract (9g)
3% Honeyquat (9g)
0.5% Green Tea powdered extract (1.5g)
0.5% Cucumber powdered extract (1.5g)
0.5% Liquid Germall Plus (1.5g)
And about 15 drops of grapefruit essential oil.

Very light smell- slightly nutty, slightly grapefruit.  Off-white shade of cream that melts into skin.  I'll post more about it as I use it more.

*Update Feb. 7*
I have been using this for eye cream, not all over my face.  And I'm really liking it.  A little goes a long way, but it helps under eye concealer go on more smoothly.  Feels nice.  Overall, better than my initial thoughts on it.