It’s time for the next instalment of our cream making recipes, this one using emulsifying wax.
Emulsifying wax can be made from either vegetable wax or petroleum wax mixed with a detergent, so do ensure that you know which you are getting. I always use the vegetable derived one which is what most herbal suppliers will be selling. It comes as a flaky white solid which melts at fairly low temperatures and helps to thicken and emulsify fats and waters to make a cream. You will see from the recipe that this cream includes a much higher proportion of water compared to the last one I posted about, enabling you to make a cream that is not quite so rich and sinks in easily.
Here in the UK many herbal suppliers sell emulsifying wax including Baldwins here, Neal’s Yard here, Woodland herbs here and Aromantic here. All these will ship internationally but I’m sure most countries will have their own suppliers.
Pros to this cream include that it is simple and potentially quite cheap to make, it doesn’t involve any special equipment, just a few bowls and a whisk, and it is more stable than the cream without emulsifiers which can tend to sweat when exposed to temperature fluctuations.
Cons are that it is not completely natural and can sometimes tend to leave a slight residue behind when massaged into the skin.
This recipe will make about about half the quantity of the last one incase you didn’t want to experiment with quite such a large amount.
Ingredients:
Waters:
200ml of spring water, floral water or herbal tea.
Oils and Waxes:
20g emulsifying wax
10g beeswax
50ml herbal infused oil or plain base oil
Extras
2.5ml vitamin E
1 ml essential oils
Method:
First melt the beeswax and emulsifying wax in a bain marie or double boiler adding the oil and waiting until it is all completely melted. Whilst that is happening place the waters in another pan and heat until fairly hot but not boiling. When both are ready turn the oils off the heat and place the waters in a heat proof jug and begin to pour very slowly into the oil mixture whisking vigorously as you go.
Keep pouring and whisking until all the waters are incorporated into the oils. As they are still hot they will have a thin texture, a bit like milk.
Keep whisking until it starts to thicken, then add in your vitamin E and essential oils.
It should end up fairly firm and deliciously creamy, by which time your arms will be ready to fall off!
Spoon into jars, swirl the top and that’s all there is to it!
For my thoughts on using preservatives see the previous two instalments of this series.
Lucinda, this is timely. After my failed attempt at a basic body lotion, (a few minutes ago) this looks like something I can really do, to boost my ego! I did try your cream without emulsifyer earlier today, using the blender, and had great success. I won’t go into details about the fight I had with the blender and the mess I made, but, I did emerge with great success. You area in the photos look so clean!!! I felt so good about my precious creams that, I decided to try a basic body lotion, next. Needless to say, It kept separating. Is there such a thing as overmixing lotions/creams?
Hi Irma, don’t worry at all, I have more than one disaster in my time too!
I’m so glad the first cream worked out well though.
Yes you can over mix things, what recipe were you using for the body lotion? Lotions can be quite tricky as they have such a high water content.
I hope this recipe works well for you though.
Lucinda, after reading more on the basic lotion recipe it turns out that my water phase wasn’t the right temperature when it was time to combine with the oil phase. I plan to give it another try. Thanks so much for asking. I have been reading some of your older posts and am in awe of you. Thank you ever so much for sharing your knowledge. I want to try all of your recipes and can hardly wait for the weekends, when I can play all day!
I was looking forward to making your previous posts recipe today, but Lily spent the night and had other ideas today:D So in the queue for later this week! Thank you for sharing this other technique with the emulsifying wax, Lucinda. You are a sweetheart! Big herbal and honey hugs and much love being sent to youxx Oh and we actually have an outlet of Neal Yard in Chicago, so next time I visit brother Charles, I hope to visit it!
Hi Leslie,
Life often gets in the way of our plans doesn’t it! I wish you successful cream making later in the week though.
I didn’t realise Neal’s Yard had expanded to the US. I used to work in one of their shops about 8 years ago now, it was good fun.
Big hugs to you too xxx
Hi Lucinda, I was hoping you were in contact with Brigette, who used to do the herbal blog, My Herb Corner, in NZ but took it down after the christchurch earthquake.
Anyway I just wanted to let her know that a rare book has just been reprinted.
Maori healing and herbal. Murdoch Riley. Viking Sevenseas press.
It is a beautiful book and also probably the most comprehensive review
of new Zealand medicinal plants at 550 pages and lots and lots of
photos.
Expensive at $110 but IMHO well worth it.
I think she will enjoy it very much.
If anyone else is in contact with her please pass this along as well as my warm regards.
Thankyou, Amanda in Australia
That’s fine, I’ll email her for you.
Thank you Lucinda for mailing me, and thank you Amanda for your nice gesture
Already purchased this marvelous book some time ago from TradeMe.
Love and hugs to both of you!
My arm is feeling tired after reading this
Another way of making creams that I’ve never tried! You are expanding my horizons a little more each day, my dear. There is something quite satisfying about making things with your own elbow grease, isn’t there?
Hope you have a beautiful day,
D
You too sweet-pea.
Once you get the cream making bug its hard to get rid of! Let me know how you find the recipes if you try them.
xxxx
I don’t suppose you can get away with using an electric mixer instead? (not that I have one right now, but all the whisking…)
Definitely! If you can get hold of one I recommend you use it and save yourself a dead arm.
You did it again Lucinda! looks as good as the beeswax cream. This is something i will use on my body and the beeswax on my face. Have you heard of this emulsifer “Cetyl Stearyl Alcohol & Sodium Alkyl Sulphate”.
Thanks
Hmmm I have heard of cetyl stearyl alcohol which is commonly used in creams as a stabilising agent but I don’t know the second one. Maybe it is some kind of detergent which makes an emulsifier when combined with the fatty alcohol. I will look it up and see if I can find any answers. Where did you hear of it?
I use the beeswax one for my face too and I love it.
Hi Lucinda
The e-wax i mentioned earlier is listed on my face cream as emulsifying wax but they told me the INCI name is “Cetyl Stearyl Alcohol & Sodium Alkyl Sulphate. I find it to be a very gentle non irritating emulsifier. Most e-waxes irritate my skin except this , probably a form of lanette wax My google search turned up nothing Thanks
Lucinda
Does it make a difference whether the liquid is poured into the oil or vice versa when making a cream?
Thank you
Hi Rohini,
I always pour water into oil but I must admit I haven’t tried it the other way round. Waters are easier to pour because they are thinner though. Let me know how it goes if you try the oil into water.
Hi Lucinda
What are some good choices of carrier oils to use in childrens skincare?
Thank you
Rohini
It would depend on what it was for; for example dry cracked skin, red, itchy skin etc., but I would go for something like apricot as an all purpose oil that is very gentle for children. Calendula infused in sunflower or olive oil is easily available and can be used as a base oil for creams too.
Be careful with the nut oils like almond as there is the possibility of allergy.
Hi, will this be possible when you mix it with ginger(herb)?I wish to make a ginger cream for anti-inflammation purposes. This is just an experiment by the way. Thanks
Hi Teresa,
Well it all depends on how you add the ginger. There are three ways that would work that I can think of. One is to use a strong ginger tea for the water part of the cream, the second is to infuse dried ginger into the oil part of the cream and the third is to add ginger essential oil. Or all three if you want it extra gingery! Hope that answers your question.
My cream separated into oils and water. What happened?
Without a bit more information it is impossible for me to say. Did you keep whisking the whole time until it was properly thickened? Did you use emulsifying wax from a good quality supplier? Were your waxes properly melted and mixed with the oils? Was one of your parts very hot or very cold compared to the other? Did you stick to the quantities mentioned?
There are many variables but the most likely is probably not whisking long enough. I have never experienced this recipe separating as the emulsifying wax is quite efficient at holding it together, You’ll need to give me some more details if I am to be of any real assistance though.
I followed your instrution for making this cream but when it mixed the wax / oils and water it stayed as a milk and did not go creamy. I am using steareth-21 emulsifying wax. Please help.
Hi Nilesh,
I have never used steareth-21 so I don’t know how much help I can be as I don’t have any experience of it. However as far as I know it is an emulsifier but not a thickener which you need in emulsifying wax to create a cream rather than a lotion.
This is the one I generally use:
http://www.aromantic.co.uk/buy-emulsifying-wax-uk.htm
There isn’t much in the way of thickening ingredients in this recipe so you are relying on the emulsifying wax to create the thicker consistency which steareth 21 won’t do.
Hope you have more success next time.
Thanks Lucinda. I kind of did some research and released that I am missing Cetearyl Alcohol and Stearic Acid. So I have ordered these items. Do you know if I can use this on my face and if it will block pores. I have some bad skin so wanted to make a natural moisturiser. Also I am going to use parabens as a preservative, do you know if this is a good preservative to use.
Hi Nilesh,
It will depend what other ingredients you use as to whether it will block pores but generally it is a light cream so it should be fine.
I personally don’t use parabens as there is a lot of evidence indicating they are potentially harmful. Some say it depends on whether the parabens are long or short chain but I prefer to avoid them altogether and use either preservative 12 or preservative eco in creams that need a synthetic preservative.
If you do some research into parabens you’ll be able to decide whether they are right for you or not.
Ok thanks I will try these instead. Have you made any creams for acne and eczema? Also I would like to get rid of scaring and dark circles any recommendations?
Hi Nilesh,
Rosehip base oil and neroli essential oil are my favourites for reducing scaring.
Are the acne and eczema occurring simultaneously? If so is it a dry or weeping eczema and how does the acne present? These are all considerations when choosing your oils.
Gentle oils like lavender and chamomile blue can be used for both skin conditions as lavender is very balancing and anti-microbial and chamomile will help with inflammation.
All the best.
Hi Lucinda,
I have been making and selling a body buttercream with beeswax for several years now. When summertime rolls around I can no longer make/ship it because the mixture will melt and separate. I would love to give your recipe a try but was wondering if it was heat tolerable and stay emulsified in extreme summer conditions? If not, is it a matter of increasing the amount of e-wax in the formula?
Thanks in advance,
Crystal
Hi Crystal,
Yes this is pretty heat stable. I have never had a problem with it separating in hot weather but then I do live in the UK where it never gets that hot! Where are you? You could try increasing the emulsifying wax a little but I wouldn’t add too much because it will make the consistency a bit sticky I think.
Certainly the creams without emulsifier tend to separate or change consistency in extremes of temperature but I haven’t had that experience with this one.
Hope it goes well.
Thank you for your reply. I live on the East Coast of the US. Summer time here can get quite humid with the temps in the 80s, 90s and even into the low 100s. I tried your recipe with 1.5oz e-wax & 1/2oz of soy wax. I like the feel and consistency. I’m hoping it holds. Thanks again and I love your blog.
Hi Lucinda,
Another question…If I wanted to make double the amount can I just double your ingredients above? Thanks again in advance – Crystal
Yes that’s right. Just double all the ingredients so proportions stay the same.
Hey there, Lucinda! I made this lotion today using almond oil and jojoba oil. Turned out great! Thanks so much. Can I make it using melted coconut oil as the oil? And have you ever tried using melted shea butter or Coco butter? Thanks so much!
Jen