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We present to you a men’s refreshing shower gel which, with its fresh grapefruit fragrance, can however also enchant women. This shower gel evokes a feeling of cleanliness and freshness and is excellent not only for everyday use, but also after sports performance. Thanks to its pleasant orange colour, this product will remind you of grapefruits not only with its scent, but also with its appearance.
To manufacture a refreshing shower gel, we need a base made of surfactants. In this case, two surfactants, a classic glucoside in combination with cocamidopropyl betaine, were chosen. It is precisely thanks to the surfactants that the shower gel forms foam and has cleansing properties; in addition, these substances enable the dissolution of essential and vegetable oils and menthol, since the other components of the product are water-based.
If you encounter problems when manufacturing the refreshing shower gel, we have prepared tips and tricks to help you prevent them and make the overall manufacturing easier.Always try to mix the powdered raw materials, in this case xanthan gum and mica powders, with glycerin. Thanks to this, a gel-like consistency of the product without lumps will form more quickly. It is ideal to let the finished mixture stand overnight; in the morning you will see the final gel-like consistency and viscosity, because immediately after mixing the raw materials it takes a while for the mixture to thicken.To dissolve menthol it is necessary to heat the oil. Do not attempt to dissolve menthol in water, this substance dissolves only in oils. A short gentle heating is sufficient provided that you are not manufacturing large quantities of shower gel. As soon as the menthol crystals have disappeared, you can remove the mixture from the water bath. Do not add the preservative, essential oils or carry out pH adjustment in a hot mixture (above 40 °C), as this will lead to decomposition and loss of effectiveness of these raw materials. Do not forget to adjust the pH of the product. Decyl glucoside is strongly alkaline, and therefore the product would not be suitable for your skin and could irritate it. The given amount of lactic acid is however only indicative! It depends on the accuracy of dosing, the quality of raw materials, as well as on changes that you make in the formula. Therefore, add lactic acid drop by drop and continuously check the pH until you reach the desired range of 4.5 to 5.5.
If you want to customise the refreshing shower gel according to your own ideas, you are in the right place.Below you will learn more about the importance of the individual raw materials in the formula and about their possible substitutions.
An excellent humectant raw material, which is the basis of many formulas, is glycerin. This alcohol is very well soluble in water; it is a clear, syrupy liquid. Thanks to its hydrating capabilities, it hydrates not only the skin but also powdered raw materials, especially thickening agents such as xanthan gum. If possible, do not omit glycerin from the formula, otherwise the time needed to form a uniform gel-like consistency will be prolonged. If you wish to increase the hydrating effects of the product, add 1 % of sodium PCA.
To colour the product, mica powders, in other words ground mica, were chosen. These powders are available in many colour shades, so do not hesitate to use one or to combine your favourites. You can also increase the share of these substances in the product by a few tenths of a percent. An advantage of the surfactants used is also the fact that mica powders will not settle to the bottom in the finished product. However, if you want a colourless product, there is nothing easier than leaving out the respective mica powders from the product and replacing them with water or glycerin. If you want to turn the product into a women’s product, you can also add glitter and replace the used essential oils.
If we want to manufacture a shower gel, it is necessary to thicken the surfactants used. For this purpose, powdered thickening agents such as xanthan gum are often used. This gum has the advantage of being stable over a wide pH range and providing viscous and stable gels. If you want a more liquid product, reduce the share of xanthan gum by 0.1 to 0.2 %. Conversely, increase the content of xanthan gum by the same amount. Xanthan gum thickens intensively, so proceed carefully when adding or reducing it. Even a small change in dosage will be reflected in the overall consistency of the product.
Since we are manufacturing a water-based product, we cannot do without demineralised water. Do not use ordinary tap water or boiled water; such water is not completely freed of mineral substances, which would otherwise disrupt the stability of the product, the effectiveness of the preservative and so on. A part or the whole share of water in the formula can be replaced by flower hydrolates of your choice. However, bear in mind that hydrolates often have a different pH compared to water, and therefore the amount of lactic acid for pH adjustment will also change.
The first representative of the surfactants in the refreshing shower gel is decyl glucoside. Glucosides in general are characterised by a basic pH, therefore it is necessary to lower the pH by adding, ideally, an organic acid. However, glucosides provide a rich and stable foam and are well compatible with xanthan gum. Moreover, they help to dissolve even small amounts of oils in the product. On the market there are also other surfactants that you can use as substitutes. However, before choosing a surfactant, make sure that the surfactants used are mutually compatible, i.e. do not use a combination of cationic and anionic surfactants – the opposite charge will result in the formation of a precipitate.
The second surfactant in our recipe for a refreshing shower gel is cocamidopropyl betaine. This mild surfactant is a great complement to decyl glucoside, as together they help keep mica powders suspended and provide a gentle and creamy foam. When replacing this surfactant, the same applies as in the case of decyl glucoside. If the product seems to you to be too degreasing and irritating, reduce the amount of surfactants. Conversely, when increasing them, proceed carefullyand do not exceed the manufacturer’s recommendations.
For this product, the oil phase chosen was fractionated coconut oil. Unlike traditional coconut oil, this oil is always liquid. It is a colourless clear oil that is odourless and therefore does not affect the colouring or fragrance of the final product.Fractionated coconut oil is obtained by selecting only certain fractions of regular coconut oil, thanks to which it remains liquid even at normal temperatures. This oil can be replaced by any other vegetable oil. However, strongly coloured oils such as raspberry or rosehip may affect the final colour of the product.The vegetable oil can also be completely omitted if you do not use menthol in the product (menthol must be dissolvedin oil), or its dose can be reduced by tenths of a percent. When increasing its content, proceed carefully, since surfactants are able to emulsify only small shares of oil (usually up to 5 %).
What makes our shower gel refreshing? The key to success is the use of a small amount of menthol. This substance not only imparts a fresh scent but also a cooling sensation on the skin after using the shower gel.Menthol can be omitted from the product or its share can be increased by tenths of a percent if you want a stronger coolingand refreshing effect. If you do not use it in the formula, you can omit the heating step.
For a great fresh fragrance, essential oils were used in the product. We chose an excellent grapefruit essential oil, which is the most dominant in the overall scent of the product. Although it is a citrus essential oil, you do not need to be afraid of photosensitivity, unless you have extremely sensitive skin – the shower gel is a rinse-off product, and so only a minimum or no essential oil will remain on your skin after showering.A complement to grapefruit is lime. Its fresh fragrance will wake you up perfectly and balances the stronger woody notes of patchouli, which are used to create the base notes of the fragrance. If you wish to have a non-perfumed product, leave out the essential oils and replace them with water or vegetable oil. Alternatively, you can reach for synthetic fragrance oils, which offer you a wider palette of scents than classic essential oils. Do not hesitate to customise the product according to your own ideas thanks to essential oils. You can easily conjure up either men’s or women’s shower gels simply by changing the fragrances.
For pH adjustment, lactic acid was chosen in this product. Its advantage is that it is available in the form of a solution, and thus the preparation of your own solution, as in the case of citric acid, is not necessary. At the same time, lactic acid is relatively concentrated, and so you will use relatively little of it; it is often a quantityin drops. Do not forget that the given amounts of lactic acid are only indicative; for each product it is necessary to measure the pH separately and gradually add lactic acid until you reach a pH in the range of 4.5 to 5.5.
A natural preservative for many products is Cosgard. This broad-spectrum preservative acts against yeasts, bacteria and moulds, and thus provides comprehensive protection against the overgrowth of microorganisms in the product. The only limitation in the use of this preservative is its effectiveness in acidic pH. It is therefore necessary to lower the pH of the product below 5.5 for the preservative to be active. You should definitely not omit the use of a preservative; the product contains water and will spoil quickly if you do not preserve it. Cosgard can be replaced by another broad-spectrum preservative that is also effectivein acidic pH.
As mentioned, you can experiment with homemade formulas to achieve the desired properties. However, the final result can be influenced by many factors, such as humidity, temperature, quality of raw materials or their storage. Before you use any raw material for the manufacture of a cosmetic product, familiarise yourself with its properties, recommended dosage, storage conditions and safe handling. Each raw material can have the potential to cause an allergic reaction in sensitive individuals, and therefore, before using the product, we recommend finding out whether you suffer from an allergy to any of the raw materials or to the overall product, for example by means of a skin test. If you have very sensitive or very acne-prone skin, or if you have other skin and health problems, we recommend that you consult a medical professional before applying a new product to your skin, whether it is a homemade cosmetic product, a pure raw material or a commercially available product.
The refreshing shower gel will please especially men, but it can also enchant women. We recommend trying its great refreshing effect in the shower shortly after sports. If you do not yet have such a product at home, make it according to our instructions.
We would like to thank Ivana Jačalová very much for the great tutorial in this article.
If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact us at marketing@handymade.skSee you soon for more creating, friends.
