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We present to you a men’s refreshing shower gel which, with its fresh grapefruit fragrance, can also enchant women. This shower gel creates a feeling of cleanliness and freshness and is perfect not only for everyday use, but also after sports activity. Thanks to its pleasant orange colour, this product will remind you of grapefruits not only with its scent, but also with its appearance.
To produce the refreshing shower gel we need a base made up 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 effects; 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 making the refreshing shower gel, we have prepared tips and tricks for you which will help you to prevent them and make the overall production easier.Always try to mix the powdered ingredients, in this case xanthan gum and mica powders, with glycerine. Thanks to this, a gel-like consistency of the product without lumps will form faster. Ideally, leave the finished mixture to stand overnight; in the morning you will see the final gel-like consistency and viscosity, because right after mixing the ingredients it takes a while before the mixture thickens.To dissolve the menthol it is necessary to heat the oil. Do not try to dissolve menthol in water, this substance dissolves only in oils. A short gentle heating is sufficient as long as you are not producing 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 degradation and loss of efficacy of these ingredients. 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 stated amount of lactic acid is however only indicative! It depends on the dosing accuracy, the quality of the ingredients, as well as on changes that you make to the formula. Therefore, add the 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 adapt the refreshing shower gel according to your own ideas, you are in the right place.Below you will learn more about the role of the individual ingredients in the formula and about their possible substitutions.
An excellent moisturising ingredient which forms the basis of many formulas is glycerine. This alcohol is very well soluble in water; it is a clear, syrupy liquid. Thanks to its hydrating abilities, it hydrates not only the skin, but also powdered ingredients, especially thickeners such as xanthan gum. If possible, do not omit glycerine from the formula, otherwise the time needed to obtain a uniform gel-like consistency will be prolonged. If you would like to increase the moisturising effect of the product, add 1 % of sodium PCA.
To colour the product, mica powders, in other words ground mica, were selected. These powders are available in many colour shades, so do not hesitate to use one or combine your favourites. You can also increase the proportion of these substances in the product by a few tenths of a percent. An advantage of the surfactants used is also the fact that the mica powders will not settle to the bottom in the finished product. However, if you want a colourless product, there is nothing easier than omitting the given mica powders from the product and replacing them with water or glycerine. If you want to transform the product into a women’s product, you can also add glitter and replace the used essential oils.
If we want to make a shower gel, it is necessary to thicken the surfactants used. Powdered thickening agents such as xanthan gum are often used for this purpose. This gum has the advantage that it is stable over a wide pH range and provides viscous and stable gels. If you wish to have a more liquid product, reduce the amount of xanthan gum by 0.1 to 0.2 %. Conversely, increase the content of xanthan gum by the same amount. Xanthan gum thickens intensely, so proceed carefully when adding or reducing it. Even a small change in the dose is reflected in the overall consistency of the product.
Since we are making 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 from minerals, which would otherwise disrupt the stability of the product, the efficacy of the preservative and so on. Part or all of the water phase in the formula can be replaced with floral hydrolats of your choice. However, bear in mind that hydrolats often have a different pH than water, and thus the amount of lactic acid needed to adjust the pH will also change.
The first representative of the surfactants in the refreshing shower gel is decyl glucoside. Glucosides in general are characterised by a alkaline pH, and 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. In addition, they help to dissolve even small amounts of oils in the product. There are also other surfactants on the market that you can use as substitutes. Before choosing a surfactant, however, 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 the refreshing shower gel is cocamidopropyl betaine. This mild surfactant is a great complement to decyl glucoside, as together they help to keep the mica powders in suspension and provide a gentle and creamy foam. When replacing this surfactant, the same applies as in the case of decyl glucoside. If you find the product 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 colour 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 ordinary temperatures. This oil can be replaced with any other vegetable oil. However, strongly coloured oils such as raspberry seed or rosehip oil can influence the final colour of the product.The vegetable oil can also be completely omitted if you do not use menthol in the product (menthol needs to be dissolvedin oil), or its dose can be reduced by tenths of a percent. When increasing its content, proceed carefully, as surfactants are able to emulsify only small amounts 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 gives 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 proportion 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 skip 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 fragrance of the product. Although it is a citrus essential oil, you do not need to fear photosensitivity, provided you do not have extremely sensitive skin – the shower gel is a rinse-off product, and therefore only a minimum or no essential oil remains on your skin after showering.A complement to the grapefruit is lime. Its fresh fragrance will give you a great boost and balance stronger woody notes of patchouli, which are used to create the base notes of the fragrance. If you wish to have a unfragranced product, leave out the essential oils and replace them with water or a vegetable oil. Alternatively you can reach for synthetic fragrance oils, which offer a broader palette of scents than classic essential oils. Do not hesitate to adapt the product according to your preferences by means of essential oils. In this way you can easily create either men’s or women’s shower gels simply by changing the scents.
For pH adjustment, lactic acid was chosen in this product. Its advantage is that it is supplied in the form of a solution, and thus there is no need to prepare your own solution as in the case of citric acid. At the same time lactic acid is fairly concentrated, and therefore you will use a relatively small amount of it, oftenan amount in drops. Do not forget that the amounts of lactic acid stated are only indicative; for each product it is necessary to measure the pH individually 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 is effective against yeasts, bacteria and moulds, and thus provides comprehensive protection against the overgrowth of microorganisms in the product. The only limitation of the use of this preservative is its efficacy in acidic pH. It is therefore necessary to lower the pH of the product below 5.5 for the preservative to be active. Be sure not to omit the use of a preservative; the product contains water and will therefore spoil quickly if you do not preserve it. Cosgard can be replaced with another broad-spectrum preservative that is also effectivein acidic pH.
As mentioned, you can experiment with homemade formulas in order to achieve the desired properties. However, the final result can be influenced by many factors, such as humidity, temperature, quality of ingredients or their storage. Before you use any ingredient for making a cosmetic product, familiarise yourself with its properties, recommended dosage, storage conditions and safe handling. Every ingredient may have the potential to trigger 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 ingredients or to the overall product, for example by means of a patch test. If you have very sensitive or very acne-prone skin, or you have other skin or health problems, we recommend that you consult a medical professional before applying a new product to the skin, whether it is a homemade cosmetic product, a pure ingredient or a commercially available product.
The refreshing shower gel will please mainly men, but it can also enchant women. We recommend trying its great refreshing effect in the shower shortly after exercising. If you do not yet have such a shower gel at home, make it according to our instructions.
We would like to thank Ivana Jačalová very much for the excellent 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.
