How to replace a component from a cosmetic recipe: choosing an analogue

What can replace a component in a natural cosmetics recipe? This is probably the most popular question for every cream maker, especially a beginner. After all, there are many cosmetics recipes on the Internet, all of them promise eternal youth, but buying hundreds of different components is often very expensive for a beginner. Therefore, everyone tries to optimize purchases and get by with a minimum set of components. And this is absolutely the right decision! And we will try to explain to you the principle by which components can be replaced, what will happen after their replacement and in which cases it is not worth replacing components.

What a natural cream recipe consists of: a little theory

Let's analyze the principle of replacement not in theory, but in a practical recipe. For this, we will take a not very simple recipe for a rejuvenating cream with bakuchiol. Like any cream, it consists of:

1. fatty phase, which includes emulsifiers, structure formers, waxes, emollients, base oils, silicones, and sometimes preservatives and heat-resistant active components. We add all fat-soluble components to the fatty phase;
2. the aqueous phase, which mainly consists of distilled water, a gelling agent and/or heat-stable active components. All components must be water-soluble;
3. the active phase, which includes the most important functional ingredients that perform a specific task in the recipe. This often includes a small portion of water and water-soluble actives that cannot be heated. The active phase is introduced into the already prepared, but still warm emulsion at a temperature of about 40 °C.

The recipe is always calculated as a percentage, any recipe is always equal to 100%, and each component takes its share in this 100%. That is, the sum of all components in the recipe will be equal to 100. Then, if you want to convert percentages to grams, you need to decide how much cream you will prepare and apply a simple formula: (weight of finished cream * % of ingredient) / 100%. For example, if we are preparing 30 grams of cream, then the weight of the Plantasens HE20 emulsifier, which is introduced into the recipe in the amount of 4%, will be equal to:

(30 g * 4%) / 100% = 1.2 g. That is, for 30 grams of cream we need to take 1.2 grams of emulsifier, provided that the percentage of emulsifier introduction is set at 4% in the recipe. Got it? Now let's move on...

Ready-made cream recipe and component categories

Phase 1 - oily 16%

• Emulsifier Plantasens HE20 - 4%
• Thickener and structurant Lanol ​​P - 1%
• Emollient Squalane - 2%
• Emollient Cetiol RLF - 3%
• Base oil Argan - 3%
• Base oil - 1%
• Active component Vitamin E - 1%
• Active component Sepilift - 1%

Phase 2 - aqueous 66%

• Distilled water - 63.6%
• Chelator EDTA B - 0.1%
• Thickener and structurant Rice starch - 2%
• Active component and co-thickener Fucogel powder - 0.3%

Phase 3 - active 18%

• Distilled water - 10%
• Moisturizing active ingredient and co-preservative Pentylene glycol - 2%
• Moisturizing active ingredient Aquaxyl - 2%
• Active prebiotic ingredient Biolin P - 1%
• Preservative Geogard ultra - 1.5%
• Main active ingredient Bakuchiol - 1%
• CO2 extract of Centella asiatica - 0.5%

What to include in the fatty phase and what to replace emulsifiers, oils or emollients with

The fatty or, in other words, oil phase always includes an emulsifier, which allows you to get an emulsion when mixing oil and water. You can’t remove the emulsifier from the recipe. But the emulsifier can almost always be replaced with the one you have at home, with which you are used to working and which suits your skin. But when replacing the emulsifier, you need to independently select the percentage of its introduction and, of course, you may not get the same texture of the cream as you see in the video tutorial or in the photo of the finished cream. If you are preparing a standard cream recipe, most emulsifiers for the skin will suit you, but if you are preparing a recipe for some special product, say, a face peeling with a low pH or SPF cream with a high % of dry powders, then you need to study the technical features of working with a specific emulsifier before replacing it. Special products require special skills when composing recipes.

Oils, silicones and emollients in recipes can almost always be replaced. Oils are often selected based on skin type and if they work great in our recipe and on our skin, then on your skin the effect may not be so wonderful. Remember that each of us is special, and you need to find “your” oils by testing them personally on yourself. Therefore, when you see the oil of “rare seeds of a magical mountain flower” in a recipe, you can take your time buying it, but try the recipe with what you have on hand. You will get a cream with any oil, its cosmetic properties will just be different.

The same story with emollients and silicones, you can always replace them and this will primarily change the sensory experience when applying the cream to the skin, the speed of its absorption, the feeling after application. Yes, many emollients also have beneficial properties, but you will only need to choose 2-3 favorite components and work only with them.

Next, in our oily phase, Vitamin E is listed and it is added as an antioxidant to stabilize oils. As an active ingredient, it is better to add it at the end of preparing the cream in a warm emulsion. What can replace Vitamin E, you ask? If we use it as an antioxidant, then we replace it with another antioxidant.

"The main rule for replacing components is to replace them with those components that will perform exactly the same task. Therefore, it is important not to just repeat recipes after others, it is important to learn to “read” recipes and determine what role each of the components plays. And only then will you learn to interchange or sometimes simply remove the components of the recipe if you do not specifically need the task they perform."

And another component in the oily phase is the Sepilift peptide, which is always included in the oily phase of the cream, since it melts in oil (emollients, silicones) at a temperature of about 80 ° C. What can replace it? The answer is a peptide with the same effect. Sepilift works to rejuvenate and lift the skin by stimulating the production of collagen in the skin. The matrix peptides Matrixyl, Syn-coll work on a similar principle. Therefore, we either replace the component with a similar one, or simply exclude it from the recipe, realizing that the effectiveness of the cream will decrease.

What is added to the water phase of the cream and why thickeners are there

Our water phase is always simple and does not contain many components. Personally, we prefer to use distilled water and add chelators to recipes. We talked about why they are added in the article “Chelating agents in cosmetics”. But is it worth replacing distilled water with mineral water? The answer is no. Is it possible to replace distillate with hydrolates? The answer is no. You should not replace the entire water phase with hydrolates, since they often have an acidic pH and can greatly lower the pH of the overall cream formula. You can replace water with hydrolate only partially and, of course, control the pH.

Also, the water phase should always contain a gelling agent to stabilize the emulsion. But this is our personal opinion and it may not coincide with yours. We always add at least a small % so that the water phase turns into a liquid gel. In our recipe, rice starch is used as a gelling agent, which allows you to get a very soft sensory cream and adds a matte effect to it after application to the skin. But in fact, all gelling agents can be replaced by selecting the % of input yourself. But in the end, you should expect a change in the viscosity of the emulsion, its appearance and feel when applied to the skin. Each gelling agent has its own characteristics and you need to find your favorite and work with it.

Also in the active phase there is a moisturizing component Fucogel, which when dissolved in water also has the ability to form a gel. But when adding it to the recipe, you can reduce the % of the input of the main gelling agent. And if you want to replace Fucogel as an active - take another moisturizing component that is similar in properties.

A very large active phase, is it possible to remove half of the components

In our recipe, the active phase is neither large nor small. It is normal, but beginners may think that there is too much of everything. Therefore, we return to the rule of analyzing the properties of each component and decide what we can refuse. That is, you do not ask us what can be removed from the recipe, you need to ask yourself this question after doing the theoretical work.

If you do not want prebiotics in the recipe - then remove it. If you do not want pentylene glycol to increase hydration and antimicrobial action - remove it.

But removing Bakuchiol would be a big mistake, because it is the main component of the recipe. And if Bakuchiol is replaced, then only with retinol. But there are many peculiarities of work with retinol. So what is the essence? If we want to prepare a rejuvenating cream that will improve skin color, have a lifting effect and refresh the skin - then we cannot exclude Bakuchiol, Sepilift and centella extract from the recipe, they all perform these important tasks and enhance the effect of each other.

"Each recipe has its main action, so you can not remove the components that perform this action from it. But you can “play around” with all the other components, replacing oils, selecting your own moisturizing components or using another preservative."

The main rule for choosing a preservative for your recipe is its working pH. This information is published in the description, and if you are preparing a cream, you know that its pH will be within 5.8 - 6.0, and the site says that the preservative Efficin remains effective at a pH of the finished product up to 5.5 - then it cannot be used, because this preservative will stop performing its functions in a cream with a higher pH. That is, you do not need to ask anyone whether the preservative can be replaced. Go to our article, where we talked about the features of choosing preservatives and everything will immediately become clear to you!

Share this article with your friends as a token of gratitude for the fact that we share our years of experience with you. And also watch ready-made and tested by us video tutorials on making cosmetics with your own hands.

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