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hi I'm Belinda Carly the director of the
Institute of personal care science and I
get asked a lot about writing up
formulas and how to write formulas and
provide the correct information in the
formula so today I'm gonna talk you
through an example of a bad formula and
some of the key features that we would
need to change and how we should be
writing up good formulations now if
you've looked at any of my free
formulation videos and if you've
contacted us for the formulas and of
course they're all freely available just
email us info at personal care science
common value and we'll give you the link
to every single formula and report that
we run on this channel but a lot of
times people will ask me questions about
the formulas like why is it written in
percentage and why have I use trade
names and and things like that in my
formulas so I'm going to address some of
those aspects in this video for you as
well and I've created this video
specifically for the smaller brands for
those just starting out or who are
making product on a small scale and
maybe want to take a bigger later but
this is a video for you and it's going
to help you know what your formulas
should be reading like to help you be
ready for when you're ready to take that
next step to bigger manufacture or even
taking your formula to a contract
manufacturer what should that formula be
like how do you write a proper cosmetic
formula so now first of all let me show
you a bad example and I'm going to talk
you through a few things in this formula
that makes it a bad example now let me
first start by saying the actual
ingredients selections aren't the
problem so when I've created this bad
formulation example it's not because
it's a bad formula it's the way it's
written and in this video I'm going to
be explaining how you should be
providing the information and then at
the end I'm going to give you the same
formula but written in its proper format
and this just means that then you can
make any batch so as you want easily
you can convert the inputs really easily
no matter your batch size you'll be able
to convert your equipment to larger
scale production easily and you can even
take your formula to a contract
manufacturer knowing that they will be
able to reproduce the same product for
you
you wouldn't be able to do any of that
accurately from the way the formula is
currently written so let me talk you
through some of the things that are
wrong with this formula and then I'm
going to talk you through how to make
them right first of all you'll see that
this formula is written to make 75 jars
now the very first thing you need to do
whenever you write a formula is to write
it to 100% now I've got this great
little table summarizing what you
shouldn't do and what you should do that
you can get easily just by contacting us
info at personal-care science comm today
you and will give you all of this
information we're very happy to provide
it to help you out so one of the first
things you absolutely should not be
doing is writing your formula to a
specific batch size or quantity of jars
or bottles you should be writing the
formula to 100% by weight it says number
one step that they've done wrong the
very next thing that is wrong in this
formula is that it's a mixture of volume
and weight measures and even drops down
here at the bottom so all of your
formulas need to be written to 100% by
weight and again if you look at our
little list of what not to do and what
to do you'll see that's the very next
important thing mixture of milligram and
drop measurements are not suitable you
need to convert everything to a
percentage by weight measure now you
might be thinking well why do I need to
do that if I've made my 75 jars and I'm
really happy with my formula for that 75
jars
why should I change anything well the
problem becomes if you want to change
from 75 jars
it's really difficult for you to then
make an accurate reproduction of this
formula the way it's written whether you
want 750 jars or 25 jars when you write
a formula in percent by weight it means
that everything is consistent so you can
easily go from 100
of a batch to 100 kilograms of a batch
because everything's written in percent
so if I need 5% of an ingredient it's
the same percentage ratio whether I'm
making 100 grams of that product or
whether I'm making 100 kilos the
percentage calculation will always give
me a very accurate input and when us
percentage by weight so that we can be
sure about the weight of the finished
production batch size so again if we're
talking about a hundred kilos of
finished product then I know that 5% of
that hundred kilos is going to be 5
kilos of an ingredient to use so using
percent by weight means we can go from
very small to very large batches easily
and the calculations remain consistent
and easy to calculate if written by
percent weight input another thing
that's wrong about this formula is the
names of the ingredients are very
ambiguous if I was to take this to a
contract manufacturer and if they were
to prepare me a sample of this product
they may use very different materials to
me for several of these inputs for
example xanthan gum can come in a
variety of grades and that can impact
how the finished product is going to
fill and also its viscosity this
emulsifying wax is a very ambiguous
description there are hundreds of
emulsifying wax is out there I need to
be specific with my manufacturer or even
if I'm making this at home
so that I can make sure I'm using the
same brand of emulsifying wax every
single time I don't want to just use
inky names either like the xanthan gum
or even like emulsifying waxes if I was
to use inky names there's multiple
grades out there that can have a big
difference on the viscosity and
stability of my finished product so I
should be very specific about these
types of ingredients fractionated
coconut oil again is quite an ambiguous
description I'm in Doyle and avocado oil
these could come in varying grades they
could be refined they could be deodorant
it depends on the supplier and the
macadamia doesn't even have a plant part
so I don't know if it's an oil or a
butter so I need more information I've
also got some other really ambiguous
descriptions here that you might not
have thought were that ambiguous to
begin with I've got a preservative blend
using inky names but there's a few
different varieties of this material out
there so again I should be using a trade
name or a supplier name so that the
specific grade can be purchased each
time and that way I'll get a consistent
result vitamin E again am i using a
natural version or a synthetic version
am i using an acetate version which
won't give any antioxidant protection to
my formula or am i using a tocopherol
version which work is the antioxidant
protection it's not specified so if I
was to purchase the wrong vitamin E some
time I might get a very different
outcome in my finished product in its
shelf life for example my essential oil
blend should be part of my main formula
not separated out over here and even in
that essential oil blend you can see
I've listed out lemon myrtle essential
oil lavender and sandalwood but there's
multiple varieties of each of these
materials which means if a different
type of lavender was used I could end up
with a very different aroma each time
and sandalwood do I want to use the
Australian sandalwood or East Indian
sandalwood they both have very different
aromas and very different pricing so I
should be much more specific about the
ingredients that I'm using a new
supplier or trade names let's take a
look at an example for that so for
example the first one was looking at our
most the fires over here on formulator
samples shop website you can see here
I've just looked up their emulsifiers
and I've got all of these different
results which are mole supplying wax am
I using let's say in this example that I
want to select the montón of 68 MB here
then I should specify in my formula
montón of 68 MB
and then there is no confusion about
what material I've used now remember
your formula doesn't have to include
your Inca names your Inca names need to
appear on your label for your consumer
but they don't necessarily have to go in
your formula but a specific trade name
and suppliers details should so that the
same material is purchased every single
time another example was that
fractionated coconut oil again if I just
type in coconut in formulator sample
shop website I get all these choices and
if I want to be really specific I should
be writing caprylic copra triglycerides
MCT from formulator sample shop and then
there's no confusion about which grade
of material and even which supplier I've
used to get this particular ingredient
over here on the new directions website
just an example to show you if I just
type in lavender I get all sorts of
results and even just their essential
oil with there's cape lavender
there's Australian's has mainly an
essential oil Bulgarian essential oil
French essential oil which one am i
using they're all very different prices
and different aromas so I'd get a lot of
batch to batch variation if I'm not more
specific about the material I'm using
while also on new directions
I've got licorice extract in my formula
but again am I talking about a powder am
I talking about a glycerin base liquid
extract or am I talking about an organic
extract my formula needs to be specific
about this so that I can use the same
material every single time and more
importantly if I want to give my formula
to a contract manufacturer so that they
use exactly the same materials that I've
used every single time to get the same
result
another thing that's wrong with the way
this formula is written is the
ingredients are not phased out we don't
have any phasing information so another
problem is the way the methods written
first of all we shouldn't be naming
individual ingredients we should be
naming the phases so that there can't be
any
confusion or ingredients forgotten so we
talk in terms of phases combined phase a
heat phase B and then we're very
specific about what we're doing with
each material as we go along another
thing that's not good about this method
and would be a real problem if we want
to start going to larger batches we
don't have any endpoints or any specific
temperatures what do I mean by that well
we say we want to add it to hot water
but how hot should that water be and if
we're stirring for five minutes are we
stirring at low shear or high shear and
we shouldn't specify time either because
what's five minutes mixing for a small
batch and might be sufficient five
minute mixing of a large batch may be
nowhere near enough time to ensure the
entire batch is mixed properly so we
don't generally write a time in our
general method because the time would be
determined by the batch size and the
equipment used and that really needs to
be done at the time of manufacture
specific to the size of the batch being
made but you don't want to write your
formula like that
because then you can't transfer it from
a small batch to a large batch easily
remember you can add that detail later
when you know exactly what batch size
you want to make and exactly what
equipment you're going to use but your
general method for your formulas should
be written in a way that suits both
small and large batches so we shouldn't
put that time in there because it may
not be enough mixing for a large batch
and it may be too much mixing for a
small batch but what is important is to
be specific about temperatures and be
specific about low or high shear mixing
now if you're not sure what I mean by
that please watch another video I have
for you which talks you through
different types of mixes that you can
use to make your cosmetic products and
it talks about low or high shear and you
also need some end points so in step one
if we're combining the glycerin and
xanthan gum and adding to the hot water
what would be an endpoint how do we know
when step one is completed we would know
when we've got a nice homogeneous gel
that has formed
if we're heating phase a B and heating
phase C and then we're combining to form
our emulsion how would we know when that
step is complete we know when we have a
nice glossy looking emulsion that has
formed and then we can start cooling
these our endpoints that suit
small or large scale production and of
course then when you do know
specifically how much product you want
to make and you do know specifically
which equipment you're using you could
insert times of mixing but you can't
when you're writing a generalized method
so instead you should have specific
temperatures specific endpoints to look
for and be specific about low or high
shear mixing another issue on this
formula is there's no mention about
final pH you should be writing your
formula with a final pH where there's
water present and that pH range should
be relatively tight to make sure that
the finished product made today is still
of the required quality in a couple of
years when that pH may have drifted a
little and pH will drift it's a very
normal phenomenon for cosmetic emulsions
for that pH to drift over time but you
don't want it to drift too much
otherwise it becomes a big stability or
shelf-life issue so you need to start
your manufacture and your method with a
very tight pH range so that any drift
over time does not become so large that
it creates a quality issue so now I've
summarized that information for you here
in this table let's take a look at how
it reads in a better version of this
formula now as I've mentioned I have
used the same formula but I've now put
it into its corrected format so let's
look at the things that you should be
doing what you'll see straightaway is I
have converted it to 100% and I have
converted all inputs to percent by
weight the very first step we need to do
the next thing that I've done is I've
been very specific about trade names and
grade names as well as the supplier
and that way there's no confusion over
which materials I've got from which
supplier now again I've created this
video for smaller brands so I'm using
smaller scale suppliers for you but the
same methodology of writing your formula
applies if you're writing a formula for
larger scale production and using some
of the larger scale suppliers which
you'd see in the formulas that we
provide with other more professional
formulation videos you'll also see for
the botanical materials in particular
I've been very specific about the name
and the supplier and some of those
essential oils I've been very specific
about them too so the lemon myrtle
natural blend essential oil that's
exactly what New Directions call that
particular grade of material the
sandalwood have specified a sandalwood
Australian again so it's very clear
about which material are selected so -
with the lavender essential oil and that
licorice root extract there's now no
confusion over exactly which grade of
material I've used especially because of
also named the supplier of that material
so that even if you wanted to reproduce
this product you could go to this
supplier and get the exact same grade of
material that I used and get the exact
same result that I did from the
formulation you'll also notice that I've
phased the ingredients over here so the
ingredients are phased based on how they
are put into the formula together or not
and then down here in the method you'll
see that I talked about phases not
individual ingredients and that way
nothing can be missed accidentally
you'll see that I have got my end points
at each step and I've also been very
specific about temperature I've also
been very specific about shear low shear
here why shear here and those endpoints
that help with any scale-up procedure
you will know that you just need to
adjust your time of mixing depending on
the batch size and equipment used
because your endpoint tells you how long
you're going to need to stir it for and
that you
this example is too we have a smooth
glossy emulsion so that's an example of
how being specific with the temperatures
being specific with the endpoints and
being specific with the shear helps us
be able to scale a batch from a very
small threat of very large batch and
know how long should we be stirring this
for until we've achieved these end
points finally you'll also see that I
have included my pH adjuster and I've
also been very specific about that final
pH and when to check it now if you're
not that familiar with the concepts of
pH we do have a video on pH adjustment
and when you're making a formula you
can't know whether you need to adjust
the pH up or down or whether you need to
adjust it at all you also will find this
batch to batch variation of just how
much of these pH adjusters are needed
which has a lot to do with various
materials and sometimes even your water
quality so we can't write exact amounts
into formulas and we can't write whether
we're going to need citric acid or
sodium hydroxide for example because we
don't know so it is quite okay and in
fact required that we write Q s pH
adjuster and that means as much as
needed to achieve this end point here
and again by having this end point
stated specifically it means that no
matter if I'm making a hundred grams or
a hundred kilos or even a thousand kilos
of this product I can be very specific
about that end point every single time
it just helps the formula be reliably
translated from a small batch right
through to a large batch regardless of
the type of equipment or batch size that
you might be making so there you go
that's how to write up your cosmetic
formulas now if you've been using a
combination of volume and weight in the
past you'll just need to start weighing
out what you've been using and then
start calculating a total there and then
work your percentages from that
and that way you'll have a consistent
conversion every single time make sure
you look up those supplier details and
be specific in your formulas so that you
are using the same materials every
single time and especially if you're
going to be giving your formula to a
contract manufacturer to recreate for
you I hope you found this video useful
remember just contact us for any of our
free reports or formulas or information
from this video as well please give the
video a thumbs up please leave any
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all our formulations happy formulating
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