This Ginger Oak Moss Solid Facial Cleanser is the sister to my Ginger Oak Moss Cleansing Balm Stick; the two accompanied me all around New Zealand last December, and did brilliantly. The inspiration for this came from a product I stumbled across while perusing /r/AsianBeauty: the Su:m37 Miracle Rose Cleansing Stick. I immediately saw the travel (and general) awesomeness potential of a solid facial cleanser in a push-up stick, and set out to create one of my own.
If you’ve made one of my foaming facial cleansers you’ll notice quite a few familiar ingredients: a gentle blend of SCI and Cocamidopropyl Betaine form the bulk of it, with some added foaming silk because I had some and it sounded like a lovely thing in a facial cleanser. That blend is solid on its wn, but pretty soft and sticky, so we’ll harden it up with some silky cetyl alcohol, conditioning BTMS-50, and creamy mango butter. Some hydrolyzed silk and panthenol bring some moisturizing and skin soothing properties, and a touch of Penstia™ powder improves the lovely glide of the final product.
I packed the first version of this into a paperboard container, just like its cleansing balm sister—I figured it would be a good way to give them a run for their money. Between international travel, a cross-New-Zealand road trip, twice daily handling (often with wet hands) and a fair amount of getting slammed around in my bag, they definitely weren’t getting babied. I’m happy to report both of them performed pretty darn well! I’m not sure I’d recommend them for such a task as paper + frequently getting wet doesn’t seem like an awesome long-term combination, and if it was a product I had purchased I’m not sure I’d be happy with the level of visual wear after two months, but perhaps people who go out of their way to purchase products in paperboard containers are not the type of people to fuss over such things? Anyhow—the specific tubes I used are from YellowBee, and they have the best paperboard tubes I’ve used. Some of the daintier ones I’ve tried soak through with oil in a matter of hours, whilst these sturdy ones from YellowBee haven’t soaked through at all and I’ve had concoctions in their tubes for upwards of a year now.
This cleanser contains 32.54% active surfactant matter, or ASM. We’re using SCI at 24%, and since it is 84% active, that’s 20.16%. Cocamidopropyl Betaine at 36% works out to 10.8% ASM (as it is 30% active), and Foaming Silk (31.5% active) brings 1.58% ASM to the blend at 5% usage. Upwards of 30% ASM would be high for a liquid cleanser, but higher ASMs are common (and rather necessary) in solid cleansers. Not only do the surfactants create the bulk of the bar and contribute heavily to its solid-ness, but we use significantly less of a solid cleanser than we would of a liquid one. Think of the amount of liquid soap you use compared to the amount of solid soap; an imperceptible swipe of a solid bar does the work of a full pump of liquid soap. You’ll find you use next to no product when using this cleanser, which is easily one of my favourite things about it—it lasts for absolutely ages!
The first time I made this cleanser I used a water bath, but found that it took absolutely ages, and the cleanser remained so thick and sticky that it was really hard to work with. I tried to remedy this by quickly microwaving it, which resulted in a small sudsy volcano in my microwave (whoops!), so this time I oped for using the stovetop over low heat. I found that really sped up the SCI/Cocamidopropyl Betaine melting time and ensured everything melted together quite a lot faster (BTMS and I have a bit of an ongoing why-won’t-you-melt-until-transparent-in-a-waterbath spat). You are certainly welcome to do everything in a water bath instead (especially if they’ve worked well for you in the past), but if you do decide to join me in the world of direct heat please watch it carefully! It’s easy to get a bit slack on the supervision when you’re used to water baths, which are very forgiving. Direct heat is not forgiving, and we are working with small amounts of things, which heat up very quickly. Make sure you have everything measured out before you turn the stove on as things will move much faster than usual, and you don’t want to walk away from your concoction lest you accidentally fry your facial cleanser.
Our essential oil blend is a lovely one: intoxicating oak moss, warm ginger, and bright michelia alba. You’re certainly welcome to mix it up and use something else if you don’t have those essential oils, or aren’t a fan of warm/woodsy/mysterious scent blends, but I sure like this blend! It’s soft and sweet, with bright, lightly spicy top notes, and it’s difficult to pin down any one individual note, which I love in a scent blend. Swoon!
Ginger Oak Moss Solid Facial Cleanser
Primary Heated Phase
12g | 24% Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate (SCI) (USA / Canada)
19g | 36% Cocamidopropyl Betaine (USA / Canada)
or 30g | 60% 2:3 SCI:Cocamidopropyl Betaine pre-made pasteSecondary Heated Phase
2.5g | 5% foaming silk (USA / Canada)
5g | 10% cetyl alcohol (USA / Canada)
5g | 10% BTMS-50 (USA / Canada)
3.55g | 7.1% mango butter (USA / Canada)
1g | 2% panthenol powder (vitamin B5) (USA / Canada)
1g | 2% hydrolyzed silk (USA / Canada) (wondering about substitutions?)
1.5g | 3% Penstia™ powder (USA / Canada)Cool Down Phase
0.25g | 0.5% Liquid Germall Plus™ (USA / Canada) (or other broad spectrum preservative of choice at recommended usage rate [why?])
0.2g | 0.4% Essential oils0.05g | 1 drop oak moss absolute
0.1g |5 drops CO2 extracted ginger essential oil
0.05g | 2 drops michelia alba (white champaca) essential oilCombine the Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate and Cocamidopropyl Betaine in a small saucepan and place over low heat until smooth and uniform, stirring frequently. Ensure the heat is very low!
While the surfactants are melting, weigh out the cetyl alcohol, BTMS-50, mango butter, panthenol, hydrolyzed silk, and Penstia™ powder into a small bowl or beaker to add later.
Once the Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate and Cocamidopropyl Betaine have transformed into a smooth, uniform white paste, stir in the foaming silk. When that is uniform, add the remainder of the secondary heated phase, stirring to combine and melt through.
When the mixture has melted completely, remove it from the heat, and stir as it cools. Once the temperature drops below 50°C, stir in the liquid germall plus and the essential oils, and then quickly transfer the mixture to a 30g (1oz) push-up tube (USA / Canada). You’ll need to sharply rap the tube on your counter to knock the paste down as it’ll be rather stiff—a necessary side effect of allowing the mixture to cool enough to add our preservative.
Once all the paste is packed into the tube, smooth off the top with your spatula and leave it to set up for a day before using it. To use, glide the surface of the cleanser across damp skin, and then wipe it off with a damp microfibre cloth.
Shelf Life & Storage
Because this cleanser will regularly come into contact with water, you must include a broad-spectrum preservative to ward off microbial growth. This is non-optional. Even with a preservative this project is likely to eventually spoil as our kitchens are not sterile laboratories, so in the event you notice any change in colour, scent, or texture, chuck it out and make a fresh batch.
To make the 2:3 SCI:Cocamidopropyl Betaine pre-made paste simply weigh 100g SCI and 150g Cocamidopropyl Betaine into a 250mL mason jar. Place that mason jar in a water bath until the paste is uniform and smooth. Keep the paste in the freezer and use as needed.
Substitutions
As always, be aware that making substitutions will change the final product. While these swaps won’t break the recipe, you will get a different final product than I did.
- As I’ve provided this recipe in percentages as well as grams you can easily calculate it to any size using a simple spreadsheet as I’ve explained in this post. As written in grams this recipe will make 200g.
- You can use a different liquid anionic surfactant instead of the foaming silk; foaming oats would be a good option! Look for something that is approximately 30% active matter for a similar final total surfactant concentration.
- You can use a different soft butter instead of mango butter; shea butter, sal butter, or mowrah butter would all be good choices.
- You can use a different hydrolyzed protein instead of silk, like oat or wheat.
- You can replace the Penstia™ powder with arrowroot starch or a light clay like kaolin or French green
This surfactant powered cleansing stick sounds really interesting and not one that I thought of. You seem to be on a cleansing stick thing lately 🙂 I actually think this idea is brilliant and so cool- like cleaning with a stick. I don’t have any surfactants or packaging for stick balms, so I probably won’t make it anytime soon, but I’m going to put it on my future projects list. Also, I was curious asbout your addition of Penstia in something that’s really sticky- does it dissolve easily? How does it affect the slip? I really want to get Penstia, but I’ve only been able to find it at Lotioncrafter, which doesn’t have all the stuff I want or at the prices I want. And shipping is really expensive for just one item 🙁
Penstia won’t dissolve, but you won’t notice that as it’s very fine. In cleansers it helps with sebum absorption and it boosts slip 🙂 It’s definitely not required here, but I do love it, and it’s amazeballs in lotions!
I’d love to make this recipe but I can’t locate the Oak Moss Absolute in the USA? It sounds like a fragrance I’d adore! Any suggestions where I might find it here or something I could get very similar? Thanks so much! PS I’m new to your blog & cant wait to try my first recipe.
The link in the recipe is the only source I know of for it, but you can definitely search around on all the sites linked on this page—there are a lot of places to shop in the USA, I’m sure you’ll find somewhere 🙂
Mountain Rose Herbs carries oak moss absolute, and it’s a US based vendor with high-quality products.
Thank you, Dana!
And boy, is it strong. I’ll never need another bottle again.
Strange how everyone who smells it, describes it different. One son smells new car leather, other son smells toilet bowl freshener, another smells cherry and I have no idea how to describe it. Love the green color!
Now, which solid cleanser to make??
Ha! Toilet bowl freshener?! You must have seriously bomb-diggity toilet bowl freshener in your house, bwahahahahahah.
Thank you once again for sharing your genius with us! I’m absolutely in love the rose stick cleanser you mentioned & use it daily. Is there any way to possibly make this type of stick cleanser with more common type of ingredients? I have blown my creative budget & truly want simple & affordable ingredients… (I like glitter & unicorns too). Any suggestions you have are greatly appreciated 🙂
I guess that depends on what you define as “common”. You need surfactants for this product—it is almost entirely comprised of them. There’s no making such a thing without them. These surfactants are very versatile, though, and you would use them in lots of cleansers 🙂
Hi Marie
Thanks for the great recipes! I really want to make this- have the foaming silk even! But I jealously guard my BTMS50 as I love it for hair and leave on goodies (Love your Conditioning skin balm!). Can I use OliveM1000 as e-wax instead and save my precious BTMS50?
Thanks
I’d leave it in—it helps make the cleanser more gentle 🙂
I absolutely love this! What a great idea. Now I want everything to be in stick form!
Thanks! Sticks sure kick butt for travelling 😀 The only downside is they last so long I have to wait ages before I can make another facial cleanser—lol!
I love using solid cleansers and shampoos, conditioners, and it’s great to use less packaging. So- I was wondering if this would work packed into then released from a small soap mold (ie not needing a push tube). Maybe have to make it a bit harder ? Interested in your thoughts here, thanks
It’s very firm as-is, so that should work. For travel I’ve found that you’ll either need a tube or a plastic bag, though, and the tube is much more robust. The product also lasts longer because only a small amount of it gets wet—when products like this get thoroughly wet and then put back in a plastic bag to be moved around they get smashed and smooshed and don’t last nearly as long. So—for home use, I’d think a bar would be fine, but if you intend to travel with this creating it as a bar will speed product loss and require other plastic packaging 🙂
Marie if someone can’t use any oil on their face, what can i use to substitute the mango butter? Thanks
If one can’t use any oil I’d be concerned about the specifics as more than just the mango butter may be problematic—that’s an extremely broad statement.
Hi Marie!
I loved making this cleanser, thanks for sharing. I did notice however, my formulation is a bit soft. So when I rub it onto my face the top part gets mushy. Is that normal? To make it a bit more solid, would you recommend more wax?
I used a Phytomulse instead of the BTMS-50
Thanks in advance.
No, that’s not normal—mine is very firm. Do you live somewhere very hot?
Hi Marie! I’m so excited you made another version of this with surfecants. I somehow missed this post but stumbled upon it when reading a Newer post. I want to make this without having to purchase the foaming silk or panthenol. Can i ditch the panthenol all together? Also wondering if super fine oil soluble silk powder will work in place of the hydrolyzed silk powder (or is it a liquid you have)? Can I replace the foaming silk with more coco betaine?
All those swaps should work 🙂 Just make sure you make up the amount of panthenol with something else to keep the recipe in balance—I’d probably choose silk or Penstia 🙂
Soon I am starting on an adult lady crayon box. Basically trying to make a travel set of tubes with everything i need to get ready after the gym. ( feel free to steal the idea and do a compilation post with all these recipes 😉 ) This would include: your two stick cleansers, a stick form of your creamy lumanizer, your airbrushing primer stick, a similar thing to your primer stick but with blush, tinted lip balm and some mascara. The only thing I am struggling to put in a stick is moisturizer. Do you have any ideas for a oil and emulsifier stick that could turn to lotion when swiped across a wet face?
I love it! The cleansing balm in a stick basically is oil + emulsifier in a stick 😉 You could make an emulsified stick, too—you’d probably want a fairly large oil phase and a good amount of something like cetearyl alcohol to solidify it! That sounds like a fun idea to play with 🙂
Hey Zil! i hope you went ahead with your idea! Its such a good one!
i was going to suggest you include a deodorant/antiperspirant stick, maybe zinc ricinoleate & magnesium hydroxide (& lactic acid to get the pH back down again!) plus some odor-neutralizing fragrance oil from wholesale supplies plus (they smell a little chemmy, but have no phthalates & don’t violate prop 65,& i can attest they work exceptionally well (too well! Don’t even think about trying to mix them with any other fragrance or essential oils, because it would be a waste! They neutralize any oils added before or after! But they are literally so effective, they neutralize even neem oil at 4%! & i’ve raved on Marie’s blog before about my obsessive & deep love of neem’s fragrant gifts (n-n-reecchhh-o-t-t-t!)..
or! if you knew how to formulate using aluminum salts, you could actually have your self a fully antiperspirant deoderant! Just whatever you do, please reconsider using deoplex, or whatever that one based on yeast that eats your stank molecules is..that just doesn’t strike me as a genius idea..let’s see, i’ll just introduce this foreign yeasty into this dark, warm, moist fold of flesh, like every day, what could go wrong?
Anyways, i just wanted to reinspire you if you had forgotten!
& of course, to tell Marie, & ms. Barb!! hello! & that this is an excellent formula, Marie, & i so take your point RE: the anionic surfs & the cationic emulsifier, i also think it contributes to mildness..yet again, another important contribution to science based on practice & experience, instead of just accepting the written theories!
Thank you, as usual, for your awesomeness & helpfulness, this is the best way to limit the plastic packaging in our lives! Formulae like this & the lemon-rose concentrated cleansing drops! (Btw, i keep seeing these awesome bottles around that have these neat lil’ pressy-tabs that release just 1 drop onto your finger;however, all that i’ve so far seen have been 5ozs, at the smallest, & that would be, what, about 4&1/2yrs’ worth, right? i’ll let you know if i see any at an oz or less)..
i know this is obnoxiously long, i just figure i don’t write THAT often, sooo..
Well, much love to you & to ms. Barb!! Lov, suki
Hiya Suki!
It’s certainly been a while! Hope you are well!!!
Hopefully Zil will see this one too! I ended up making this with a few swaps for what I had on hand, and used it while still wet from the shower as a lotion bar in the winter. It worked well! just wish I had a better delivery system than just a puck. Having some sort of tube would have worked a million times better!
That’s brilliant! I’ve been using the after shower oil (which I love!) but sometimes I’m in a rush, and would love something in bar form that emulsifies on my wet skin. What a great idea!
Agreed! OOooer, the ideas are spinning already 😛
Hi,
Is BTMS compatible with these surfactants, especially with anionic one – SCI?
Hey! So… technically no, however, I’ve seen the use of opposing charges recommended as a way to make the end product milder. In the past year I’ve done some more reading and basically at this point in time I’m unsure as to if the incompatibility is problematic, or making the surfactant blend milder. It’s something I intend to look into further, but haven’t yet.
That said, I’ve had a sample of this product for about 13 months now and it is completely stable.
By the way Marie, is it possible to made this with SCI and CAPB only?
Probably, but you’ll need to do your own experiments 🙂
Hello, I’ve been debating between making this cleanser and your recent soft balm cleanser but I’m looking for an all in one method. Which one would you say rinses of cleanly without a second cleanser needed? I’m thinking this version because of the surfactants but I want to make sure.
Thanks
Good afternoon Kay!
SOOTHING CLEANSING BALM FOR THE WIN!!!! I mean, yeah. Soothing Cleansing Balm is where it is at! I love all things balms and use them straight up as an all in one cleansing method. I usually add a wee bit more clay or some jojoba beads for more scrub, but yes. This is what I’d suggest making! Yup, everything washes cleanly with the balm, and your face feels sooth and happy after you’ve washed it!
I might be biassed though. I love all the cleansing balms!
Dude, ms.Barb! You are so right! That is an excellent recipe & would work wonderfully as a ‘wet’ lotion bar, definitely in a tube! i think that the small amount of plastic in a tube, when something lasts as long, especially if one could reuse it when its empty, would definitely be an improvement over most people’s situation now, if using multiple bottles of liquid; shampoo, conditioner, body wash, shaving foam, then lotion, that’s 5 plastic bottles! i think that could be improved!
Marie has given us some exceptional options here!
Good to chat with you! Muchlove, suki
Hiya Suki Lady!
Glad I could get those brain gears working! Have fun and don’t forget to share your pictures on #humblebeeandme on Instagram!
Hello, should SCI be melted with liquid surfactants, or mixed as is? I’ve read different suggestions in similar formulations. I read on another post that if it gets heated, it’ll be very messy. What do you suggest for a cleansing bar? Thank you
Hi Joanna! I would recommend this newer formulation instead: Gentle Clay Facial Cleansing Bar. It’s easier to make, nowhere near as gloppy/sticky to deal with when warm, and gentler to boot.
I made the solid cleansing balm, and that was *chef’s kiss* so I absolutely had to try this. After making it three times this three times with the only substitution of corn starch, I could only get the consistency of the final product to be like a thick paste like a previous post mentioned. it never hardened beyond that. I tried letting them set up in the fridge but that didn’t help either. I do not live in a warm climate