This fun, softly purple Lavender Gel Facial Cleanser is another thing I’ve devised as part of my Formula Botanica coursework. It’s a wobbly, silky semi-solid facial cleansing experience that I probably find entirely too amusing 😝It’s simple to make (no heat required!), cleanses gently, and wobbles when you poke it so you may find the desire to watch Flubber crop up unexpectedly sometime in the next week or two (though this cleanser has yet to sling-shot through my home, sparking laughter and shenanigans, but hey… there’s only so much a cleanser can do!).
My initial experiments with carrageenan date back to last summer, when I got some from Windy Point along with some SCS to make jelly soap (side note: that is a super fun project!). I made myself many wonderful wobbly, blobbly, colourful, fun-smelling sudsy jiggle-things with it, and was blown away by how effective it was at just 2%! It was also much much gelatin-like than guar gum or xanthan gum, both of which are a bit more on the slimy/boogery side of things than the wee-jello-fun-time side of things.
I returned to carrageenan and other gums in early February with the Formula Botanica gels & gums unit and started playing around. I’d worked with all my gums (guar, xanthan, and carrageenan) before, but I hadn’t actually done any dedicated experiments to see how X% of each gum did in solutions like I have for many oils and waxes. I spent a couple days making goopy, gloppy, gelatinous messes, spreading them around, poking them, and learning about how different percentages of gums impacted my solutions—it was an excellent learning experience! One learning that stuck out is that I don’t like gum-powered gels in mostly hydrous leave-on applications (they feel all filmy and tight and sticky to me), but they are quite delightful in wash-off things.
As with all the Formula Botanica units, when we got to gel cleansers they provided a very loose formulation guide for a gel cleanser, along some suggestions for customization, and set you free to play to your heart’s content. My earlier experiments from earlier, more basic modules, came in very useful—I knew straight away that I didn’t want to bother with guar gum, and already had a good idea of what percentage of gum would give me the consistency I wanted in the end product.
This course doesn’t include a lot of information on surfactants, so I pulled from what I’ve learned from It’s All In My Hands and The Acid Queen when choosing my surfactant blend. I was reading The Acid Queen’s article on surfactants some time ago and remembered that non-ionic surfactants were the least likely to irritate skin. The study she quotes notes this is just a generalization, but Voyageur describes Caprylyl/Capryl Glucoside (which, spoiler alert, we are using) as “ultra-gentle”. And, from that same study and It’s All In My Hands the addition of an amphoteric surfactant helps make surfactant blends milder. So, I selected Caprylyl/Capryl Glucoside (non-ionic, 60% active) and Cocamidopropyl Betaine (amphoteric, 30% active) for the surfactant blend. At 1% and 2% respectively, we have an equal amount of both (as Cocamidopropyl Betaine is half as active as Caprylyl/Capryl Glucoside), giving us 1.2% active surfactant matter for the entire facial cleanser. This is quite low, but I find it to be effective. Low ASM + gentle surfactant blend = a pretty darn gentle facial cleanser. Add to that the calming properties of lavender and we’ve got a pretty lovely, low-irritation-potential end product.
The making part of this is easy: some weighing, some whisking, and some marvelling at how thick and blobby and wobbly it gets towards the end. I made the entire cleanser without any sort of colourant and then decided it looked a bit blah for the photos, so I incorporated a touch of mica (I used Silken Lilac from YellowBee). This is completely optional and has no benefit other than making my photos prettier, so it’s not included in the percentages of the formula 😝
Alright, let’s go get lavender-wobbly-bubbly and make this awesome Lavender Gel Facial Cleanser!
Lavender Gel Facial Cleanser
5g | 10% vegetable glycerine (USA / Canada)
1.25g | 2.5% carrageenan0.5g | 1% Caprylyl/Capryl Glucoside (USA / Canada)
1g | 2% Cocamidopropyl Betaine (USA / Canada)
7.5g | 15% lavender hydrosol
34.5g | 69% distilled water
0.25g | 0.5% Liquid Germall Plus™ (USA / Canada)Purple/lavender mica (optional)
Weigh the glycerine into a glass bowl or beaker, and sprinkle the carrageenan overtop (we add the gum to the glycerine first to prevent clumping). Whisk to combine and leave it to sit for at least ten minutes while you prepare the remaining ingredients; I found this soaking time led to better incorporation.
Weigh the surfactants, hydrosol, water, and preservative into another small container and whisk to combine. If you’re certain you want to add a bit of mica you can add it now—1/64 tsp or less is plenty.
Once the gum mixture has been sitting for at least ten minutes gradually add the water mixture to it about 1/4 at a time, whisking between additions. I’ve tried adding the gum mixture to the water mixture and found that resulted in a lumpier end product than adding the water to the gum.
At this point you can whisk in the mica if you were on the fence about it and have decided you’d like to include it.
As I made it, the pH of this cleanser is ~5.5. I’d recommend checking the pH of your cleanser and adjusting it if necessary.
That’s it! Transfer the gel to a container—something in the 50–60mL (~2fl oz) range is a good size.
To use, swipe up a small amount of gel into your palm and work it into a lather with some more water. Use to wash your face and wipe off with a damp microfibre cloth.
Shelf Life & Storage
Because this facial cleanser contains 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.
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 50g.
- You can coco glucoside in place of Caprylyl/Capryl Glucoside, however please ensure you test the pH and adjust as required as the pH of coco glucoside is much higher than that of Caprylyl/Capryl Glucoside
- You can use a different hydrosol in place of the lavender hydrosol
- If you don’t have any hydrosols you can use more distilled water in place of the hydrosol; you will need to check and adjust the pH if you make this change
- You could use xanthan gum in place of the carrageenan, but I don’t really recommend it. It’s a noticeably inferior experience.
Me too!!!
A couple folk couldn’t believe it when I said that exact same thing, I don’t like gums in my leave on products. I’ve tried and tried to like them… but nope. Not keen on them. I’ll have to try carrageen when I move!
I hate the leave-on feel so much that I wonder how anyone could like it, LOL. I should experiment with it more in lotions as I know lotions are much more forgiving than watery concoctions but just… ack! So filmy and tacky and just *shudder*.
I think I just have an aversion to gums! I can’t stand them in my emulsions too. Do you find your Olivem1000 concoctions stable without gums?
I’ve found them to be perfectly stable without any of the stabilizers typically recommended for Olivem1000 😛 I guess I’m a rebel? Hahaha, rebel without a stabilizer 😛
🙁 Wish there was a good substitute. Carrageenan allergies in our family!
There could be, but I haven’t found it in my natural gum experiments—that said, I definitely have not tried all the natural gums! I bet carbomer would be lovely as well 😀
I’ve been trying to create a new emulsifying gum using marshmallow plant seeds. I love inventing things and this one is coming along really well. I’m quite surprised that no one has invented this yet! I’ve also invented dehydrated avocado. Supposedly, there is “no such thing”, and it can’t be done. Well I’ve definitely done it! The dehydrated avocado works great for so many things. I can grind the avocado “chips” into a powder and add them to any of my cleansing grains concoctions. The powder instantly rehydrates when I add water, and I get all the wonderful benefits of avocado, without the mess or the spoilage. I can also take it anywhere, like when I’m hiking, I can take the “chips” with me and eat avocado on-the-go. Add a few drops of water, and it becomes guacamole on-the-go! I’m pretty much done with all the stability testing and so far the shelf life is 3 years (and going strong). I’ve subjected it to all kinds of temperatures and conditions, and it remains completely stable. I’m actually considering selling it! Sorry for the long post, but I gotta pat myself on the back for this one! Lol
OMG! You just gave me an idea! Have you tried ground (dried) cassava? The texture is soooo similar to carrageenan, well in food at least.
Yes, cassava is another good one, in the form of tapioca starch. Ive used that in quite a few things. It doesn’t work exactly the same as the others, but it’s has its own pros. It’s a great oil absorber too. I’ve also been working on ways to incorporate tapioca pearls into formulas, doing different experiments with them to see what all they will absorb, and how much they can hold. I have little containers of tapioca experiments all over my counter top and it’s driving my husband crazy! Lol
I just had to add another bookcase to my studio to house multiple shelves of experiments haha! There is never enough space for all the experiments!
Wow, what cool projects! I can imagine a lot of uses for dried avocado for camping/backpacking trips, too—yum!
The funniest thing just happened! I opened my mailbox and there’s my carrageenan that I’d ordered a week ago. Right after getting my mail, I checked my email and there’s a new post from you today, with carrageenan as the highlighted ingredient. What a coincidence! Unfortunately, I don’t have the caprylyl/caprylyl glucose or coco glucoside. I have Olivem 300, sodium cocoyl hydrolyzed silk (aka Foaming Silk), SCI “noodles”, and sodium lauroyl sarcosinate (aka EasyFoam). Will any of those work for a substitute? The foaming silk is probably anionic so I doubt that’ll work, but I thought about following your steps to dissolve the SCI in the cocoamidopropryl betaine and stir that into the liquids. Or maybe I could dissolve the EasyFoam in the liquids. OR, just using the Olivem 300. It would still be super gentle. Do you think any of these ideas would be alright? If so, which one is best?
Typo: Foaming Silk is cationic, not anionic. I should also mention that I have polysorbate 80 too and I have read that CCG can be replaced with poly 80 or olivem 300. I would still like to have your opinion before I proceed with either of these though (because you are the best!).
Where did you read that foaming silk is cationic? The INCI (Sodium Cocoyl Hydrolyzed Silk Protein) is much more consistent with anionic surfactants rather than cationic, but none of the suppliers I’ve checked with seem to state the charge.
I’d probably choose the foaming silk over the other options you have; it’ll be the easiest to incorporate and it’s quite gentle. We don’t need a non-ionic surfactant for this project, but a liquid one is nice as it makes things easy!
You could use the foaming silk—that’d be my choice given it’s liquid and still quite mild. The end product is unlikely to be noticeably different given the low usage rate 🙂
Hi Marie,
Thanks for this. I’ve just made one using the exact ingredients as I happen to have all of them (except for the mica). Did your gel thicken straight away or it took a bit of time? This is my second time working with carrageenan gum (first time with 2%) and mine hasn’t thickened at all, it is still watery, apart from the bottom part which has formed like a separate layer in the bottom (about 1/4 of the whole thing). I used Iota carrageenan gum too. And withmy first experiment with 2% of gum, only the bottom half thickened. I followed all the steps you did, even left the glycerine/gum mixture for almost 20’….
Would be great to see if you have experienced something like this (with xanthan and guar gums, my gels always thincken very fast, even with just 1%).
Thank you,
Huong
Hey! My gel thickened straight away, and I found that in all my experiments with carrageenan. Guar could take a while to fully thicken up, but carrageenan and xanthan are pretty much instant wobbly, jelly goodness. Is there any chance you’re using Irish moss? I know you said Iota carrageenan, but your experience sounds more like my experiences with Irish moss.
Hi Marie,
No it isn’t Irish moss. It’s definitely Iota Carrageenan gum, which I bought from Pure Nature (if you still remember them- they are my favorite supplier in NZ. They don’t have Irish moss.). I may try to purchase carrageenan gum from another supplier to experiment.
Thanks a lot for your reply,
Huong
Ok, hmm. Bummer. Pure Nature is the best, though—perhaps get in touch with them and ask about their experiences with it?
I’ll try that. Thanks Marie
Mary thanks for all your recipes!
I read the carrageenan is no good for the body and is not digestible….I like to know what do you think about that?
Well, “no good” is an extremely wide and completely unspecific accusation, so I can’t really counter with anything specific other than all my research shows it to be perfectly safe in skin care, and the digestible matter really doesn’t matter as you really shouldn’t be eating this facial cleanser. I hope that helps!
Hello Marie;
I have a question I have some aristoflex AVC I’ve never used. Can I use the aristoflex AVC in this recipe to replace the carrageenan?
I believe you could! I’d start with just 1% of the AVC, but it does work wonderfully and is said to be highly tolerant of surfactants 🙂
Hi great articles you have here just wondering about the preservative if I wanted to use a different broad spectrum preservative is it as simple as switching out.
liquid germall’s usage rate is 0.1% to 0.5% ph 3-8 and I see you are using the max rate if I wanted to use a different preservative with the usage rate 0.5% to 1.5% ph 4-6.5 (but trials shown stability to 8)and wanted to use the max rate as like you said better to err on the side of caution am
I required to lessen one of the other ingredients ie water or hydrosol or could i just add the 1.5%
thanks in advance
You’ll need to reduce the water phase to make room for your preservative at its higher usage rate 🙂
Thankyou kindly for the response
Marie,
I’m not finding a US source for Caprylyl/Capryl Glucoside, so may have to substitute coco glucoside as you suggested. How would I lower the pH?
There is a US source linked directly in the recipe, but if you still need to use coco glucoside I have covered pH adjustment in this post 🙂
Is this good for eyes?
It’s probably going to be less irritating than soap, but I’ve really been enjoying my micellar water as an eye makeup remover lately 🙂
Thank you!
Marie, I do have one question, why do you use surfectants in your facial cleaning products instead of a 3-5% superfat liquid soap base? Just curious, as I don’t use any surfectants, and have been extremely leery of experimenting in that realm since it doesn’t take much to make my skin unhappy…
Good question! It’s a simple matter of pH. Soap is basic—there’s no way around that. Our skin is acidic. I’ve written quite a lot on what the means here, and why one should be using mildly acidic facial cleansers. In fact, the scientific literature shows that soap is much more likely to anger your skin than well-blended surfactants!
Hi Marie, I was wondering if adding a few drops of essential oils to this recipe (to boost the scent) is possible without messing up the texture. I was also wondering what your methods of cleaning/sterilizing various cosmetic containers were. I know glass and metal can be boiled or heated in a low oven to kill bacteria, but any tips for plastic containers would be much appreciated!
I wouldn’t—I would be concerned about solubilizing. C/C glucoside is a good solubilizer, but we are barely using any here.
You can assume your containers are clean when you get them if you have a good supplier; if you don’t have a good supplier, get a new one 😛
Good to know about the essential oils. Do you ever re-use plastic containers? If so, will soap and water do the trick, or does it need to soak in a bleach solution or wiped with alcohol?
I typically don’t, with the only exception being the sturdy plastic LUSH-like tubs from YellowBee. I just send those through the dishwasher after a hand washing; my dishwasher gets really hot and has a heat dry setting as well 🙂
Thank for answering my questions, Marie. I know you are supremely busy right now. I appreciate it! I have some apple hydrosol and I can’t wait to try this recipe out!
Apple hydrosol?! Oh my goodness, I want that! Swoon. There are just too many wonderful things haha.
I just wanted to give an update. I tried this recipe last night and I had the same problem as Huong in that my carrageenan didn’t thicken up. I left it for the full 10 minutes in the glycerin and it looked pretty thin. I thought maybe it would thicken up once I added the water mixture. After adding about 1/2 of the water mixture (in 2 batches), it was clear that it wasn’t going to thicken. So I tried adding more carrageenan. Didn’t thicken. So I actually read the bag it came in and it said to heat up the carrageenan in a water solution to above 160F/ 71.1C in order for it to dissolve and gel. So I popped the beaker into a double boiler and gently heated it, stirring frequently. It thickened up right away. So heat may be the key for those who are having trouble with their carrageenan not thickening.
How interesting! I wonder what the difference between yours and mine is. Hmmmm. More research is required. Thank you so much for chiming in with your experience, this is super helpful!
Just for more information, I used the Landor Trading Co. Iota Carrageenan that you linked to in the recipe. If you go to the link, you can zoom in on the picture of the bag and see the instructions to heat it up. I don’t know if there’s a cosmetic grade vs food grade carrageenan, where one requires heat and one doesn’t. Just a heads up for anyone using this particular brand; when heated, it leaves your product smelling a little like a pier, and turns it a snotty color (but mica helped). I need to find a way to incorporate essential or fragrance oils. Right now I am reluctant to smear seaweed smelling gel all over my face.
Thank you, and sorry! Of course my Canadian source has now stopped carrying it so I’m at a bit of a loss on both countries at this point :/ I’m removed both links until I can find something more suitable.
Made this with Aristoflex. Worked PERFECT! Going to suspend some colorful jojoba beads in it for my nieces. All you need is a tiny bit and it cleans beautifully.
Hi I would like to make this. But how can I incorporate hyaluronic acid (made a stock) and oil like sunflower to this?
Hey! Please give this FAQ a read 🙂 Happy making!
Did you use the Aristoflex at 1.25g?
I actually used the Aristoflex at 2.5% but probably could’ve used a little less.
HOORAY! I’m so thrilled you’re enjoying it 😀
Hi, did you find the Formula Botanica company useful? I am looking to enroll in January….would you recommend it?
Hey Christy! You can find my full review here, but it short, yes! I really enjoyed my course with them 🙂
Hi there. Did you use iota or kappa carrageenan??
Iota 🙂
Hey hey, your channel is God sent! Thank you thank you,…
So if I want to make this but with oil, would I need to use an emulsifying wax or can i use polysorbate 20?
Please read this 🙂 Happy making!
Hi, I am wondering if you could substitute hydroxyethyl cellulose for the carrageenan. I believe it is another thickener and it is listed as a substitute for xanthan gum in the Encyclopedia but would it work here? Thanks, Nellie