Today’s recipe is born from a request from Kimann, who loves a cleanser from a British skincare brand called Pai. I did some poking around, and it looks like a lovely brand that uses some great ingredients—but the price points! $50USD for 100mL/3.3fl oz of facial cleanser seems… excessive… to say the least (especially since nowhere in the ingredient list did I see “organic fairy dust” or “ethically sourced elf essence”… but it does start with “water”). Anyhow, armed with some inspiration I set off to create my very own awesome meadowfoam mango creamy facial cleanser.
A couple months ago I made a Creamy Lavender Cardamom Cleansing Lotion, so with that in mind, I developed a new and improved lotion-plus-surfactant cleanser. I wanted this one to be thicker and to have a more pronounced lather, so I increased the oil portion, used more surfactant (quite a lot more), and used a blend of two surfactants instead of just one. The final cleanser is incredibly thick and creamy, with a hint of optional exfoliation and utterly delicious lather. Success.
For my surfactants I used SLSa and SCI. Both sodium lauryl sulfoacetate (SLSa) and sodium cocoyl isethionate (SCI) are very gentle, and very safe surfactants, with great ratings on the EWG’s Skin Deep Database. A blend of the two of them makes for a lovely, slippery, creamy lather that’s utterly lovely. Because they’re both powdered surfactants we’re going to need to blend them up in a DIY-only coffee grinder so they’ll dissolve into the lotion better.
The oil blend is a beautiful mixture of skin-softening meadowfoam seed oil, cleansing castor oil (USA / Canada), hydrating mango butter (USA / Canada), and antioxidant packed Vitamin E MT-50 (USA / Canada). Meadowfoam seed oil is a newish one for me, and it’s lovely. It’s rich in antioxidants and has a crazy-long shelf life because it’s highly resistant to oxidization. It hydrates skin without leaving it feeling greasy, and doesn’t smell like much of anything. If you don’t have it, jojoba is a great alternative, but meadowfoam can often be cheaper, so it can be a good alternative the other way around, too!
Between the oil to water ratio I’m working with and the thickening properties of the surfactants, the final creamy cleanser has a consistency like a whipped body butter. A wee bit goes a long way, and it’ll leave your face properly clean. If you’ve got very dry skin you might consider dropping the surfactants down to 5g (0.17oz) each, but I haven’t found the post-wash dry skin to be any different from after washing with soap, and in any event, it’s nothing a bit of my favourite facial serum can’t fix!
This is all the preservative you’ll need—not much at all!
For essential oils I chose a blend of fresh fir balsam, bright lemon myrtle, and dark, rich patchouli. The predominant notes are clean and bright with a hint of citrus. The patchouli isn’t identifiable as such, but it adds a lovely deepness to the scent blend and helps anchor and balance out the higher notes. I love it! Fresh and bright, it’s especially perfect first thing in the morning.
Meadowfoam Mango Creamy Facial Cleanser
50g | 1.76oz just-boiled water
3g | 0.1oz vegetable glycerine (USA / Canada)
10g | 0.35oz sodium lauryl sulfoacetate (SLSa)
10g | 0.35oz sodium cocoyl isethionate (SCI)5g | 0.17oz BTMS-50 or other complete emulsifying wax (not beeswax!)
10g | 0.35oz meadowfoam seed oilorjojoba oil (USA / Canada)
4g | 0.14oz castor oil (USA / Canada)
5g | 0.17oz mango butter (USA / Canada)
1g | 0.03oz Vitamin E MT-50 (USA / Canada)0.5g | 0.002oz liquid germall plus or other broad spectrum preservative of choice (why?)
20 drops fir essential oil
3 drops lemon myrtle essential oilorlemon essential oil
2 drops dark patchouli essential oilPut on your dust mask, and weigh out the SLSa and the SCI. Transfer them to your DIY-only coffee grinder and blend them together for a solid twenty seconds. Leaving the lid on your coffee grinder, set it aside to settle while we keep working. You can take your dust mask off for now.
Weigh the water and glycerin into a small heat resistant glass measuring cup, and weigh the emulsifying wax, meadowfoam seed oil, castor oil (USA / Canada) mango butter (USA / Canada), and Vitamin E MT-50 (USA / Canada) into another small heat resistant glass measuring cup. Place both of the measuring cups into a wide saute pan that has about 3cm/1″ of water in it, and place that on the stove top over medium heat to create a hot water bath. Leave this for at least twenty minutes to bring everything up to temperature (this will help kill any bugs that might be hanging out in the water) and melt the oils and butters together.
After twenty minutes have passed the oils should be all melted through. Pour the water into the oils and leave that measuring cup in the water bath for another five minutes. Give it a few quick blasts with your immersion blender to get things emulsifying, and then remove the measuring cup from the water bath. Dry it off and leave it to cool, blasting it with the immersion blender and scraping down the sides with a flexible silicone spatula every few minutes, until the outside of the measuring cup only feels slightly warm to the touch.
Use the immersion blender to blend in your preservative and the essential oils. Put your dust mask back on, and then begin slowly and gently stirring in spoonfuls of the ground surfactants. Don’t use the immersion blender for this part or you’ll whip up a big ol’ lather.
Once you’ve stirred in all the surfactants, cover your measuring cup with some cling film and leave them to dissolve, returning to stir every hour or so; if you use the cleanser now it’ll be pretty exfoliating. The cleanser will thicken up quite a lot as the surfactants dissolve. Leave it for about three hours before transferring it to a container. I put half of mine in a 60mL/2fl oz HumanGear GoToob (these things are incredible!) and the other half in a cute vintage jar I found at an antique shop.
To use, take a wee bit (maybe half a teaspoon) and massage it into your skin. Mix it with a wee bit of water for a lovely, smooth, creamy cleanser. Work to a lather, rinse, and voila!
If you don’t want to use surfactants you could try using a tablespoon of dried, ground soap instead, but I haven’t tried this myself—it may break the emulsion. If you dno’t have the two surfactants I used you could use 20g total of either. I’m not familiar with many surfactants at this point, but I think other powdered surfactants could also work; just check their recommended upper use percentage so you know you aren’t using too much.
How do SLSa and SCI differ from sodium laurel sulfate? Are they safer?
They’re considered to be safer and less irritating—check out the Skin Deep database to do some more research 🙂
Lovely recipe! Thanks for sharing with us
Just a quick question, I don’t have SCI, can I just use SLSA?
Thanks a lot
Samantha
Sorry I have overlooked the last part of your post, so I assume I can use 30g of SLSA in place of SCI then
Yup!
Hi dear Marie, I can only order sodium lauryl sulfoacetate (SLSa), could I leave out SCI?
Thanks so much!! Have to make that one!!
If you don’t have the two surfactants I used you could use 30g total of either. I’m not familiar with many surfactants at this point, but I think other powdered surfactants could also work; just check their recommended upper use percentage so you know you aren’t using too much.
Hi Marie, I wanted to make a creamy Cleanser so much. Thx for the recipe! I hv tried 19% oil, 6% BTMS 50, 5% DLS mild , 5% betaine and the rest water , but it didn’t thicken up and remained watery. Could u pls tell me which part goes wrong ?
Thanks a lot !!!
I’m afraid I can’t—I’ve never worked with DLS or betaine.
Hi Renee,
DLS and Betaine are both liquid surfactants, while the SCI is a powder. That’s likely why you experienced issues with thickening. I have read that cocamidopropyl Betaine (assuming that’s what you used) can thicken surfactant mixtures somewhat, but it sounds like it’s not quite a replacement for the SCI.
Thanks, Kaylee!
Where did you get the sodium cocoyl isethionate? I have the SLSa.
I got mine from Windy Point here in Calgary.
NewDirectionsAromatics recently started carrying SCI 🙂
Awesome! I obviously haven’t been very close to their inventory as of late.
Marie,
I can’t believe you didn’t include the ethically sourced elf dust in this recipe! Haha
Thanks for another recipe I want to make when I get the time (kids back in school–yay!) and ingredients (STILL haven’t gotten around to buying SCI….). This one sounds fantastic!!
Have a good one!
Belinda
The secret ingredient in Marie’s recipe is Herbert. The Fiesty Garden Gnome.
I cannot seem to get more than 10mL of meadow foam oil here for less than 30USD. This recipe has been put on my list for when I can find ingredients cheaper,
Thanks for sharing!
HA! I would like to assert that Herbert is ethically sourced and we only use his gnome dust. No harm comes to Herbert 😛
Just use jojoba instead of meadowfoam! 😉
You would not BELIEVE the prices for ethically sourced elf dust these days! Iceland is the only source of it and the import fees are insane 😉
Happy making and thanks for reading!
Ooooh and Another question, could I include some jojoba beads? Since I don’t have the sci. I know they work differently but could have a nice peeling effect? If yes at which stage would you include those? Thanks so much!
You definitely could! I’d start with fairly little (maybe 1/4–1/2 tsp) and stir them in at the end, with the surfactants. Test the mixture on your face to see if it’s scrubby enough, and add more if needed 🙂
Hi Marie! I love your site! So many things I wanna make. Slowly acquiring the ingredients to make them one by one. You keep stressing on complete emulsifying waxes. I use the soft and silky emulsifying wax for lotions, would you happen to know if that can be classified as a complete emulsifying wax?
Hey Candy! I have no idea what “soft and silky emulsifying wax” is from that name—it sounds branded? Do you have the ingredients list/INCI for it? In any event, if it works for emulsifying lotions on its own (no co-emulsifiers needed), then it is most likely a complete e-wax 🙂
If I wanted the finished cleanser to be “less firm” could I add more oil at the beginning? Thanks.
I’d probably just make this recipe instead 🙂
I made this one this week, the only change was that I left it unscented. Love it! Thanks for sharing this recipe. It looks like and and has the texture of a lotion, until you add water and then it foams up beautifully.
Woohoo! Thanks so much for reading and DIYing with me, and enjoy the cleanser 🙂
Hi Marie. Would you recommend a blade or burr coffee grinder for most DIY recipes? Also the immersion blender link is for a European 220. Is it important to just get a 550 watt hand blender or does it matter? I am slowly getting all my supplies and tools to make some of your awesome sounding DIY products. I cannot wait! I am starting with your DIY beginners course. I am waiting for my supplies to arrive to make the first project. I love green beauty, but prices have skyrocketed since it has become more en vogue. I think many products can be made at home with quality ingredients. Thanks for your guidance!
Definitely go with a blade grinder 🙂 I’ve fixed the immersion blender link, you definitely don’t need (or want) a European one if you don’t live in Europe! If you happen to see one at your local Value Village, that’ll do the trick! Happy making 🙂
Hello Marie, doesn’t the water part evaporate almost completely if you leave it for 20 mins minimum in a hot water bath? Thanks!
No haha, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to make it 😛 The water bath should only be steaming hot, not a rolling boil.
Hm,mine did reduce considerably even though the bath was only steaming, not boiling. But I guess that steam must have come from both the water and the water part of the product. It was at the very lowest setting of my electric cooker… what do you think of separately melting the measured oils, boiling some water, wait for them to have the same temperature and measure out the water just before adding and mixing?
Hmm. You might find it easier to cover the measuring cup with the water part with some foil or a lid of some sort to prevent the evaporation. The heat and hold part is most important for the water part (since that’s where bacteria live), not the oil part, so I really wouldn’t recommend heating and holding the oils but not the water part.
Hello Marie
I’ve been using this recipe and I absolutely love it!
I was thinking if I was to turn this into a cleansing stick, should I be adding beeswax to it? If so, what would be the amount that would allow it to glide smoothly on my face?
Thanks a bunch!
Keep up with your amazing work!
Samantha
Hey Samantha! That change is sort of like wanting to turn a smoothie into a loaf of bread… probably possible, but the doing would require a lot more testing than my best hypothetical guess! If you want one you’re going to need to get busy in the kitchen and see what happens 😉
hi Marie,
I found it quite hard to melt the power surfactant, do u think we can add the SLSa in the water phase, heat and hold and mix with oil phase? Do u think it can emulsify if I am using BTMS 50 ?
Thanks
Renee
I wouldn’t—adding it at the heat and hold phase will mean you’ll have to blend it, and I imagine you have put detergent in a blender before and can guess what will happen there 😛 If you wait a few days it will dissolve into the water part without any extra effort. And yes, BTMS 50 is a complete emulsifying wax and will work 🙂
This is my favorite cleanser so far. The smell is intoxicating. My face feels so soft and clean afterwards. Great recipe!!
Yay! I’m so glad you’re loving it 😀
Hi Marie,
This looks wonderful, I’ve been looking for something to cleanse my face for a while. I have a quick question, I do not have SLSa but I would still like to add another surfactant to make it super lathery (?foamy?!?), I do have Coco Glucoside but that’s a liquid. How would I go about adding both? Do i heat the liquid surfactant to dissolve the powdered one? does it still get added to the cool down phase? I do know that your experience with surfactants is limited, as is mine, would it be all right with you if i posted this question with the recipe on Susan’s blog? I will of course give you credit for the recipe, but feel free to say no. I’m itching to try this and surfactant systems confuse me insanely.
I think you’re going to like tomorrow’s post—it should answer all your questions 🙂
*bated breath*
😉
I tried this recipe but I’m not loving it 🙁 It makes my eyes sting when I wash with it. Cleanses beautifully but, yow! I’m not sure if its from the essential oils (which is a heavenly smell 🙂 or the SLSa. I might try with a different scent combo to see if its less burning.
Aww balls 🙁 You might want to try this one, which has an even milder blend of surfactants. Surfactants will still sting when they get in your eyes, though… this is not not designed to be used in/near your eyes! If your skin is fine and it’s just your eyes that are bugging you, the problem isn’t the cleanser, it’s the getting it in your eyes part.
rofl…..it is the getting in my eyes part 😀 I haven’t figured out how to wash my face and not get water in my eyes. I think it’s a little harsh for my skin. More than happy to try a new one 🙂
I usually just keep my eyes shut and keep my washcloth close at hand. You can’t get anything in closed eyes!
Sorry for posting so long after. Why 30g of either surfactant as a substitute, when it is only 10g for each in ingredients?
Whoops! That’s a typo, it should be 20g. I’ve fixed it in the recipe, thanks for catching that 🙂
maybe that was my issue 😉 I think I used the 30 g :O
Ah, well, that still shouldn’t be too bad—I also tried 30g in the development of the recipe and didn’t find it to be irritating—but of course my skin is not yours 🙂
I just made this yesterday. Love the texture and feel but I only had the slsa and am finding it not bubbly enough so need to get sodium cocoyl isethionate. My question is, my slsa was super fine powder so I felt no need to coffee grind it….is doing that to mix the two together or to powder them from a larger particle size? There is no gritty feel to the final mix at all so I feel I am good with at least the slsa to not grind. I added grapefruit, lemon 5x and lime eo’s to mine and it smell good enough to eat.
This cleanser will never be super bubbly, so if that’s what you’re looking for… this isn’t it. You’ll get a low, creamy lather (that’s what SCI is famous for) that will definitely cleanse your skin, but you won’t get big bubbles.
SLSa is much finer than SCI, which is stubborn when it comes to dissolving; I blend the two together to help the SCI to dissolve. Without SCI, it is not required 🙂
Marie,
I want to make 2 versions of this, one with an exfoliant in it and one without and to make it easy to tell them apart, I was thinking of adding orange wax to the exfoliant version in the oil phase to give it an orange color. Any reason that would cause a problem? And how much orange wax do you think would be good?
I can’t think of any reason why not, as long as you’re sticking to the “drops” sort of range—20 or so won’t throw the emulsion off 🙂 Enjoy!
I couldn’t find the BTMS-50 on Amazon and that’s where I was placing my order for a few other items as well. So I’m wanting to use BTMS-25. What ratio would I need to use with BTMS-25 instead of BTMS-50? Or is it even possible to adjust for this? I am completely new and this is my first attempt! Thanks so much for your help!
Read this for more info, but generally I would recommend just using a different emulsifying wax instead. Happy making!
Thank you so much for share this! I am going to start to buy things now. Do you also have experience converting cold processed soap into liquid form? I would really appreciate if you can help me with that.
My experience with it is that it’s pretty awful, unfortunately. It creates a slimy, boogery mess that is really unpleasant to use. If you want to make liquid soap you’ll need to use KOH and hot process, but that’s hardly an area of expertise for me; I’ve tried it a few times and never particularly took to it. Try searching “Soap Queen” for her instructions 🙂 Happy making!
First thank you so much for this! I tried this recipe and it turned out great! i did tweek it a bit. Instead of using both surfactants i used only SLSa and added Cocamidopropyl Betaine and it turned out great! It has a thick consistency but cleanses very good and makes a lot of creamy lather. after rinsing and drying my skin feels very soft. This is a keeper. Thanks again Marie
I’m so glad you’re enjoying it! Thanks for DIYing with me, and happy making 🙂
Hi Marie, I was only able to find liquid SCI, would it work? Would I have to modify the amount? Thank you so much!
Interesting, I’ve never seen liquid Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate (SCI) for sale! You’ll have to figure out how concentrated it is (your supplier should supply this info) and then adjust the amount to have the same amount of Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate (SCI) + remove the extra from the water. I would also recommend adding 0.3% xanthan (remove that % from the water as well) for added stability. Happy making!