I’ve been playing around with my skincare routine lately, and one of the things I’m toying with is the notion of gentler cleaners. I’ve been using African Black Soap a lot for the last three months (or so), and that was working brilliantly for a few months, but now it’s … not. Boo. I don’t know if it’s ’cause I’m more stressed than usual (new puppy ownership + lack of sleep will do that) or if it’s because my skin is no longer liking African Black Soap. Since the whole puppy thing isn’t going away, and it’ll take a while for the sleep situation to improve, I thought I’d try a gentler soap alternative. I’ve had quite a few requests for a micellar water recipe, so I figured this would be a good time to try one!
Micellar water sounds fancy, but it really isn’t. It’s basically water with an emulsifier/surfactant in it. Emulsifiers and surfactants are two sides of the same coin. Both are double ended molecules that grab water with one end and oils with the other (soap also does this). In different applications, this creates emulsions by binding oil and water, and cleans by binding the oils on our skin to the water we’re washing with.
Instead of fluffy lather-making surfacants, micellar waters rely on small amounts of emulsifiers and gentler surfactants (things like Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Polysorbate 20, and water soluble esters) to get the cleansing job done, resulting in a gentle cleanser with a very watery consistency. You can use a micellar water much like you’d use a toner, though depending on how I’m feeling I may rinse my skin off with a bit of water after use, which I wouldn’t typically do after using a toner.
So, let’s talk about this particular micellar water. My top priorities were acne battling and hydration. Ever since I started using a face cream in the winter instead of my much-loved oil serums I’ve really realized how dehydrated my skin was, despite never feeling or looking it. The heated portion of this project is water with some added humectant and skin-soothing goodies. Vegetable glycerin and sodium lactate are both great humectants, and sodium lactate has the added benefits of helping battle acne and boost exfoliation. I’ve also included some soothing aloe vera and allantoin, and moisturizing, regenerative silk.
For the emulsifiers/cleansing bit, I’ve elected to use a blend of olivem300 and Cocamidopropyl Betaine. Olivem300 is a water-soluble ester derived from olive oil. It’s technically “oil free”, but blends seamlessly into both oil and water (very cool, no?), making it an excellent choice for a micellar water (I also love it in bath/shower products like bath bombs and bath oils). (Also, olivem300 is a liquid and olivem1000 is a shard-y, waxy solid, so they are in no way interchangeable!) I boosted that up with a bit of Amphsol CG, which is a mild, low-foam surfactant. If you don’t have either of these you could try using Polysorbate 20 or 80 instead, or even Turkey Red Oil, though I haven’t tried either, so I can’t comment on how successful they’d be in reality vs. hypothesis world.
The bulk of the acne blasting power of this micellar water comes from a white willow bark and calendula tincture. White willow bark is astringent and contains salicylic acid, which is a fantastic acne-fighting ingredient. The calendula in the tincture helps boost healing, which is always a good thing if acne is rearing its ugly red head!
I’ve rounded this creation off with a hefty dose of rose water (feel free to use a different floral water/hydrosol if you prefer!) and a touch of cypress and michelia alba essential oils. The end result is an effective, lightweight cleanser that smells lightly of roses with a hint of juicy sunshine and spicy cypress. I love how velvety it leaves my skin, and I definitely think you should give it a try!
White Willow Micellar Water
20g | 0.71oz water
8g | 0.28oz vegetable glycerine (USA / Canada)
2g | 0.07oz sodium lactate (USA / Canada)
0.5g | 0.018oz aloe vera 200x concentrate powder or 20g (0.71oz) aloe vera juice (use 20g less rose water)
1g | 0.03oz silk peptides (wondering about substitutions?)
1g | 0.03oz allantoin (USA / Canada)10g | 0.35oz Olivem 300 (USA / Canada)
5g | 0.18oz Cocamidopropyl Betaine (USA / Canada)
5g | 0.18oz white willow bark and calendula tincture (learn to make it here)
56g | 1.98oz rose hydrosol0.5g | 0.017oz Liquid Germall Plus™ (USA / Canada) (or other broad spectrum preservative of choice at recommended usage rate [why?])
Prepare a water bath by bringing about 3cm/1″ of water to a bare simmer over low to medium-low heat in a small saucepan.
Weigh the water, glycerin, sodium lactate, aloe vera, silk, and allantoin into a small heat-resistant glass measuring cup. Place the measuring cup in your prepared water bath to allow everything to dissolve (the allantoin will be the stubborn ingredient here).
While that part heats through, combine the olivem300, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, white willow/calendula tincture, and rose water in another beaker and whisk to combine.
Once the heated mixture is uniform and you don’t see any solid bits kicking around, remove it from the heat and stir in the rose water mixture.
Leave the micellar water to cool for 15–20 minutes before stirring in the preservative, and then decant the entire solution into a 100mL (3.3fl oz) bottle. To use, wet a cloth, cotton pad, or jumbo cotton ball with the micellar water, and wipe that across your face. Repeat until it comes away clean, and follow up with your favourite moisturizer. Enjoy!
Thank you for this post Marie. I have been using a store bought micellar water for some time now but it does have a number of ingredients in it that I’d rather be omitted. I was wondering, do you think something like soy lecithin would work as an emulsifier. I have a large bottle of the stuff.
thanks
Lynne
Soy lecithin is used to emulsify small amounts of water soluble ingredients into large amounts of oil—precisely the opposite of what we’re doing here. So—nope!
Hi Marie
When I clicked on here for how to make a tincture, it brought to amazon where to buy calendula, but not how to make. Do you have another article?
Thanks!
Lynette
What link are you clicking? The “learn to make it here” link goes to the right place.
Hi Marie,
Thank you for this formula! This is EXAXTLY what I have been looking for! Quick question tho, I only see 20g of water in your recipe and then on down when you list the aloe Vera extract you have in “()” to use 20g less water for aloe Vera juice….soooo I’m wondering if maybe there is a typo somewhere? I don’t see rose water listed in the recipe either! I wanna make this asap but the recipe isn’t making sense to me! Lemme know if am just over looking something!
Take another look—rose water is definitely in there, and it says “20g less rose water” 🙂 No typos!
Brilliant!
I think I may have been one of those folks who requested a micellar water recipe and would you believe, I actually have Calendula tincture?
Huzzah!
I wish you could see my face right now. No, my skin is fine. Fine enough.
I just received my order of new products you’ve used in recipes– BTMS 50, stearic acid and finally, turkey red oil.
No sodium lactate, cocamidolwhatever,no olivem or willow bark. I really wish you could see my face!
Soooo I’ll put this little gem on the back burner and hunt recipes with the goodies I just bought.
About the olivem 300, is that the squalane you use? I bought some squalane from a company called Camden Grey some while back and I honestly don’t know what to do with it. It’s in the form of gel. Like the eye gel my sister used to give me when she worked for Estee Lauder. Maybe I should make eye gel.
Get some sleep woman! I’d say nap when puppy naps, but you won’t. I never napped when my babies napped, I just sat and stared at their precious faces.
Sorry! Ha. I am the worst for that 😛 I do it to myself, too. I’m a jerk that way. Olivem300 and squalane are different—olivem300 is more like solubilizer, or even TRO (though with less potential to be irritating to the skin, so you can use it in higher concentrations). I’ve never heard of gel squalane before, that sounds so cool! Is it this stuff? It looks like you could apply it straight if you wanted to! It could also be really neat in hair products, but it’s probably just the texture that has me thinking that 🙂
Also, you’ll be proud. Today I napped while the puppy napped. I forced her to take the nap, but whatever. It worked.
This looks great, Marie! I can’t wait to try it. I’ve been thirsting for something like this. The store-bought stuff I tried didn’t quite gel with my rosacea, so perhaps more control over ingredients = better success. Love the acne-fighting WWB you have here, too.
Also, that’s too bad to hear about your skin reacting to the African black soap :/ Maybe it’s a pH thing? If the soap is basic, maybe a *slightly* acidic toner applied afterward would help balance things out? Idk. Just a guess.
Hey Laura! I look forward to hearing how your adventures with DIY micellar water go 🙂
I wasn’t so much reacting to black soap as it just stopped working for me. Initially it really cleared up my skin and my complexion had never been better, but after a couple months I started seriously backsliding until it was back where I’d started (if not worse), so I figured I should try something else. I suspected the pH, thing, too, so I’ve been trying more balanced surfactant based cleansers and things like this instead 🙂 So far, better!
Hi again, Marie 🙂 I haven’t had the chance to try this recipe *yet*, but I’m putting together a shopping list of ingredients for it.
My question is: what’s the difference in function/purpose between the Olivem 300 and the Cocamidopropyl Betaine (Amphosol CG)? Are they both surfactants? If so, can one sub for the other?
I’m actually working on a different micellar water right now that’ll be better than this one, so I’d hold off if I were you 🙂
They aren’t both functioning as surfactants here—the Olivem300 is also a bit moisturizing 🙂
I’ve always loved micellar water to clean and soothe my skin, and didn’t like giving it up in lieu of homemade things (but I did anyways and while my skin isn’t as happy as it was with micellar water it’s still pretty happy most of the time) so I’m very excited to order some solubilizer to make some!! I can’t believe I never considered making it before now…
Ooooh, just wait until my cleansing oil recipe comes out soon. That stuff = amazeballs. Seriously. 😉
Could you add comfrey tincture instead of the Allantoin (comes from comfrey)? Thanks
Yup—just be aware that this could shorten the shelf life as more botanical things = more delicious bacteria food 🙂
This is very similar to one that I just started making, only I’m using Decyl Glucoside instead of Cocamidopropyl Betaine and a few other minor differences. Maybe I’ll try it both ways. 🙂 Keep up the great work!
Thanks, Michelle! I’ll have to keep an eye out for some decyl glucoside so my surfactant collection can be as oversized as the rest of my DIY collections
Hey I can used emulsifying wax nf instead olivem?
No—ewax is solid, olivem300 is liquid—read this FAQ article for more info 🙂
Hey there, I have white willow bark and calendula extracts, which are thin, watery liquids, can I use that in the cool down phase instead of the homemade tincture? I know they are heat sensitive so def need to be added below 50* Celsius but the question is whether they will do the same thing as the tincture. Thank you, looking forward to making this!!!
For sure! I presume those are actually better than the homemade tincture, so you could likely use less—check with the manufacturer to see what the recommended usage rate is 🙂
Finaly i could made this micelar water, i couldnt find olivem 300 but i found polysorbate 80.
But when i mixed the polysorbate with the cocabetaine and the rose water it became jelly like, but it disolved with the hot water mixture. Is it ok?
Is acid lactic the same as sodium lactate? I only have acid lactic but i did not put it because i didnt know.
Sounds fine to me! Lactic acid is not the same thing as sodium lactate, though.
Hi!!!!
Great recipe!!! Just wondering what the shelf life on this fabulous recipe is?
I’m got an FAQ on this 🙂
Hi there, I have a question about mixing shelf stable liquids.
Can I just add shelf stable store bought willow bark extract, chamomile extract, or green tea extract to witch hazel for a simple toner? I am trying to avoid as many chemicals as possible at this point and I understand adding any homemade extract to anything would need preservation. I would just like to add some kick to my witch hazel or use it as a carrier for these extracts.
Thanks
You can, but that will need a preservative. Shelf stable + shelf stable does not equal shelf stable if there’s water in there, and witch hazel is almost entirely water—read this for more information. And don’t forget that all those extracts are loaded with chemicals! Everything is made of chemicals 😉 It isn’t a dirty word 🙂
Hi Marie! Thank you so much for your recipes, I am a huge fan. Just a small note – I think the measurements for the essential oils might be missing from the recipe 🙂 I see the text mentions cypress and michelia alba but don’t see them mentioned in the recipe section. I made this today without them (as I missed looking at the text!) and it is still lovely without them.
Hmm… you are correct. I don’t think I have the notes for this one anymore, either :/ Hmmm. I’ll look! Thank you 🙂
Hello I am slowly making my way through your blog and reading your recipes. So just to clarify (as I am learning) the micellar water – needs a surfactant for cleansing and a water soluble emulsifier to remove the oil from the skin? But if it doesn’t wash off, does it not just sit on the face?
I don’t have many of these ingredients. Based on whaf I have, would it still work if I just used
Water, Glycerin, Aloe Vera Juice, Alphosol CG, Olivem 300, preservative and fragrance?
I’m actually working on a new micellar water formulation and it’ll be out later this month—stay tuned!
Hey, can I maybe put some Licorice Root extract in this too? I have have read it is really good for getting rid of dark circles from under the eyes and any skin redness.
You can, but I would recommend using this micellar water formula instead—it’s about 1000x better!
Love, love, love your content! I’m excited about the usage of white willow bark in this recipe and wonder about its usage in other recipes. Question: what is the highest/ most effective amount of white willow bark that can be added to any given recipe?
Hey Tracy! I’d recommend checking with your suppliers to see what their maximum recommended usage level is if you want hard numbers like this 🙂 If you purchase a cosmetic grade white willow bark extract that information should be provided! It’s pretty hard to say with DIY infusions 🙂 Happy making!