Repairing Hand Cream

My hands are the reason why I started swimming in the world of the DIY cosmetics, I've spent the lat year with cuts coming out of nowhere and skin peeling that makes even washing my hands incredibly painful. So, obvioulsy, creating a hand cream was one of the first things I wanted to do!

Lovely texture and really sweet on your hands

I found this recipe on the Italian blog that has become a bible to finally understand what I am doing! (check L'angolo di Lola - if you understand Italian!) I adapted the recipe to what I had available and decided not to add much stuff in order to practice more with the gels and start doing things right!

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Phase A

Water to 100

Carbomer 0.30

Xanthan Gum 0.1

Glicerine 10

Allantoine 0.35

Phase B

Cocoa Butter 2

Shea Butter 2

Caprilico Caprico Trigliceride 4

Avocado oil 4

Tocoferolo 3

Cetyl Alcohol 0.75

MGS 3 ( Metilglucosio Sesquistearato )

Phase C

Sodium Hyaluronate in 1% solution 1.25

Panthenol 2

Glicolic Extract Echinocea 1

Salvacosm -conservant- 0.5

Perfum

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The procedure I follow is this:

1. Start preparing Phase A. Separate the water in two parts. In the main becker put the largest part of water and pour without touching or mixing the Carbopol. Let it hydrate for a few minutes without touching it! On a different container put the Glicerine and disolve the Xanthan Gum. Add then the water (slowly, add a bit and mix, add a bit and mix) and once is all mix together give it a go with the stick blender. Bubbles are ok, they will dissapear afterwards. Go back to the Carbopol, now that is hydrated we can blend a bit to incorporate it all.

2. We can add the allantoin to the Xanthan gel. It will not disolve, but no fear! Once we heat it up it will.

3. Mix both gels, pouring the Xanthan gel inot the gel with the Carbopol. Mix together or blend. Phase A is done!

4. Let's prepare Phase B. All ingredients of this phase have to be measured and added to a different becker.

5. Time to heat up our phases. I do all in a hot water bath, but for some reason people in the forum I follow recommend to heat the water phase in the microwave (which I don't have) and the oil phase in a double boiler. I do all with the double boiler with no problem, maybe my pan is bigger?

6. Once both parts have reached 70 degrees (celsius of course!), we can take them out of the double boiler and put them on a towel (so the temperature doesn't drop too suddenly).

7. Incorporate phase B INTO phase A and not the other way around. Use the stick blender to mix well without letting air getting into the mixture (unwanted bubbles!) and until the mixture turns white like a milky colour. The emulsification has been done!

8. Now it's time to let it cool down. But you want to keep mixing with a spoon until it reaches room temperature. To speed up this process I use a cold bath: I put the becker into a bowl with cold water. I keep mixing with a spoon until the temperature is about 40 degrees and then I take it out of the cold bath.

9. This is a good time to check your PH. It should be around 6 since this is what is required by the Carbopol.

10. Once the mixture is below the 45 degrees I added phase C adding each ingrediente one at a time and mixing well.

11. Check and regulate your Ph if necessary (depends on the ingredients, my horrible ph stripes seem to always say PH 6, so I left it like that. if you want to modify the PH of your cream use lactic acid -to reduce the PH- or a caustic soda solution -to increase the PH-).

12. To finish I gave it a good blend at the end to incorporate everything and let it cool till room temperature.

13. Have your container ready to pour the cream and label it!

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This cream absorbs immediately and doesn't leave your hands oily or sticky. It's helping with the worst of my hands, I find it lenitive and soft, no miracle cure, but ideal to have at work! Lovely for the summer too. Great start I'd say, now it's time to maybe add some active ingredients that would be healing too! I'll update you!