It’s a rich, slippy, gentle facial cleanser that rinses off the skin beautifully. True to the name, it’s creamy and contains a hefty dose of soft white kaolin clay for a wee bit of physical exfoliation and a cleansing experience a bit reminiscent of a clay face mask.
The bulk of this formulation is inexpensive liquid carrier oils; it doesn’t make sense to use anything fancy since it’ll only be in contact with your skin for a few moments before getting washed down the drain. I chose fractionated coconut oil as it’s light and shelf stable, but you could easily use a different inexpensive carrier oil like safflower oil instead. You could also use a blend of a liquid oil and a liquid ester, like isopropyl myristate (IPM) for an ever lighter feel. Just keep the total weight the same!
I’ve used cetearyl alcohol to thicken this formulation. I prefer cetearyl alcohol for formulations like this one as it has better rinse-off than true waxes and has a creamier, more slippy skin feel.
Emulsifying Wax gives this balm-to-milk cleanser its transformational powers. This emulsifier is what allows the anhydrous formulation to self-emulsify with water and go all milky when wet. It’s also responsible for the clean, easy rinse-off of the cleanser. If you’re looking for an even gentler cleanser, use less emulsifier; for a stronger cleanser, use more. Emulsifying Wax does contain some cetearyl alcohol, too, so it also contributes to the final viscosity of the formulation. If you wanted to try a liquid solubilizer (like Polysorbate 80) instead of the emulsifying wax you’ll want to use less (perhaps 4%?) and then bump up the cetearyl alcohol percentage to make up for the reduction.
A solid 20% of white kaolin clay makes this balm-to-milk cleanser extra creamy and lovely. I recommend sticking to white clay (or mostly white clay) to keep the mess factor down. If you want a wee bit of colour you could swap 3–5% of the kaolin for a soft, smooth, coloured clay like French green clay or French pink clay , but a full swap is likely to leave your sink looking pretty icky after you use the cleanser (and can be hard on paler towels, too).
FORMULA
Heated phase
23.2g | 46.4% fractionated coconut oil
7.5g | 15% castor oil
5g | 10% cetearyl alcohol
4g | 8% Emulsifying Wax NF
10g | 20% white kaolin clay
Cool down phase
0.25g | 0.5% Vitamin E Oil
0.05g | 0.1% Mango essential oil
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 heated phase ingredients into a small heat-resistant glass measuring cup. Place the measuring cup in your prepared water bath to melt everything through.
While the heated phase melts, prepare an ice bath. Take a bowl that is large enough to accommodate the container the heated phase is melting in, and fill it about halfway with ice cubes and cold water.
After about 20–30 minutes everything should be completely melted through. Remove the water bath from the heat, remove the measuring cup from the water bath, and dry it off with a dishtowel. Set the measuring cup on a towel or hot pad to insulate it from the counter and stir the mixture with a flexible silicone spatula to combine everything.
Place the measuring cup containing the heated phase into the ice bath and cool, stirring constantly, until you notice some soft solid bits coming up on the spatula when you stir across the bottom of the measuring cup. Remove the measuring cup from the water bath and add the cool down phase. Stir to incorporate.
At this point the mixture should have reached a fairly thick “trace”—the mixture should have enough viscosity that a small amount drizzled over the surface of the mixture leaves a 3D “trace” for a moment. The mixture should appear opaque. Refer to the video to see it in action! This part can be a bit tricky as too much viscosity will mean the batter won’t pour into the container nicely, so be careful and make sure your packing is standing by.
Once you reach trace you can now pour the product into its container and transfer it to the fridge to fully to set up. Once the formulation has chilled through, remove it from the fridge and let it come to room temperature.
To use, massage a small amount of the product into dry skin. Wet your hands, and massage your face again; you’ll notice the b
alm transforming into a creamy milk! Wipe the product off with a damp cloth, and that’s it.
SHELF LIFE & STORAGE
Because this cleansing balm does not contain any water, it does not require a broad-spectrum preservative (broad spectrum preservatives ward off microbial growth, and microbes require water to live—no water, no microbes!). Be sure to keep it dry to ensure it lasts as long as possible—don’t let any water get into the container and it should easily last a year (use a dry finger or popsicle stick to dip into the container). If you plan on giving this cleansing balm away or taking it into the shower/bath with you, please include 0.5% liquid germall plus. Though this preservative is water-soluble, this cleansing balm contains emulsifiers so it will emulsify, and because it is water-soluble it’ll be in the right phase if the balm gets contaminated with water.
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