Hey everyone, I wanted to teach you quickly how to make a customisable serum. A serum is a product that moisturises the skin lightly (not as much as a moisturiser) but also contains active ingredients that are anti-aging, or deal with specific problems of the skin. Commercial serums are often very expensive, have to few active ingredients and too many preservatives / unnecessary ingredients; but its not that hard to make your own if you have access to a DIY cosmetics store. In this post I have given an example of a very moisturisng serum, a lighter alternative to a typical moisturiser. This time we will concentrate on adding a lot of active ingredients to our serum -- it's up to you whether you want it to be anti-aging, or even out the skin tone, increase the skin's elasticity, fight acne, or whatever. Also, this serum will alco
What you need:
The base:
* A hydrolate (flower water) as the base of the water phase.
* An oil for the oil phase.
* An emulsifier that will helps the water phase and the oil phase to mix.
* A preservative.
The fancy stuff:
* A couple of moisturisers (plant-based glycerin, urea, hyaluronan, panthenol etc)Here is a list of places that sell DIY cosmetic ingredients. The better ones usually have the products arranged according to what they do, making it easy for you to find what you want.
* Active ingredients: plant extracts, vitamins, anti-oxidants, etc. -- I just read ingredients descriptions on the sites that I buy my ingredients from, and pick stuff that targets my particular skin issues.
How to make it:
We will be making a 100ml serum, so that the proportions are easy to calculate. 1gm = 1% -- easy!
80% of the serum is water based and 20% is oil based. This means that first we mix all the things that dissolve in water into, well, the water (or hydrolate). Separately we will mix all the stuff that dissolves in oil, then we will use an emulsifier to combine the two phases.
Research at which concentration the active ingredients can be added (this is usually written on the shop page). For example green tea can be used up to 5% -- this means you can add up to 5gm of grean tea to our 100gm serum. Also check out whether these are water soluble or oil soluble, and add them either to the oil phase or the water phase. Some ingredients may need to be added to a warm solutions while others cannot be warmed, so watch out!
80% of the serum is water based and 20% is oil based. This means that first we mix all the things that dissolve in water into, well, the water (or hydrolate). Separately we will mix all the stuff that dissolves in oil, then we will use an emulsifier to combine the two phases.
Research at which concentration the active ingredients can be added (this is usually written on the shop page). For example green tea can be used up to 5% -- this means you can add up to 5gm of grean tea to our 100gm serum. Also check out whether these are water soluble or oil soluble, and add them either to the oil phase or the water phase. Some ingredients may need to be added to a warm solutions while others cannot be warmed, so watch out!
Water phase:
Here we mix the water and everything that is water soluble.65gms hydrolate (flower-water, for example rose water), or distilled water.
15gms active ingredients of your choice. For example:
2g aloe vera
2g hyaluronan
3g panthenol
2gm pomengranate extract
2 gm vitamin B3
2g green tea extract
2g collagen
The quantity of the above ingredients is not more (and sometimes less) than the recommended maximum concentration. Some ingredients, like hyaluronan, have no maximum recommended concentration (means you could slather a 100% on your face), but I chose only 2g here because I'm adding several other moisturising ingredients (collagen, panthenol, aloe vera).
Oil phase:
Now we mix oils and anything that is oil soluble.Choose your favourite oils, and any active ingredients that are oil-soluble (for example vit E). For example:
10gm jojoba oilAdd emulsifier (depending on which one you are using, you might have to add it either to the water phase or the oil phase and maybe even heat them up). Then combine oil phase and water phase and mix well. If you choose to skip the emulsifier, the oil phase and water phase will not mix, and you will have to shake the serum before each use.
5gm blackcurrant oil
5gm rose oil
Now, add the preservative, unless you plan to use the mixture up within a few days. There are many types of preservatives out there, and it should say on there how much you are supposed to use.
Have fun making your own serum. I'd love to answer any questions that you might have. If you do end up making something, let me know how it went!
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