Glucomannan has been used as a thickener in these two products. I wrote an interesting article about glucomannan, which you can read here. In the recipes, I used a familiar and safe Calendula as an herb. Calendula is a favourite herb of many, but you can of course select your own one if you wish. How to make moisturizing hand lotion and facial toner?
These recipes are quite simple even for beginners. Glucomannan conveniently gives you more texture to your products. Start with a low dose of glucomannan first. You can then easily add it if needed. However, keep in mind that glucomannan needs time to form a jelly. Let the mixture swell for at least an hour but recommendation is even three hours. Time will show the final thickness of the product.
Moisturizing and caring facial toner
Ingredients:
- 100 gr of distilled water
- 25 gr of floral water (hydrolat), rose water or chamomile water (for sensitive skin) goes well
- 12 gr of dried calendula
- 0.7 gr of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) to bring acidity to the toner. You can measure the pH value of toner with the strips. My water’s acidity was 4.5-5 after adding ascorbic acid.
- 0,19 g of glucomannan powder
- 1 gr preservative (Geogard 221 or preservative Eco)
Do like this:
- Measure water into a pot and heat it to boiling
- Pour boiling water over the dried calendulas and let them infuse for about 20 minutes
- Filter out the calendula petals and let the liquid cool down below 40 degrees Celsius
- Add the hydrolate to the infusion and mix.
- Add glucomannan powder by sprinkling it on the surface of the liquid in the same way.
- Mix properly, the liquid will thicken a little. This may take some time
- Allow the mixture to thicken more for about an hour, stirring from time to time
- Add ascorbic acid powder to the cooled liquid. Ascorbic acid lowers the pH of the product to a level suitable for the skin.
- Mix with ascorbic acid powder into the toner base.
- Add a preservative like Geogard 221 or Preservative Eco. In this way, the product can be preserved for up to 3-4 months.
- Pack the product in a pump bottle and label it with date.
- Store in a cool place, away from light.
How to use prebiotic calendula facial toner?
This toner is suitable for use on cleansed skin in the morning and evening. Moisten a cotton ball with toner and pat thoroughly on the skin of the face and neck.
Allow the toner to dry on the skin for a while, then apply the moisturizer.
This toner is not suitable for layering. If you want to layer this toner, put on just a couple of layers. Polysaccharides such as glucomannan deposit on the surface of the skin if used extensively.
Glucomannan hand lotion
Glucomannan works great in hand lotions. Glucomannan acts as a thickener with the emulsifier. It gives a slightly gel-like (but not stretchy) structure to creams.
Glucomannan brings moisture-retaining properties to the product. When moderately applied, glucomannan does not appear to accumulate on the skin. Instead, a pleasant, not at all greasy-like feeling remains on the surface of the skin. This is useful if you need a hand cream for office work.
I also used Calendula in this product. Calendula is a well-tolerated and skin-gentle herb. Calendula can be added to the product as an infusion or oil extract. I added both to this product. In this way, all the active ingredients of the plant are accurately utilized.
To add a moisturizing effect, I added sea buckthorn oil to the hand cream. Sea buckthorn oil smells wonderful. The strong colour of the sea buckthorn goes well with the Calendula.
This moisturizing hand lotion is what dry hands really need, namely moisture. Grease or oil alone does not moisturize the skin. Greases and oils only protect and prevent moisture from evaporating.
To add a moisturizing effect, I added sea buckthorn oil to the hand cream. Sea buckthorn and palmitoleic acid in sea buckthorn oil lock moisture in the skin. Sea buckthorn smells just like candy. This is what one person who tested the hand cream said. The strong colour of the sea buckthorn goes well with the calendula.
Moisturizing Calendula – sea buckthorn hand lotion
Calendula-sea buckthorn hand cream; ingredients for 100 grams of cream
- 78.25 gr ready-made calendula infusion. The basic instructions for the infusion can be found here
- 0.25 gr of glucomannan powder
Do like this:
Mix the glucomannan powder into the calendula infusion and mix well. Let the mixture form a gel for about 2-3 hours. Stir from time to time so that the coagulation takes place evenly.
Measure the following ingredients
- 78.5 gr of previously prepared glucomannan-calendula infusion
- 12 gr calendula oil extract, you can find the instructions for making the oil extract here
- 3 gr glycerol
- 2 gr sea buckthorn oil
- 3.5 gr Olivem 1000 emulsifier
- 1 gr Geogard 221 preservative
Do like this:
- Mix calendula- glucomannan infusion and glycerol in a heat-resistant container
- Measure the oil-soluble ingredients into another container; calendula oil and Olivem 1000 emulsifier.
- Place both containers in a water bath and heat them to over 70 degrees Celsius. Mix the phases during heating
- Make sure that the Olivem emulsifier is completely melted.
- Combine the phases by slowly pouring the oil phase into the water phase. Mix gently all the time.
- Stir the emulsion until it cools below 40 degrees.
- Now you can add sea buckthorn oil. Carefully mix the sea buckthorn oil into the emulsion.
- Finally, add the preservative and mix thoroughly.
- Preferably pack the cream in a pump bottle and add a label with a date
- The cream will be preserved very well in the pump bottle for up to 3-4 months, provided you used a preservative. Keep the hand cream cool place and protected from light.
How to use Calendula – sea buckthorn hand lotion?
Calendula – sea buckthorn hand lotion is a really moisturizing and protective one. Apply the lotion about ½ teaspoons to your hands and forearms. This moisturizing hand lotion eventually absorbs well, although it doesn’t seem to do that right away. At first, it feels like the lotion stays on the surface of the skin. However, continue rubbing and the cream will begin to sink deeper into the skin.
Now your hands have a pleasant moisturized, silky feel. The lotion does not leave a greasy layer on the skin precisely because of glucomannan.
Personally, I really like this hand lotion. Even though it is not a super-nutritious and greasy lotion, it works incredibly well on dry hands.