ultimate DIY skincare serum
EDS Skin Care Forums Forum Index » Skincare Tools & Do-It-Yourself Skincare

Wed Jun 27, 2012 7:36 pm

Hello,

I have been contemplating for some time to try and make a very complete serum with a lot of variety in it. What I had in mind is to try and keep it as natural as I can.

As a base I wanted to use a few essential oils, that are popular for their good skin properties:

apricot, coconut, cucumber, jojoba, chamomile, tea tree, palmarosa, sesame, neroli, evening prim rose, rose, rosemary, geranium, frankincense, helichrysum

And on top of this I just acquired a few more things, coming from natural sources, in powder forms and soluble in oils:

vitamin A(retinol), retinoic acid, vitamin C palmitate, tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate (another form of vitamin C - more stable), collagen, vitamin e oil, ferulic acid, coq10 and ECGC (this one... I am not sure if I can procure it)

I wanted to post it here to see what do you think of this, maybe advise me on the concentrations I should be using.

Would you put anything else in it to make it more complete?

Please feel free to comment and comment.

Thank you

free skin care · Sun Jul 01, 2012 10:47 am

Welcome!

Unfortunately you can't simply bung all that together and expect an effective product, you have to consider the pH each prefers, solubilities, which are synergistic and which incompatible. You might be best working from a tried-and-tested recipe. Not sure why you have two forms of vitamin A and two of vitamin C, did you really mean retinoic acid or was that a typo?

Will PM you something.

Sun Jul 01, 2012 10:10 pm

Hello,

I have been reading a few forums over the last few days and found a couple of recipes that are similar to the serum I wanted to try and seem to also be tested and documented by quite a large number of people, thank you for pointing me in the right direction.

I wasn't going to use 2 types of vitamin C or Vitamin A. I wasn't completely sure what to use.
After reading the forums I came to realize that I will use AA2G Ascorbic Acid 2- Glucoside.
For Vitamin A, I have found retinol or all-trans retinoic acid (used in Aberela, Airol, Renova, Atralin, Retin-A, Avita, Refissa, or Stieva-A). Is very expensive compared to retinol but I think I want to get it.

So far my serum recipe is:

- 2tbs LAA
- 2tbs oils (carrier oils + a bit of essential oils)
- 3tbs H20
- 1/4tbs FA
- 1/4tbs Vitamin E
- 1/4tbs Vodka
- 1/2tbs Hyaluronic acid
- 1/8tbs retinoic acid
- 1tbs SKB

Please share your thoughts on this.

Thank you

free skin care · Mon Jul 02, 2012 7:43 am

No decent doctor or pharmacist would ever suggest adding a prescription medication with multiple ingredients (any product containing retinoic acid) to a DIY serum. at best you are diluting it to ineffective levels and destroying the delivery system; at worst you could end up with a nasty rash.

I don't understand your recipe, you say you want to use AA2G but have actually chosen L-ascorbic acid? You cannot measure powders by volume, you need to use a scale accurate to 0.01g because the densities are so variable. You will also need to consider the finished pH and need to include a preservative and an emulsifier. I honestly don't see the point in 'reinventing the wheel' when there are some wonderful tried-and-tested DIY recipes available. Confused

free skin care · Mon Jul 02, 2012 6:14 pm

Agree with FF.

Different ingreds have different densities. Different grades of LAA have different densities.

Measuring everything with a tablespoon sets you up for a v disappointing result. You really need a gram scale as she says.

Good luck with your project! K.I.S.S at first. Adding evrything and the kitchen sink is something a new to DIY person does before realizing what a few well-chosen ingreds can do. Some of those ingreds are overkill and redundant. I used to do that too!

free skin care · Tue Jul 03, 2012 9:30 am

I wholeheartedly agree with Fawnie & Firefox. We're likely to do our skin more harm than good by roughing it, or making up recipes ourselves. Damage isn't always (immediately) obvious. I've learned the hard way!

Furthermore, by "tbs", do you mean a tablespoon? I don't understand when people indicate 1/4 or 1/2 of a tablespoon. I'm asking because this is the second time I've seen this on the forum. Are you guessing/approximating everything using a single spoon or are there actually measuring utensils out there which correspond to these amounts?

Its certainly not the correct way to measure for formulating but still, I find even the mention very strange.

free skin care · Tue Jul 03, 2012 10:26 am

tzufly wrote:

So far my serum recipe is:

- 2tbs LAA
- 2tbs oils (carrier oils + a bit of essential oils)
- 3tbs H20
- 1/4tbs FA
- 1/4tbs Vitamin E
- 1/4tbs Vodka
- 1/2tbs Hyaluronic acid
- 1/8tbs retinoic acid
- 1tbs SKB

Please share your thoughts on this.

Thank you

Too much LAA, nothing to emulsify the lot, what is the concentration of your retinoic acid, vitamin E and hyaluronic acid?

Use scales, weigh, find out the concentrations and use a formulator app. I don't know what you try to achieve but if your LAA and your RA are pure, you will run the risk of seriously injuring yourself.

(I played around with LAA, without knowledge and without patch testing. I have a burn mark on my cheek that will stay there forever to remind me.)

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