How to make a DIY emulsifying cleansing oil

These are instructions based on Marie (from Humblebee and Me)'s Mint Julep Cleansing Oil recipe. She's amazing, her website is amazing 🙏❤

You will need a weighing scale to do this properly and get a cleanser that emulsifies and rinses well. Adjustments can be made after, but the basic ratios by weight have to be right (this is why I didn't post this DIY earlier 😅).

INGREDIENTS (makes 100gms cleansing oil):

🌟 70 gms Oil - I use Johnson's baby oil. Any oil that suits you will work fine. If you don't have carrier oils on hand, cooking-grade sunflower oil works just fine, and I've used it in the past. Since it's a rinse-off product, it doesn't matter much. I wouldn't suggest using expensive oils, with specific benefits, that would be rather a waste. I would also avoid coconut oil, unless you know it suits you.

🌟 10 gms Emulsifying wax - I use this one, off Amazon. It's currently unavailable, but any emulsifying wax will do the same job, AFAIK. I like the brand Purenso, so if I were to repurchase, I'd probably buy from them. It's a pre-blended compound that emulsifies, and is used in DIY moisturisers and such. In this case, it's not enough to completely emulsify the oil, so:

🌟 20 gms Polysorbate-80 - I have this one, off Amazon. This is also an emulsifier, but liquid.

Weigh everything into a saucepan and stir over LOW heat till the wax dissolves, then take it off the heat. I've done this in the microwave, too. If that's poisoning my family, please let me know 😐

Stir the mixture as it cools, because little "wisps of thickening" form as it cools, and you wanna keep everything well-distributed. Mine gets cloudy, and the clouds settle at the bottom of the bottle, so I just shake it up and it's fine 🤷🏽‍

To use, shake the bottle and pour some out in your palms (I use a teaspoon or so, because it's cheap! And using more means less friction, it's more gentle). Apply to a dry face and massage to dissolve makeup/sunscreen/whatever. Add a little water and massage to emulsify, then rinse clean.

Points to note:

1. This oil rinses clean, but not squeaky clean, so if you're acne-prone, I'd follow up with a second cleanser.

2. Some people find that polysorbates make their eyes irritated, whether in DIYs or commercially available oil cleansers, so be warned. I take off eyeshadow and mascara with it, and it doesn't bother me, personally.

3. I added a little extra polysorbate to mine, because it was leaving too much residue for me. But polysorbates can be irritating at higher percentages, so do this at your own risk. Humblebee also has a page on a two-ingredient cleansing oil(oil + polysorbate-80), but its very vague. I'll probably try using only emulsifying wax next time, to see if that will work 🤔

4. DIYs are cost-effective in the long run, but require an initial investment in materials, so... that's just a fact I thought you should know 😂 If you buy the material and don't use it, thas expensive, too! Pond's Cold Cream is an affordable, accessible option to try if you're considering DIY out of sheer desperation 😂

Since it's a 100% oil-based product, it doesn't require preservatives. Long as you don't get water into it, somehow. I made a version with sunflower oil once, and put a couple spoons of oat flour into it, which I think also helped emulsify 🤔 because oats contain saponins, which is where the word "soap" comes from! Saponins are natural surfactants. And oats are soothing, which is always nice. So that's something I did once. K bye! 😂❤

Edit: I recently had to make a batch, and tried around 25% of just emulsifying wax (the one I linked). It works really well, but the resulting consistency was a very soft balm - a bit like coconut oil gets in cold weather, but softer. It's melts immediately on skin contact, and rinses slightly cleaner than the version with polysorbate. Can't be bottled, and I have to be more careful about my hands being totally dry, or I risk introducing water into the jar. Still, I prefer how it rinses clean, so I'm willing to be careful ☺

Edit2: does not work with MCT oil. Ask me how I know 😂 I ended up with a lovely body moisturiser, but MCT doesn't dissolve makeup, probably because it's not a proper oil 🤷🏽‍♀️