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home made trumper skin food recipe?

has anyone tried to make gft skin food at home?

i've mixed some witch hazel, ponds, glycerine and a vit e cap with some av for the menthol-
doesnt seem as thick-
more glycerine --> sticky and oily feel


any other recipes?
 
Well, considering Skin Food doesn't contain witch hazel, mineral oil (a la Ponds), vitamin E, or smell anything like Aqua Velva, I can't imagine your recipe is going to get you very close to the real thing. I've never tried making my own, but if I were to try, I'd start by getting rid of all the ingredients I just mentioned. Then I'd pick up some rosewater hydrosol, menthol crystals, some kind of gummifier, cosmetic grade alcohol, essential oils to scent, keep the glycerin, and start playing around with proportions.
 
I made some using Rosewater, Glycerine, Witch Hazel a few menthol crystals and some Guar Gum. I love it, cheap and very effective. I scented it using lime, orange and rose essential oils (only a couple of drops).

Works for me.

There is another thread here http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=98298 giving other folks combinations

I used 1 and 3/4 cups of Rosewater, 1/4 cup of Witch Hazel and about 1/8 cup of Glycerine. Then i added the Menthol Crystals (crushed in a mortar) I then placed the bottle in a jug full of hot water from the tap to dissolve the menthol. Shaking it regularly. I then mixed in a tiny amount of Guar Gum to thicken things up a little. Lastly i split the batch into 3 smaller bottles and added a couple of drops of Lime, Rose and Orange Essential oil to respective bottles.

The liquid ingredients cost me about £6.00 UK Sterling and the Guar Gum plus Menthol Crystals about £4.00. I still have lots of Glycerine, Witch Hazel, and the dry ingredients for more experimentation.

I find it feels just like the Trumpers on my skin, ok it doesnt have the wonderfully appealing color of Trumpers but its all ive used lately and i like it
 
Is it in a plastic bottle?

Up until about ten or so years ago, Trumper Skin Food did come in their classic glass shaker-top bottles. Then they switched to plastic. I don't know if there was a formulation change at the same time or not, but given the relative viscosity of the current product, it would be mighty hard to get it out of that narrow shaker on the glass bottles. Plastic actually works considerably better, even if it has less snob appeal.
 
I tried to copy the Trumper's a while ago, and was pretty happy with the results. It's basically glycerine and gum-thickened rosewater. It's not exactly the same, but close enough that it does what I want it to and I'm not interested in trying to make it an exact copy. A small recipe lasts a LONG time, so I actually keep mine tightly covered in the fridge since I didn't use any preservatives. Adds a "cooling sensation" as well! :biggrin:

Here's my post on the subject:

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=78299&highlight=ersatz+skin+food

Hope this helps.
 
What really caught my attention in the ingredient list is the use of the first ingredient. I did a bit of research on that single ingredient yesterday when I posted. It's not the same as guar gum. Guar gum is used pretty much only as a thickener and has some emulsifying properties. But the Gum Tragacanth is also a thickener, BUT the biggest reason why it's chosen to be used in this product is one particular benefit. And looking into sources to purchase this particular ingredient, it can be quite spendy, so if you are looking for those benefits you might want to consider just buying the original product.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragacanth
As a mucilage or paste it has been used as a topical treatment for burns. It is used in pharmaceuticals and foods as an emulsifier, thickener, stabilizer, and texturant additive (code E413).

Given the Tragacanth is a thickener, and the rose water is the second ingredient, I'm guessing they are pretty close to equal percents used in the product. What those percents is questionable since glycerin is the third ingredient used. And given the fourth is the menthol crystals, that percent would be fairly low. And the remainder of the ingredients would continue to be lower in percents. The fragrance percent might be between 3-5% to give you an indication as to what the other lower percent ingredient might be. But you would want to make sure you included a preservative for your safety.
 
Krissy, I don't know if this affects your point at all, but it appears the Skin Food was reformulated within the last couple of years. That picture in Joel's review matches the label on a bottle of Coral I bought about three years ago. A couple of bottles of Limes and Sandalwood I bought about a year ago have a different list of ingredients. They still use Tragacanth (calling it now by its Latin name, Astragalus Gummifer) but it's lower on the list. The Limes ingredients are as follows:

Rosa Damascena (Rose) Flower Distillate
Aqua (Water)
Glycerin
Alcohol Denatured
Astragalus Gummifer (same as Gum Tragacanth)
Parfum (Fragrance)
Menthol
Benzyl Alcohol
Methylchloroisothiazolinone
Methylisothiazolinone
Citral
Limonene
FD&C Yellow 5

The Sandalwood is the same, except it does not contain menthol or coloring, and has different scent compounds.
 
If that stuff comes from the plant called "astragalus," I find that interesting. Astragalus is used in alternative medicine to strengthen the immune system. It's the only herb I know that has actually been shown to have immune strengthening properties, at least in vitro. Extracts of astragalus have been shown to restore function to lymphocytes (taken from cancer patients) that have been rendered worthless by chemotherapy.

I wonder if it has any topical immune-strengthening properties?
 
I like preparing my own ASB mix, but what would you consider a good amount of EO to be added to 1 oz of ASB? is 10 drops OK? 20 a lot? thanks
 
I like preparing my own ASB mix, but what would you consider a good amount of EO to be added to 1 oz of ASB? is 10 drops OK? 20 a lot? thanks

When I make mine, I put maybe 2 or 3 drops into about 2 oz or so. It seems to be enough. But then again, all I want to do is hide the smell of the witchhazel.
 
When I make mine, I put maybe 2 or 3 drops into about 2 oz or so. It seems to be enough. But then again, all I want to do is hide the smell of the witchhazel.

OK, how about using some EO like Sandalwood for its healing properties? I believe you will need more than that? thank you for your reply
 
I wonder if it has any topical immune-strengthening properties?

It might, but my guess is that at the levels they use, and given how processed it likely is, probably not. It's not the same thing, but my doctor once told me that compared to using the fresh-cut plant, most processed aloe gel that you find in the store has only a fraction of the healing properties.
 
I like preparing my own ASB mix, but what would you consider a good amount of EO to be added to 1 oz of ASB? is 10 drops OK? 20 a lot? thanks

In my homebrew stuff, I usually end up adding a concentration of 1-3% by volume. Oils seem different though- the sharper-scented ones cut through at a far lower concentration.
 
The concoctionist in me is getting quite interested in making my own ASB, but I find that the ingredients get to be pretty spendy and I end up with only half decent results. Still, my interest is piqued...
 
The concoctionist in me is getting quite interested in making my own ASB, but I find that the ingredients get to be pretty spendy and I end up with only half decent results. Still, my interest is piqued...

I did my own a couple of months ago and ended up with a very good balm, I sent out some samples for those who bought stuff from me and I got positive results from all, one member offered to purchase from me but I declined as that batch is almost over, my wife and kids love it as a moisturizer, I use it as ASB, I put a lot of stuff into that balm.
Went out and bought a bunch of stuff, expensive but I got real nice EO and other goodies, the balm this time was nice but thick, searching online found that I need to add Germall Plus Liquid to bind and thicken the balm, I found a nice source here in Canada. The funny thing is I was only looking for Menthol crystals and ended with a big order.
 
the balm this time was nice but thick, searching online found that I need to add Germall Plus Liquid to bind and thicken the balm, .

??? Liquid Germall Plus is a preservative only. used at the rate of .2% to .5% to keep the nasties from growing.

If you need a thickener there are several other good choices. And there are many great emulsifies as well to keep the water and oil from separating.
 
I did my own a couple of months ago and ended up with a very good balm, I sent out some samples for those who bought stuff from me and I got positive results from all, one member offered to purchase from me but I declined as that batch is almost over, my wife and kids love it as a moisturizer, I use it as ASB, I put a lot of stuff into that balm.
Went out and bought a bunch of stuff, expensive but I got real nice EO and other goodies, the balm this time was nice but thick, searching online found that I need to add Germall Plus Liquid to bind and thicken the balm, I found a nice source here in Canada. The funny thing is I was only looking for Menthol crystals and ended with a big order.

That tends to happen frequently :biggrin:.

Germall is a preservative?
Sue
 
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