When formulating cosmetics, balancing your ingredients to 100% isn’t just about following rules. It’s about making sure your products are reliable, scalable, and consistent. Whether you’re creating a face cream or a bath bomb, getting this balance right ensures your formula works the same in small batches, as it does in large production runs. Let’s explore into why balancing to 100% is key, along with some tips on tools and techniques to help you perfect your formulations.
Why 100%?
In cosmetic formulation, we talk about percentages because they allow us to maintain consistency across all batches. When your ingredients add up to 100%, you know that every part of the formula is proportionally correct, whether you’re making a 100g batch or a 100kg batch. This method keeps your formula stable, effective, and easy to scale up when you’re ready to go from kitchen to factory.
Balancing to 100% also ensures that no ingredient is overused. And while we’ll cover maximum safe ingredient usage in a future post, this is an important concept, as ingredients like preservatives or actives can become unsafe if used above a certain percentage. So balancing isn’t just about maths; it’s about safety too!
Breaking Down the Formula
While we won’t go deep into cosmetic phasing here (look out for that in a future post), what you need to know now is that formulas generally consist of water-based (aqueous) and oil-based phases. Every ingredient contributes to the total percentage. Here’s a simple example of a typical face moisturizer:
- Water (65%): Main hydrator
- Oils (15%): Moisturizes and nourishes
- Emulsifiers (4%): Binds the water and oil together
- Thickeners (2%): Creates a creamy texture
- Preservatives (0.8%): Keeps the formula fresh
By keeping the total percentage exactly at 100%, you ensure that the product performs consistently every time.
Tools of the Trade
To balance formulas accurately, you need the right equipment.
- Precision Scales: These range from basic kitchen scales to high-precision lab scales that can measure down to 0.01 grams. The more accurate, the better for precise ingredients like preservatives and actives.
- Pipettes & Scoops: For measuring smaller amounts of liquids or powders, these tools help ensure accuracy, especially with ingredients that require specific dosages.
Don’t forget about Regular Testing & Maintenance. It’s crucial to regularly calibrate and test your scales to make sure they stay accurate. Even the best scales can drift over time. But investing in quality tools from the start makes the entire formulation process smoother and more consistent.
Scaling with Precision
One of the biggest perks of balancing your formula to 100% is how easy it becomes to scale. Whether you’re making a 100g batch or scaling up to 1kg, the method remains consistent. Let’s look at two examples: one where we convert percentages to weights, and another where we reverse the process by converting weights into percentages.
Example 1: Converting Percentages to Weights (1000g Batch)
- Water (75%): 1000g x 0.70 = 750g
- Glycerine (10%): 1000g x 0.05 = 100g
- Emulsifier (14%): 1000g x 0.03 = 140g
- Preservative (1%): 1000g x 0.005 = 10g
For a small batch like this, the math is straightforward. You multiply the total batch weight by the percentage of each ingredient.
Example 2: Converting Weights to Percentages (1000g Batch)
Let’s say you’ve developed a batch and have the following weights for a 1000g moisturizer formula:
- Water: 600g
- Oil Phase: 200g
- Emulsifier: 50g
- Thickener: 20g
- Preservative: 8g
To convert these weights to percentages, follow this method:
- Find the total weight: 600g + 200g + 50g + 20g + 8g = 878g
- Then divide each ingredient’s weight by the total weight to find the percentage:
- Water: (600g ÷ 878g) x 100 = 68.34%
- Oil Phase: (200g ÷ 878g) x 100 = 22.78%
- Emulsifier: (50g ÷ 878g) x 100 = 5.69%
- Thickener: (20g ÷ 878g) x 100 = 2.28%
- Preservative: (8g ÷ 878g) x 100 = 0.91%
This conversion ensures you maintain the same ratio when scaling up or adjusting your formula.
The Key to Consistency
Balancing to 100% allows you to tweak your formulas without throwing off the whole product. Want to increase the oils for a richer texture? Or maybe you need to adjust your emulsifiers for better stability? By keeping everything in percentages, changes are easy to make, and the formula remains balanced.
Consistency is everything, especially when manufacturing large quantities. When your formula is balanced and scaled correctly, each batch will have the same quality, texture, and performance.
Achieving precision through formula balancing to 100% is the backbone of great cosmetic formulation. It’s not just about keeping everything proportional; it’s about ensuring stability, safety, and scalability in every batch. From small lab tests to full-scale production, mastering this concept will help your formulations succeed.
And if you’re looking for a simpler way to manage formulation calculations or ingredient adjustments, ingrevo is here to help. Our tools make it easier to maintain that perfect 100% balance, scale up with confidence, and keep your ingredients safe and effective.
Ready to take your formulations to the next level?
EP4: Formulation Phase Systems Explained, where we’ll break down the roles of aqueous, oil, and other phases, including common ingredients and challenges.
If you’re eager to learn more, keep following along in this series!
