Ingredients for Natural Gel Butter Balm for Sensitive Skin

Recommended Ingredients for Making Gel-Textured Butter Balm for Sensitive Skin

To create a natural, gel-textured Butter Balm suitable for sensitive skin, you can use the following key ingredients:

1. Butters

Choose natural butters that nourish the skin, provide moisture, and are gentle on sensitive skin, such as:

• Shea Butter (Ultra Soft): This shea butter is specially processed to be consistently soft with no oil separation at room temperature. It helps regenerate skin, reduce inflammation, and provides high moisture.
• Kokum Butter (Refined): A butter from Kokum seeds, refined to be white and nearly odorless. It helps restore moisture, prevent water loss, and improve skin elasticity.
• Mango Butter (Deodorized): Butter from mango seeds, processed to reduce odor. It provides moisture and helps in skin cell regeneration.

You can choose one type of butter or combine them as desired.

2. Oils

Use a lightweight, easily absorbed, and non-comedogenic oil as the base for the balm. A great option is:

• Fractionated Coconut Oil: Coconut oil processed into a clear, colorless, odorless liquid that is less prone to rancidity. It nourishes the skin well, absorbs easily, is non-greasy, and gentle, making it suitable for sensitive skin.

3. Oil Gelling Agent

To give the balm a gel texture, you can use an oil gelling agent:

• Sugar Gel: A Sugar Ester powder that effectively creates a clear gel texture in oils. It requires a small amount of Glycerin and water (about 10% of the formula) to dissolve and form the gel according to the product's instructions. It's suitable for formulas requiring a relatively soft gel texture and can incorporate both water-soluble and oil-soluble active ingredients.
• Alternative: If you prefer a firmer, clearer gel texture, you can consider using Oil Thick™ Transparent, which requires heat to dissolve and create a gel in almost all types of oils.

4. Additional Actives for Sensitive Skin

To enhance the balm's suitability for sensitive skin, you can add active ingredients that help reduce irritation:

• Pep-Calm™ (Palmitoyl Tripeptide-8): Helps reduce skin redness and irritation.
• Portulaca Extract (Purified Colorless Liquid): Extract from Purslane, known for its skin irritation-reducing properties.

These ingredients are typically water-soluble and can be added to the water phase (used with Sugar Gel) before combining with the oil and butter phase.

Recommended Ingredients Summary:

• Butters: Shea Butter (Ultra Soft), Kokum Butter (Refined), or Mango Butter (Deodorized)
• Oil: Fractionated Coconut Oil
• Oil Gelling Agent: Sugar Gel (and requires Glycerin, Water) or Oil Thick™ Transparent
• Sensitive Skin Actives (optional): Pep-Calm™, Portulaca Extract

To make the balm, combine the butters and oil, gently heating if needed to melt the butters. Prepare the gelling agent phase (e.g., Sugar Gel mixed with Glycerin and water according to instructions). Gradually pour the oil phase into the gel phase while continuously stirring or blending until a gel texture is formed. If using water-soluble sensitive skin actives, mix them into the water phase before combining with the Sugar Gel.