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How to Make; 5% Lactic Acid Toning Solution

Since we covered AHA in my last post, it is now time to start formulating with them :) I will be sharing with you how to make a 5% Lactic Acid Toning Solution. This could easily be substituted out for Glycolic Acid if you would like. Just make sure you are using it at the correct percentage and balancing the PH level. We are going to be making a really simple toner, so it doesn't get to confusing, because it is already confusing enough. lol

If you remember in my last post all about AHA I mentioned that when you add Lactic Acid or Gycolic Acid to a solution it dramatically lowers the ph to around 2 - 3. So since it does this you have to use a buffer solution to raise the ph up to around 3.5 - 4. You do this by making a 10% diluted lye solution. If you aren't sure how to make a 10% diluted lye solution then go watch my video all about how to raise and lower ph levels. So since you have to add in the buffer solution that means you have to consider that as being part of your formula. (remember every formula must add up to 100%) So to do this I just simply subtracted 5 grams from my distilled water that way we leave enough space for our buffer solution.


Here is my formula I came up with.

2 oz recipe for a 5% Lactic Acid Toning Solution


So you may be wondering why I am not using 5% lactic acid. Well because my Lactic Acid I purchased from MakingCosmetics.com is a diluted solution. It is 88% Lactic Acid and 12% Water. So I can't just use 5% of it and call this a 5% lactic acid toner. I had to do the math (which I hope is correct) to figure out how to get 5% lactic acid out of this diluted solution, and I came up with 5.6% (please correct me if my math is incorrect. lol) I then of course I picked Leucidal SF Complete as my preservative and then just made the rest of the formula distilled water (like I said, I want to keep this simple)

Directions

First grab a digital scale that weighs to 0.01 grams and grab a beaker. I used a 200 ml beaker for this recipe. I started by weighing out 49.24 grams of distilled water (remember we are leaving 5 grams out to leave space for out ph buffer) The next thing I did is weigh out 3.36 grams of my lactic acid. I gave this a good mix then took the ph level. As I said the ph level will dramatically drop. Mine dropped to around 2.8. So I grabbed my 10% diluted lye solution and started by adding in 5 drops which weighed out to .13 grams. (keep track of how many grams you add) I then took the ph again and it only raised to 2.9. I continued to do this until I got my ph to 3.5. I ended up adding in a total of 1.62 grams of my buffer solution which roughly ended up being about 50 drops. Now just because it took me 1.62 grams of my 10% diluted lye solution to get to a 3.5 ph level that doesn't mean yours will be the same. So please use a ph meter to keep track of the ph of your toner. So I then subtracted 1.62 from 5 (because remember we left 5 grams out of distilled water) which equals 3.38 & then added 3.38 grams of distilled water. Now that the ph is between 3.5 - 4 I can now add in my preservative. I added in 2.4 grams of leucidal sf complete and mixed everything together one last time. It is also a good idea to take the ph level one last time after adding in your preservative because it could alter the ph level a bit. I then bottled up my 5% lactic acid toning solution in a 2 oz glass bottle and added on my label. Now you're done, you just made a 5% lactic acid toning solution. I know this is really confusing if you have never had to raise the ph level of a cosmetics before. Honestly I think it is easier to lower ph levels than it is to raise them, but I promise, once you get the hang of it, it becomes much easier!


If this seemed confusing please go watch my video on how to make this toner.


To use this toner, just pour a bit onto a cotton round & gently dab onto the face. You want to use this after cleansing but before moisturizing. You can use daily in the morning and night if your skin isn't to sensitive. If you have sensitive skin use only once a day or every other day.


Always use a sun screen when using AHA for up to 7 days after use.

Also if you don't like the idea of having to deal with buffering the ph level then your in luck! My next post will be a homemade aha toning solution made with Formulator Sample Shops Fruit Mix, and you don't have to buff the ph level!




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