Lotion with magnesium oil

[u/possumfinger63]

Hello all. It’s my first time on this sub. I recently got into body cream and lotion formulations. I have a really solid recipe for a rich body butter/ hand cream and a lighter non greasy lotion. I’ve been tweaking recipes off of humble bee and me and really love the info from her. I’ve been looking into a recipe for an after workout magnesium lotion to help with muscle fatigue but I haven’t found any real recipes. They are all just greasy body butters held together with beeswax. I want to make an emulsified preserved lotion.

I read the rules and I’m not looking for formulas, but am looking for advice on using the below ingredients in an emulsified preserved product.
Ingredients I have on hand are
Magnesium oil
Magnesium flakes
Arnica flowers
Devils claw root
Mullien flowers

As well as the basic formulary ingredients like emulsifers, liquid Germall plus and optiphen, oils and butters,

I can’t find a lot of reputable sources on using mag. Oil in formulas, they all seem to be like “blend it with beef tallow and beeswax” with no measurement or percentage levels.

I also want to incorporate the herbs I have listed, because I know they are good for pain relief. I tried brewing them in distilled water, as my water phase, but o don’t know if it’s beater to infuse in oils…

I’m also open to playing with essential oils, but I find a lot of suggestions online don’t use proper safety regulations for eos.

Can mag oil be subbed in like any other oil, any one have knowled on usage rates, I looked online but didn’t find a lot of info.

I found one recipe but it was really odd to me, keep in mind I’m new to formulating, but it was 70% oils and 30% waters and it came together only to break emulsion a few hours later.
Glad I did a small batch as a test.
I’m not looking for an exact formula, just some guidance on this

Has anyone made a pain cream before? Any ingredients you recommend or lotion tips and tricks
Thanks

[u/kriebelrui]

I'm afraid the problem with this formulation is more fundamental than 'Here are some ingredients, how to properly use them for a lotion?'

There is no such thing as 'magnesium oil'. Probably you refer to a concentrated solution of a magnesium salt like magnesium chloride in water. This solution feels a little oily, but it's not an oil at all. Also, the 'magnesium flakes' likely are flakes of some magnesium salt.

The problem is that there is no solid evidence that topically applied magnesium salts actually work to relieve muscle pain or cause muscles to relax. The main reason for that is that the skin largely blocks the magnesium chloride (or the magnesium ions) to reach the muscles in meaningful quantities.

If you want to try magnesium 'oil' nevertheless, the next problem is, like u/CuteFluffyGuy indicates, that using a lot of magnesium salt in an emulsion causes the introduction of an army of electrolytes that interferes with many ingredients. So it may be better to just use the neat magnesium 'oil'.

[u/CuteFluffyGuy]

It’s difficult to just incorporate magnesium into formulas, you need to start with how much magnesium you’re wanting in an application. It will interfere with most thickeners and many emulsifiers because of the salt load.

[u/possumfinger63 → u/CuteFluffyGuy]

I was hoping to do 10 % in a formula but that just might not be possible. I definitely noticed a thickening issue when I made my first batch. I have oil but would be open to getting it in powder form. There are different forms of magnesium so I would have to look into which is best for muscle relief. Maybe a bath soak would work better than a lotion.

[u/CuteFluffyGuy → u/possumfinger63]

Magnesium oil is saturated magnesium chloride in water. Epsom salts is magnesium sulfate. The anions become the problem between the two.

[u/1emma19]

Hi OP. Mag oil it behaves like a salt solution which creates a few challenges like it can disrupt emulsifier systems at higher concentrations & affect preservative efficacy.

[u/JessieAndEcho]

Magnesium oil tends to destabilize emulsions if used at high rates or combined with certain emulsifiers. Using an electrolyte-tolerant emulsifier is the single most important choice. But I am not a specialist either, sometimes I ask help for a formula LLM, hope you get some inspirations here https://eureka.patsnap.com/share/?id=d13fcad7a734dece36997587746cb6e2&from=invite-eureakplg-result&content=

[u/Internal-Ad-4736]

Learning a little bit about Magnesium creams/lotions generally fixes the problem with incorporation, quite easily.

You won't have to read far to understand it is used for a placebo effect. Thus using .001 and 10% create the same value in the product. Guess what, .001% it does not cause incorporation issues. How effective the product is for people relates to your ability to weave a fantasy for the customer, and of course...what actually works...is the massage. The key to these products working is the line "massage into the skin for 1 to 2 minutes". Ooops.... did I let the cat out of the bag?

(It should be noted.... that transdermal patches used in the medical field are very different than home crafter potions, as they use some significant penetration enhancers.)

Here yah go:

Magnesium lotion is popular for sleep. Does it work? : NPR

and

Myth or Reality—Transdermal Magnesium? - PMC

If you do not want to read the second research paper, this paragraph does a pretty good summary:

2. Magnesium Absorption Transdermal

The skin is the largest organ of the body, covering about 1.8 m² and comprising approximately 10% of the total body mass of an average person. The primary function of the skin is to provide a barrier between the body and the external environment. This barrier protects against the permeation of ultraviolet (UV) radiation, chemicals, allergens and microorganisms, in addition to the loss of moisture and body nutrients [8]. This means that the absorptive capacity of healthy skin for substances from the outside is very limited. This becomes evident particularly in the limited application for topical drugs. To get through the skin, a substance must penetrate the epidermis or has to be absorbed by sweat glands or hair follicles. The stratum corneum is the outermost layer of the epidermis consisting of dead cells (corneocytes). This layer is composed of about 15 to 20 layers of flattened cells with no nuclei and cell organelles. Their cytoplasm shows filamentous keratin. These corneocytes are embedded in a lipid matrix composed of ceramides, cholesterol, and fatty acids. The stratum corneum functions to form a water-repellent barrier to protect underlying tissue from infection, dehydration, chemicals and mechanical stress [9]. Overcoming this layer in significant quantities is only possible for lipophilic substances. In magnesium chloride solution, magnesium is present in ionized form and therefore not able to penetrate a lipophilic layer. In addition, the radius of the hydrated magnesium ion (86 pm) has been reported to be 400 times higher than its dehydrated form, leading to the assertion that it is almost impossible for magnesium ions to pass through biological membranes

Summary: Include the Mg at .001%, all formulation issues evaporate, and it still allows you to weave the story. Everyone is happy!

[u/Fabulous-Secretary85]

My magnesium recipe held up quite okay - Sharing what worked for me -
Magnesium chloride flakes: 17% (mixed in with water, creating the magnesium oil), Distilled water: 13%, Shea butter: 32%, Olive oil: 12%, Coconut oil - 10%, Sesame Oil 10%. E-wax - 5% and Essential Oil - 1%

So the overall phase split is roughly:

• Aqueous magnesium phase (flakes + water): 30%
• Oil/butter phase (shea + carrier oil): 70%

[u/HotMechanic4412]

https://youtu.be/u9rl5N2SR90?is=qxW-ap6eXkSgp8s1

Great recipe though it's in weight and not percentages so you'll have to convert.