Lite Guide to Determining Your DIY Measurements

I usually save the type of specificity for direct communications with paying Subscription members.  But people do need basic information on how to best determine the amounts of each ingredient they want to use in their DIY mixes.

I’ll give you some basic information on how to determine the best way to figure out the percentages of ingredients to use.

First, though, I have to say this: ingredients like Citric Acid, Grapefruit Seed oil, Rosemary Essential oil, and Vitamin E ARE NOT preservatives!!!  

If you’re making something you DON’T plan to keep in the fridge, AND you want to be able to use it for weeks or a few months, you M.U.S.T. use a broad spectrum preservative.

Now that my rant is over, let’s continue.

WAY #1

Start with your must-have ingredients (preservative, emulsifier, thickener, fragrance) and subtract those percentages from 100%.

Example:
If you must have at least 1% preservative, then subtract that from your total of 100% : 

100% – 1% = 99%

If you must have at least 3% BTMS, then subtract that from what’s left :

99% – 3% = 96%

Generally, if I use a basic thickener like cetyl alcohol, I use half of the amount of my emulsifier. So if you use 3% BTMS, use 1.5% cetyl alcohol.

Thus, if you’re using 1.5% cetyl alcohol, subtract that from what’s left:

96% – 1.5% = 94.5%

Now go from there. Decide what percentage of oils you want to use and subtract that from what’s left.

After that, use your water/tea/hydrosol to fill up the rest of the amount.

Now you need to break down the percentages you just decided to use.

Remember how you wanted to use 1% preservative?  Well, if you want to make an 8oz jar of something, you calculate thusly:

8 x 0.01 = 0.08oz
(1% = 0.01)

OR if you’re using grams
(8oz of water is approx 227grams)

1% of 227grams is (227 x 0.01) = 2g  (round down or up to get to a full gram)

And go from there for each ingredient,

WAY #2

You can simply add up the percentages of what you want to use, then subtract that from 100% to figure out how much more you can add or what you need to subtract in order to make your percentage equal 100%.

Example:
Sometimes I brainstorm.  I’ll say to myself, ‘I want to make something that is 5% humectant, with high amount of conditioning, and 20% oil’.  Okay.  
(A humectant is anything like glycerin, beet sugar extract, sodium lactate, etc)

A ‘high amount of conditioner’ can mean anything, but it probably means you want to use MORE than 3% BTMS.  BTMS is a conditioning emulsifier.   Let’s say you wanna use 7% BTMS because you want it very, very conditioning and thicker.  

And DONT forget the preservative at 1%:

20% oil  + 5% humectant + 7% BTMS + 1% preservative = 33%

Now subtract that from 100%:

100% – 33% = 67%

That means I have 67% of stuff left to add to the mix.  You can add 67% water. Or 67% tea.  Or further split that 67% up into other things.

Now you need to break down the percentages you just decided to use.

Remember how you wanted to use 5% humectant?  Well, if you want to make an 8oz jar of something, you calculate thusly:

8 x 0.05 = 0.4oz
(5% = 0.05)

OR if you’re using grams
(8oz of water is approx 227grams)

5% of 227grams is (227 x 0.05) = 11g  (round down or up to get to a full gram)

That means you’ll use 11grams of glycerin, or beet sugar extract, or sodium lactate, etc.

And go from there for each ingredient,

WAY #3

Way #3 involves deciding 1st what you want to make and deciding the type of consistency you want it to have after it has cooled and sat overnight.  

GENERALLY, for a thicker consistency (deep conditioner, rinse-out conditioner), use a higher percentage of emulsifier, thickener, and oils.  

GENERALLY, for a thinner consistency (hair milk, leave-in conditioner), use a higher percentage of water/tea/aloe vera/hydrosol and use a lower percentage of thickener or no thickener at all.

Example:

Sometimes I want to make a hair milk.  Hair milks generally have a high percentage of water or liquids.  So I start with the amount of water/tea/aloe vera I want the final product to have.

For example, I may want my hair milk really have a consistency close to actual milk, meaning I want it to be very, very watery so it can spread really quickly and absorb quickly into the hair.   

For that, I may want my water/aloe vera/tea/hydrosol to be 90%. So, I’ll start with:

90% water

100% – 90% = 10%

That leaves me 10% for my other ingredients.

My preservative will be 1%, so:

10% – 1% = 9%

I want to use BTMS as the emulsifier and I want it to be 4% … AND I don’t want to use a thickener so it’ll be as liquidy as possible:

9% – 4% = 5%

So that leaves 5% to add your proteins, humectants, oils, etc.  Don’t be surprised by the amount!!  Honestly, I’ve burned through more ingredients thinking that the percentage ‘seemed’ too low to be effective.  No.

What often happens is that if your percentages are too high, you may create products which cause buildup on the hair, or it may be too thick to absorb quickly. Trust me, when it comes to certain things a little goes a long way.

Now you need to break down the percentages you just decided to use.

Remember how you wanted to use 90% water, aloe vera, tea, or hydrosol?  Well, if you want to make an 8oz jar of something, you calculate thusly:

8 x 0.90 = 7.2oz (or just 7oz)
(90% = 0.90)

OR if you’re using grams
(8oz is approx 227grams)

90% of 227grams is (227 x 0.90) = 204g  (round down or up to the closest full gram)

That means you’ll use 204g of water, or aloe vera, or hydrosol, or tea OR some combination of those.

And go from there for each ingredient,

So basically that’s how I build the recipes for what I want to make.  I can’t say I won’t think up some other way at some time in the future, but for right now I hope you can come up with some awesome DIY recipes using this advice!

Happy DIYing!

twitter: https://twitter.com/curlyteaconsult
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/curlytea
pinterest: www.pinterest.com/curlytea/
instagram: http://instagram.com/curlyteaconsult