When I first began my journey as a Formulations Chemist, there were so many things to learn. What differentiates the various kinds of cleansers. How do you make balms and pomades. What can you do to build viscosity. What is the difference between a lotion and a cream? That last one eluded me for a while, until getting sufficient experience with different formulations and validation enough customer formulas.
First, formulating lotions and creams is similar. They’re both emulsion systems that require emulsifiers to combine an aqueous and oil phase into one homogeneous mixture. Typically O/W emulsifiers, but W/O emulsions are also popular. The main difference between the emulsion systems: lotions have little to 1/3 oil content in the formula vs water, while creams are usually 1/3-1/2 oil content in the formula vs water. As a result, creams are oilier and require more/stronger emulsifiers to combine the two immiscible phases. Lotions are lighter and not nearly as oily.
Creams typically are the following:
- richer in feel
- more moisturizing and hydrating
- heavier in feel
- more complex
- usually have pumps or jars as containers
The characteristics of a lotion:
- more watery
- lighter in feel
- typically less expensive due to higher water concentration
- usually come in tubes
Those are the technical differences between lotions and creams. Beyond this, they’re processed in much the same ways:
- aqueous phase with stabilizers
- oil phase with emulsifiers
- heat and hold
- homogenize to micronize the oil droplets for greater product stability
- slow cool down phase to allow the emulsifiers and stabilizers to structurize the emulsion
- characterize
That’s a wrap. It’s things like these that keep a Formulations Chemist wanting to learn more and more. The more you ask, the more you learn. The more you learn, the more you ask. It’s a fun gig alright.
Greengen Labs 