Oliwax
INCI: Hydrogenated Olive Oil (and) Olive Oil (Olea Europaea) (and) Olive Oil Unsaponifiables
Usage rate: 1-5% and up to 10% for thick viscosity
Emulsions: 2-5%
Makeup: 1-5%
Hair conditioners: 1-5%
Water-in-oil (w/o) emulsion stabilizer: 1-4%
Oil-in-water (o/w) emulsion stabilizer: 1-3%
Sunscreen: 1-3%

Oliwax is an ECOCert approved ingredient said it be excellent for increasing the viscosity of all kinds of emulsions (oil-in-water, water-in-oil and water-in-silicone). It is an oil-loving (lipophilic)emollient meant to stabilize formulations.

[junkie-alert style=”yellow”] WHY USE THIS?

Skin: Improves spreadability; A better alternative to beeswax

Hair: Improves silkiness and manageability of hair [/junkie-alert]

It said to give your haircare and skincare products a “light touch and gentle skin feel”. That’s just a nice way of saying it won’t feel super-draggy, tacky or too sticky on your skin. It’s used to improve the spreadability of the product on your skin and hair.

For hair, Oliwax is said to improve the “silkiness” and manageability of hair. It’s supposed to “penetrate down to the scalp and hair follicles” which is said to help keep the scalp “clean and supple”. I think this means it doesn’t contribute to build-up on the scalp like a waxy ingredient (beeswax, cera bellina, etc) can.

You may want to try this product in your whipped butters to see if you’ll have a better, silkier and less tacky final product.

For skin, Oliwax doesn’t add any stickiness or tackiness like beeswax can. Used within the recommended guidelines and it will leave a smooth, light “silky touch”. Since it increases the absorption of other ingredients, it can also be used to formulate facial care products.

As mentioned before, one of the selling points of Oliwax is that it can improve the thickness of your product. It does this by forming a “crystal network” which allows it to take a 75% oil phase without lowering it’s melting point. (oil = lipid)

If that’s true, this will be beneficially during the shipping process. Many whipped butters can melt or lose their form during shipping in hot weather. It’s a good thing if you can add an ingredient — which will also improve the quality of the butter — which won’t cause the melting point to lower.

In addition, oils that have been protected by this “crystal network” formation become more resistant to oxidation. That means it may take much longer for the oils inside the whipped butter formulations to go bad, especially if you also add Vitamin E MT-50.

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Oliwax