(Update of 26 December 2016)
I have been experimenting with different ingredients I was adding 'cause more is better, right? Well, no...I found that at least one of the ingredients was reacting with the vitamin C and causing what appeared to be accelerated oxidation. Here is what is what appears to work well, and what I currently use myself.
20% Vit C, 8% DMAE, 2% Hyaluronic Acid (800-1000K Daltons)
9.4 tsp of distilled water
3.75 grams DMAE (8%)
9.5 grams L-Ascorbic Acid Powder (Vitamin C) (20%)
0.93 grams Hyaluronic Acid (800,000 - 1,000,000 Daltons Molecular Weight) (2%)
- Take the Vitamin C powder and whirl it in a blender or smoothie blender to make it a fine powder (this will cause it to dissolve more quickly)
- Add water to a 4 oz container with a lid.
- Add the DMAE and swirl to dissolve
- Add the Vitamin C and mix by swirling. Allow to sit for an hour or so, swirling every 15 minutes or so, until dissolved.
- Sprinkle HLA around the top of the water...do NOT swirl as the powder will stick to the sides and not dissolve. Let it sit at room temp in the dark for an hour or 2 until the water has absorbed into the powder and you see no more white powder. It wont be dissolved evenly, but at least there will not be any dry powder remaining. Once that is the case, stir and break up any thick gel, every hour or so until the serum's gel is evenly distributed (e.g. there isn't a chunk of gel on one end of the container). When not stirring, always keep this in the dark.
Once the gel is evenly distributed, transfer 4 -5 eyedroppers full into a non-clear (blue or amber) eyedropper bottle, and store remainder in the dark and in the fridge. What you add to the eyedropper should last no longer than 2 weeks. When you run out of what you added in the eyedropper bottle, rinse out residual serum and refill. Keep doing so until you run out OR the serum starts turning an amber color. This means that the oxidation has proceeded enough to be visible, and should be discarded. Oxidation is accelerated with exposure to oxygen in the air and to water, so it will start oxidizing as soon as you prepare it.
(also see Post #1 of 2))
Hyaluronic Acid
Hyaluronic Acid (HA), which is also known as Sodium Hyaluronate, is one of the most popular ingredients sought for use as an anti-aging treatment. It exists in chains of polymers from 3,000 (or 3K) Daltons to as many as 20,000,000 (20,000K) Daltons in size. it is a substance already found in your joints, eyes and skin. In your skin, HA is found between the skin cells and acts as a water reservoir for them, able to absorb nearly 1000x its weight in water. It also contributes to the suppleness of the skin, and to the reduction of fluid loss. We lose HA as we age, causing loss of suppleness and increased thinning of the skin, effects which many try to fight off by attempting to treat their skin with topical HA.
In my research however, I found that there are some things to consider about HAs, that are not advertised. There are different kinds of powdered HA available for purchase, and that some may not be as appropriate for skin care applications as others. For example, lotioncrafter.com sells different powdered HAs which range from the largest molecular weight of 1000K-1500K daltons to the ULMW (ultra low molecular weight) of 3K-5K. Although all forms of HA provide moisturizing effects, there are differences between the low and high MW products. For example, beside providing hydration, the higher molecular weight products appear to also have anti-inflammatory effects, but, due to their large size, they might have some difficulty penetrating the skin. The very low molecular weight products on the other hand, are able to penetrate the skin far more easily, but may cause inflammation once they do.
None of the ready-to-use HA products let you know in the ingredients, what molecular weight HA was used, so how do you know if your purchased HA serum is in a MW range that will even penetrate the skin, and is not just moisturizing the outer skin surface?
This is a reason to make your own!
From my readings, it appears that a product that is approximately 50-100K Daltons is a good target range for a DIY HA serum.. Based on that, I chose the Hyaluronic Acid LMW (Low Molecular Weight), by lotioncrafter.com which ranges from 800K-1000K Daltons. Another pleasing property of HA of this range is that serums result in a gel while the lower MW formulas do not. The Hyaluronic Acid LMW does result in a very nice gel, while the next size down, the Hyaluronic Acid SLMW (Super Low MW), does not gel at all.
Here are 2 formulas I've made:
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1% Hyaluronic Acid (800-1000K Daltons)
- Add 2 tsp of distilled waterto a shot glass
- Sprinkle 0.1 g (100 milligrams) Hyaluronic Acid LMW to the water surface.
- Do not stir or swirl, just cover with plastic wrap or Press n Seal and allow to sit at room temp.
- Wait 1-3 hours; HA serum will dissolve on its own. Swirl to mix, and transfer to eyedropper bottle.
- Use 1-2 times a day. Best used after a shower or washing your face so as to induce the moisture to move into your skin along with the HA.
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19% Vit C, 2% Hyaluronic Acid (800-1000K Daltons)
- Add 2 tsp and 1/4 tsp of distilled water to a shot glass
- Add 2.7 g L-Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C)
- Stir to dissolve. (** See changes below in July 2022 update!)
- When dissolved, sprinkle 0.3125 g (312.5 milligrams) Hyaluronic Acid LMW to the water surface.
- Do not stir, just cover with plastic wrap or Press n Seal and allow to sit at room temp.
- Wait 1-3 hours; HA serum will dissolve on its own. Swirl to mix, and transfer to eyedropper bottle.
- Use 1-2 times a day.
Note 1: There are no preservatives which is why making smaller volumes is best.
Note 2: Small amounts less than 1 gram are best measured using a scale meant for smaller measurements. A kitchen or postal scale (at least not the ones I have) will work unless they measure less than one gram. I purchased the model JSR-200. The scale costs about $28 and works very nicely. This model measures down to 0.01 grams (10 milligrams). You will benefit from small weight boats and spatulas, which I also found and purchased (see below).
Note 3: I am not an affiliate of lotioncrafter.com, just a satisfied customer, but I have tried to find some products below, with similar specifications from Amazon.
** Update July 2022: I found that there is NO need to try to dissolve the Vitamin C powder beforehand! Just add the vitamin C and HLA into the container you are using (it doesn’t matter in what order they are added), followed by the distilled water. Close the container and shake well (~30 to 45 seconds). Place at room temperature (in the dark or completely covered to block light) to continue dissolving, and 24 hours later, you will have serum!
