One of the requests I've received from my readers is how they may make a vitamin C serum, using simple, commonly available kitchen equipment. They don't want to use the gram and milligram units that I use. I understand the reason. I have 2 "normal" kitchen scales, and neither measure less than 1 gram. This is why I recommend use of a different scale, that measures less than 1 gram.
When I realized that neither of my kitchen scales was going to measure the low amounts I needed, I started looking for scales that would. I use scales to measure out chemicals in my job, and they do the same thing, but cost thousands of dollars. I wasn't sure what kinds of prices I was going to find, but was pleasantly surprised to find some that would measure down to 0.01 of a gram were available from Lotioncrafter.com for less than $25.00 (the model JSR-50).
The kitchen scales do, however, measure in grams, and I decided to try to see if I could design a simple recipe that would fill my readers' needs.
The only way to give you a recipe not using grams or mg is by using tsp and the smallest amount would need to be 1/8th of a tsp, because that is the smallest kitchen tsp made (normally available anyway). That would require the HLA (Hyaluronic acid) to be that smallest amount, and I haven't yet figured out what the equivalent is, so using 1/8 teaspoon would result in so much serum being made, that most could go bad far sooner than it takes to use it, or be too thick to use properly.
This recipe will make enough for about 1 month of treatments, ~ 1-2 applications per day, preferably after you shower or wash your face.
Vitamin C (16%) + Hyaluronic Acid (HLA) (1.5%) serum
Distilled Water 3 and 3/4 tsp
L-Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C) powder 3 grams
HLA (LMW; 800,000 - 1,000,000 Daltons) 0.3 grams (or, 1 gram split into 3 piles)
1- Find 2 small glass jars (baby food, previous used face cream, 4 oz jelly jar).
2- ** Prepare Vitamin C powder by taking more than what you need (e.g. 5 grams) and pulverize it in a blender. This will allow it to dissolve more readily. Add all the pulverized Vitamin C powder to one jar.
3- Add distilled water to the other.
4- ** Measure Vitamin C and add to the water. Stir to dissolve slightly.
5- Measure HLA. To get 0.3 grams with a kitchen scale that only measures 1 gram, take 1 gram and split into 3 piles...save other 2 piles for 2 other preparations.
6. ** Add HLA to preparation by sprinkling the powder on top. Don't stir or swirl. Just let it sit in a dark, cool place for a few hours. When you see no more dry , white HLA powder, then you may swirl and stir to mix in any gel clumps that may still exist. Load ~ 1/3 to 1/2 into an eyedropper bottle. Cover remaining serum that is in the jar, with foil and store in the fridge. Use at least after every shower, followed by a moisturizer.
You will find on your initial applications, that you will have little balls of dead skin collect as you apply it on your face. As soon as you notice it turning amber or yellow, discard, wash out the eyedropper bottle and glass jar before using it again.
** Update July 2022: I found that there is NO need to pulverize 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 to continue dissolving, and 24 hours later, you will have serum!