Adding 2% Salicylic Acid to a cleanser

[Mike]

I have found some facial cleanser that I really like. I would like to add Salicylic Acid powder to make it a 2% Salicylic Acid solution. Assuming I have 200 ml of the cleanser, how many milligrams of the pure Salicylic acid do I add to make it a 2% Solution? Would it be better if I first disolve the salicylic acid powder in something like glycerin before I add it to the cleanser? If so, would glycerin be the best choice? How much glycerin would it likely take to dissolve the required amount of Salicylic acid? Do I need to add anything else to adjust the pH of the cleanser after adding the Salicylic acid? Are there any ingredients that I should be concerned about within the cleanser that would make the addition of Salicylic acid a bad idea?
Many thanks!
Mike

[Mike]

Well, I figured out part of the answer. By my calculations, I would need 20 grams of pure Salicylic Acid powder to be added to 1000 ml of my cleanser to make it a 2% Salicylic Acid product. Since I only have 200 ml, I only need 1/5 of20 grams, so 4 grams should do it. Now how would I add the 4 gram. Should it be dissolved in something first and then mixed with the cleanser?
Thanks!
Mike

[Dfontaine]

any luck with your salicylic acid formulation?

I'm just about to start formulation of 6% salicylic peel. I have the ingredients but not sure how i'm going to go about it yet ie, gel, cream, cleanser etc.

Anyway, as far as adding it directly to a product in it's powdered form. There are solubility issues. I'm sure it will mix well, but you don't want little granules of an un deluted acid (even if you can't feel them) on your skin.

Personally, I would only add it in an unsolid form.

I know it's soluble in alcohol but not sure if it's soluble in alcohol emmolient esters like Isopropyl Myristate which is what I plan to test soon. I also don't know how much alcohol it takes to disolve it completely, but again, I will start testing.

Then I'd test the PH of the finished product before I put it on my skin. Acids can burn very quickly. If your cleanser doesn't have the right ingredients to disolve the salicylic acid, or you don't actually know when it's disolved, you risk burns and scaring.

[Mike]

I have had what I think is some good success, but it's hard to be sure. I looked at the ingredient list in my base product. The second ingredient in the list, after purified water is Disodium Cocoamphodiacetate, a surfactant. Salicylic acid is supposed to be dissolveable in surfactants, so I bought a bottle of Disodium Cocoamphodiacetate, a gram scale and 100% powdered Salicylic acid. I then found that I could easily dissolve 4 grams of Salicylic acid in 4 ml of Disodium Cocoamphodiacetate. I then added the 4 ml of Disodium Cocoamphodiacetate and the 4 grams of Salicylic Acid to my cleanser. It seemed to mix right in! I have been using it with no side effects, and it appears to be working as well as other 2% salicylic acid washes that I have tried, but mine is less drying. So far so good! NOW JUST CAUSE I DID IT DOES NOT MEAN THAT YOU SHOULD DO IT! I have no way to test for stability or to be sure that the Salicylic Acid I added does not percipitate out of the cleanser. I did not measure the pH before or after. I hope this helps!
Mike