Our Formulas Have These 6 Things for Completeness

To manufacture your personal care products accurately and consistently your formula needs the following six things.  These essential elements can be found in the formulation template we’re providing: Click here to download our formulation template.

1. SPECIFIC GRAVITY

Your formulation’s specific gravity is a ratio of the weight of your formula compared to the weight of water in some known volume unit.  We need this ratio to determine the weight of your batches and each ingredient in the batch of product formula.  Our customers always order some number of units at some volume, like fluid ounces, and we will use specific gravity to convert their order into a mass measurement, like pounds.  Manufacturing in mass measurements is how we can produce your product perfectly each time, and specific gravity is the ratio we need to make the volume to mass conversion.  Read more about this here: Your Cosmetic Formula Needs Specific Gravity.

2. WEIGHT-ON-WEIGHT PERCENTAGES OF INGREDIENTS

Knowing each ingredient’s weight as a percentage of the whole formula assures manufacturing accuracy. Once we are aware of the weight-on-weight percentage of each ingredient, we can determine the amount of each needed for any batch of product, down to the gram, no matter the size of batch.  For example, if water is 10% of the formulation composition, then to make 10 lbs of product, we will need one pound of water.

3. SUPPLIER OF INGREDIENTS

Not every supplier makes an ingredient the same way. For example, one supplier may make the ingredient glycerine with 98% glycerine and 2% water, while another supplier’s glycerine may contain 90% glycerine and 10% water. Knowing the supplier for each ingredient of your formula and the supplier’s trade name for that ingredient guarantees we make your formula exactly the same every time.

4. PROCESSING INSTRUCTIONS

These instructions will include the instruments essential to mixing your product and when to add, mix, chill, or heat your product’s ingredients and to what degree.  If a compounded product is heated for too long, for example, and too much water evaporates, it can ruin the entire batch.  Processing instructions are another element needed to create a consistent product every time.

5. SPECIFICATIONS SHEET

This sheet describes the qualities of your product regarding look, color, viscosity, feel, etc. It allows us to compare your product to what we manufacture to certify your product is manufactured according to specification every time.

6. FORMULA NUMBER

A formula number is your product’s name-tag at BPI Labs; it is what we use to identify your product. The formula number changes between versions of your formula, and the formula number helps us gather the correct ingredients and materials when we manufacture your product. You will also use your product’s formula number when submitting a purchase order.

Click here to discover how a formula is different from a recipe.

Conclusion

BPI Labs guarantees consistent manufacturing results with these 6 essentials.  Every formula at BPI Labs has these essentials in addition to a record of production, which includes any troubleshooting we did to bring your product into specification.  We always review these historical records before production to verify we’re ready to manufacture your personal care product the right way every time.