Distilled Water in Cosmetic DIY

Hello beautiful people, in today’s entry we are going to discuss the water in cosmetic DIY. To be honest, I am a bit thrilled because I am actually a water process engineer. I design industry water treatment plants. So I am actually expertise in water (here’s my linked in), in this post, we are going to look into the distilled water we use in cosmetic DIY, why we use it, and how we can make it from our kitchen for free. As I mentioned in my newsletter, I have been busy formulating these days, so instead of posting recipes and formulations, recent entries will be more scientific-oriented.

What is distilled water

Distilled water is water that is produced through distillation which separates the liquid from other substances contained in it. The distillation process involves heating the water until it evaporates, eliminating bacteria or microorganisms, as well as leaving impurities behind. The steam is then condensed back into the water. Distilled water is purified by boiling and re-condensing. In this way, salt ions are being removed. It usually has fewer organic contaminants. It also will absorb Carbon Dioxide from the air so the pH will typically be lower (pH 4.5 – 5.0).

why we are using distilled water for cosmetic formulation

Thanks to its zero contaminant and zero mineral properties, distilled water is used as a solvent in cosmetic and personal care products as it dissolves many of the ingredients that impart skin benefits like cleansing and conditioning agents.

But why can’t you use tap water? Tap water is definitely not demineralized, so the minerals contained in it will interfere with the ingredients of your formulation, ruining all the recipes: the minerals in fact are electrolytes and will disturb every electrolyte-sensitive ingredient in the formula.

On the market, you can easily find demineralized water (used for ironing), BUT this water is not microbiologically pure. If water doesn’t contain minerals, bacteria can still grow in it! As we already know, adding preservatives to a cosmetic that is not colonized by bacteria is effective, while adding preservatives to a cosmetic which already contains bacteria… is not so effective, instead! [Here is an example to give a rough idea: if you apply facial serum to your sweaty face, it won’t work very well, if you apply it to a clean face, instead, it might do a wonderful job.
So we need to try to make sure that when we make our cosmetics, we don’t use contaminated ingredients! 

If you cannot buy demineralized microbiologically pure water (or if you cannot wait to get it and you immediately want to make your cream), you should at least boil the demineralized water. Boiling it (especially if you do it for a short time) won’t make the water microbiologically pure: boil the water for at least 20 minutes and then wish for the best. Or this comes to the point why I write this entry, make your own distilled water at home.

How to make distilled water at home

Not to get too science-y here, but this is exciting for me. We’ll be using water in all three of its known states — solid, liquid, and gas.

The gist is this: You heat water (liquid), turn it into water vapor (gas), then collect the condensation with the aid of ice (solid). It’s like middle school science class all over again.

For this project you will need:

You’ll likely find everything you need in your kitchen.

• A large pot, a lid for the large pot
• A small pot or A Pyrex beaker ( I’d prefer a pyrex beaker as it is heavier and it is heat safe and have that pouring pout which helps you to decant your precious distilled water to your container)

• Tap water,
• Ice
• Glass bottle and

• Oven mitts for handling the hot cookwar

My Cosmetic DIY recipes using distilled water

• Soothing Aloe Facial Cream
• Ginger Bergamot Hair Conditioner
• Shea Almond Body Lotion
• Citrus Hair-Fortifying Lotion Spray
• Conditioning Lavender Hand Soap — for a lot of handwashing
• Super Hydrating Aloe Hair Spray
• and many more….

Water in Cosmetic DIY

Recipe by CalleighCourse: Household Recipe, SciencesDifficulty: Easy

Yield

300

ml

Prep time

1

hour 

Ingredients

• 1 L of Tap Water

• 1 large pot

• 1 small pot or 1 pyrex beaker

• 1 glass bottle

• 1 oven mitts

Directions

• First, place the large pot over a stovetop burner and add 1L of water. Then, place the smaller pot or beaker inside the large pot. At this point, the smaller pot or beaker should float on top of the water. The key to circulating water vapor inside the large pot is airflow. Make sure the smaller pot has plenty of it, both around its sides and between it and the top of the larger pot. 
• Next, turn the burner to somewhere between medium and medium-high heat. I specifically tried to avoid actually boiling the water and tried to keep the heat level at a steady simmer — somewhere between 80 and 90 degrees Celcius. Running a higher temperature won’t get you a higher yield, but it will warm up the cold side of the lid faster, and make general handling of the equipment harder to deal with.
• After you put the burner on, place the lid upside-down on the large pot. Lids are usually higher in the middle than around the edges. Flipping the lid will allow for the condensed distilled water to trickle down to the middle of the lid and into the smaller pot. Once all this is done, head over to your ice maker (or tray) and load the top of the inverted lid with ice. The difference in temperature on both sides of the lid will speed up the condensation process.
• At this point, you can sit back and wait. I ended up replenishing the ice supply twice within an hour, once at the half-hour mark, and once after 45 minutes. This is what you need the oven mitts for — that lid will be hot! Use caution when dumping that now-hot melted ice.
  
•  Any water that has dripped down into the smaller pot has now been distilled.

Notes & Observation

• Whatever amount of distilled water you want to end up with, make sure you add additional water so you can avoid heating an empty pot(s) at the end of the process, which can damage some cookware.
• In 1 hour, using this method, yielded about 300ml of distilled water. Just so you know, even continuing the heating process, you will not get 100% yield, as some water may be evaporated through the lids.
• As I explained above, distilled water is slightly acidic, so it is highly recommended to store your homemade distilled water in a glass container.

You can use distilled water for

• Clothes Ironing
• Skincare formulation
• DIY Tools Cleaning

Related Post : Essential DIY Equipment and Tools for DIY Beauty Crafters

For daily household chores like floor cleaning, aquarium, car maintenance and etc, due to the big amount of water is needed, I would not suggest using this way to produce your own distilled water, as it is energy and time-consuming. It is preferable to install a water softener system for it.

Can Distilled water spoil

Certain germs can grow even in nutrient-poor distilled water. So once you have made it, label it with the date, close it with the lids every time you use it, and keep the lids dry. I don’t even have a rough estimation on how long you can keep it, as I can’t run a microbe test myself. My best bet is to create a small batch as I do — the amount you needed for your formulation, prepare it the day before and use it as fast as you can.

Final Thoughts

Making your own distilled water is easy and fun! If you’re stuck at home and you rely on a device that requires it, or perhaps you just want to keep your fish healthy, you likely have the means to make it yourself. Making distilled water from home also means avoiding you from creating more plastic rubbish — store-bought demineralized water stores in PE bottles.

As you learn and grow as a formulator you can start swapping out some of the distilled water in your formulations for fancier watery ingredients like beautifully scented hydrosols, soothing aloe vera juice, or astringent witch hazel.

My Beauty products formulated with hydrosols:

• DIY Purify Deep-Cleansing Clay Mask
• Lavender Rose Facial Moisturiser
• Rose Hyaluronic Facial Cream
• 100% Shea Conditioning Soap Bar

If you like my tutorial, please consider donating me a coffee! Cheers

Calleigh

Hi, I am Calleigh, MEng Chemical Engineering and a process engineer, and I'm here to show you how to DIY your skincare and household products with the correct formulation and using only natural ingredients. I believe that eating good food (Yes I have cooking recipes too!) and living in a chemical-free environment are the keys to having a healthy lifestyle. And that doesn't need to be expensive.