Working With Biosaccharide Gum-1

Biosaccharide gum-1 is a rather interesting ingredient - and rather lovely to work with. It is a fermented sugar, and the manufacturer calls it a S.M.A.R.T sugar: with Soothing, Moisturising, Anti aging, Restructuring and Touch properties. How amazing does that sound!

Being a ferment, biosaccharide gum works particularly well with other ferments such as  hyaluronic acid,  inulin (a prebiotic) and  xanthan gum (xanthan gum is a gelling agent, but it's also a fermented sugar with its own moisturising properties). Biosaccharide gum can also work synergistically with other actives such as  collagen,  aloe vera gel, botanical extracts, certain types of Vitamin C esters,  niacinamide,  panthenol, etc. 

Being a liquid and water soluble, biosaccharide gum is easy to work with. It is anionic and not too heat sensitive, although I would avoid adding it to boiling water. It has a very decent pH stability range of 2 all the way up to 10 so you can formulate it with all kinds of other pHs.

It works wonderfully in all kinds of mists, toners, serums and moisturisers, but you could also add it to baby products, cleansers and multipurpose gels.

I love a good serum so I decided to create a simple one, but one that is packed with all the good stuff: hyaluronic acid, niacinamide and aloe vera. Niacinamide and aloe vera both have a natural pH of around 6 (and niacinamide works best at this pH), so I decided to formulate at that pH. Give this ‘SMART’ serum a try!

SMART Serum With Biosaccharide Gum-1

82.5%  aloe vera gel / hydrosol / infusion

5%  hyaluronic acid

5%  niacinamide

5%  Biosaccharide gum-1

Preservative variations:

1%  Geogard ultra

1.5%  sodium citrate

Baking soda to adjust pH up to 7, and then  citric acid to adjust pH down to around pH 6.

Pros: scentless powder

Cons: some people are allergic to Geogard Ultra (myself included) so please do a patch test first! Also requires the buffering system.

OR

1% Geogard 221 

Citric acid and  baking soda as required to adjust the pH to 6.

Increase aloe vera gel to 84% to make the formula add to 100%

Pros: easy to use & no buffering required

Cons: Geogard 221 has a scent like marzipan that some find unpleasant

 

 

Weigh out all main ingredients and add to a beaker, stirring gently to combine. 

I gave a choice of preservatives, so decide which to use. If you go for the Geogard Ultra option, you will need to add the sodium citrate as well, and then create a buffer system by adjusting the pH with baking soda to 7, and then bringing it back down to 6.

If you go for Geogard 221, you can simply add it and then check and adjust the pH to 6 if required.

Pour the serum into a  serum bottle and apply to freshly cleansed skin. Leave to soak in for a few minutes then follow up with a moisturiser as usual.

Enjoy!