06/10/2026
Educational post for today:
Magnesium Cream/Lotion
This is a really great breakdown as to the science of how the actual formulation works - or doesn't work.
Unstable. Unsafe. Keep the chemistry in mind before you fall victim to home makers who place more value on taking your money than on your health and well-being.
Why I Won't Help You Make Magnesium Lotion
I swear this question comes through groups I moderate almost weekly now, usually some version of
"how much Emulsifying Wax NF do I need for my magnesium lotion?"
I thought it would be a good idea to answer this on Patreon, so I can point people back to it because I feel like the answer keeps getting buried under the next twelve identical posts.
The short honest answer is none. Don't make the lotion.
That's not me waving anyone off the bench or to say you cannot formulate. Home formulators make genuinely good products all the time (you absolutely can, and I'd never tell you otherwise).
It's just magnesium lotion stacks every hard formulation problem on top of every other hard formulation problem, and then hands you the single riskiest format to solve them all in. So, before you attack me for this post and before you even measure out a gram of anything, let’s talk about what magnesium chloride actually is, why a lotion fights you on three fronts, and why I'm not even convinced it does what the label says it does.
What Magnesium Chloride Actually Is
Magnesium chloride (INCI: Magnesium Chloride) is an inorganic salt, MgCl₂. In water it splits into one magnesium ion (Mg²⁺) and two chloride ions, and that little superscript 2 is the whole story for us as formulators. Mg²⁺ is a divalent cation (it carries two positive charges rather than one), and divalent ions are the bit that wrecks emulsions. Hold that thought because we'll come back to it in a moment.
The salt is also very hygroscopic (it grabs water out of the air with enthusiasm, which is why it's usually sold as the hexahydrate, MgCl₂·6H₂O, or as "flakes"). Most of it is pulled from sea water or ancient brine deposits, and it dissolves in water at frankly silly concentrations.
Full Article: https://www.patreon.com/posts/159433163