Thoughts on moisturisers and skin care?

[nav1]

It would. That's 10 times the max solubility. You should be able to get somewhere close to 2% if you add a neutral salt (eg sodium chloride or sodium phosphate, or any other neutralisation product of a strong base/strong acid, but I think you would need quite a lot of it (say 5%) which might be uncomfortable on the skin as it dries.

Edit: you could consider using willow bark extract instead, which is nearly the same thing. You might still need to shake your bottle of serum a little to disperse everything, though you could possibly get around that by using an emulsifier.

Another edit: you should also ingest anything I say with NaCl. My background is chemistry/biochemistry/biotechnology, and I am not a dermatologist, doctor or witchdoctor.

Cool! I can get water soluble white willow bark extract liquid.

Do I use the same amount as salicylic acid?

@nav1 Salicylic acid has poor solubility in water, you'd need access to some pretty hardcore ingredients to make an alcohol free version. For example, this Salicylic Acid 2% from The Ordinary which is alcohol free, and atm is unfortunately out of stock. Its ingredients list should help you along.

https://deciem.com/en-au/theordinar...cylic-acid-2pct-solution_size=30ml&quantity=1

Ingredients in bold are what contribute to dissolving the Salicylic Acid, as well as the Citric Acid which I suspect is to lower the PH, also to help solubility.

Aqua (Water), Hamamelis Virginiana Leaf Water, Cocamidopropyl Dimethylamine, Salicylic Acid, Dimethyl Isosorbide, Trisodium Ethylenediamine Disuccinate, Citric Acid, Polysorbate 20, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Ethoxydiglycol, Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Benzoate, 1,2-Hexanediol, Caprylyl Glycol.

Thanks!
I'll check if I can get these ingredients locally.

 

[Gargravarr]

Do I use the same amount as salicylic acid?

Probably not, they mostly contain other ingredients to keep the essential stuff in solution or suspension. Trial and error I guess. Generally speaking, you should consider being fairly circumspect with how much you use in any case, since salicylic acid can cause irritation.

 

[nav1]

Probably not, they mostly contain other ingredients to keep the essential stuff in solution or suspension. Trial and error I guess. Generally speaking, you should consider being fairly circumspect with how much you use in any case, since salicylic acid can cause irritation.

Ok, I'll check the full contents of the white willow bark extract with the seller.

Although I asked my wife and she said it's not a big deal to give the bottle a little shake as that suspends the powder enough to dispense it easily.

On the topic of skin care, I've changed up my own serum:
Dropped vitamin C
Increased hyaluronic acid to 2.5%
Added panthenol 2.5%
Added allantoin 0.5%
(Had to limit this as it doesn't dissolve in water above 0.5%)

Man, what a magical serum!
This serum applied morning and evening on wet skin is a game changer for me.

My skin is supple, dewy without being greasy. The best part is my shaves are once again comfy and awesomely close!

Skin condition really determines the quality of my shaves, not so much the shaving soap.
I mean, I can get an awesome shave from any shave soap if my skin is in good condition.

If it's not, then even "top tier" soaps don't do a thing to improve my shave.

My "routine" is stupidly simple:

Sweet almond oil pre shave
After shave balm
Serum after bath
Serum at bed time
Face scrub once a week

That's literally it!!