Pumpkin Seed Liquid Extract

An oil-based extract brings an emollient into the formula, and emollients are what make skin feel soft to the touch. Worked into a cream, a lotion or a body butter, the oil-soluble version helps the finished product leave skin smooth and comfortable rather than tight – on hands, elbows, knees and anywhere that gets washed too often.

The water-soluble version carries no oil at all. A toner, mist, gel or water-based serum made with it disappears into skin in seconds and leaves nothing sitting on the surface: no shine, no slip, no waiting before make-up or sunscreen goes on. This is the version to reach for when a product has to feel like water.

Massaged through the lengths before a wash, or smoothed very sparingly over dry ends afterwards, the oil-soluble version adds slip. The comb moves through tangles with less tugging, the ends look less rough, and the hair catches the light better. It suits the pre-wash oiling habit your customers already keep, in a product that also carries a botanical.

In shampoo, conditioner, a scalp tonic or a leave-in mist, the water-soluble version adds no weight, because there is no oil in it to weigh anything down. Fine hair keeps its bounce instead of falling flat by the afternoon, and a wash made with it rinses clean the first time rather than needing a second lather.

Emulsions are the biggest single home for this extract, and they have room for either version – you add it to the phase it belongs in. Water-soluble goes into the water phase; oil-soluble into the oil phase or at cool-down. Face creams, hand creams, body lotions, moisturising milks and night creams all take it comfortably.

Use the water-soluble version here. It disperses straight into a shampoo, conditioner, scalp tonic, leave-in mist or hair mask without clouding it, and because it is colourless a pearly white conditioner stays white. Pumpkin seed is a name Indian hair-care buyers already recognise, which makes it an easy botanical to put on a front label.

The water-soluble version drops into clay and gel masks, sheet-mask essence, aloe gels, facial mists, essences and water-based serums. Because it is water-clear it will not tint a pale base or cloud a transparent one. These are the formats where a recognisable botanical on the front of the pack does most of the selling for you.

For hair oils, pre-wash oil treatments, serums for the ends, balms, salves, body butters and cleansing oils, use the oil-soluble version. It stirs into other oils at room temperature and stays put, no heating needed. In cold-process soap, add it at trace, where it behaves like any other oil in your recipe. Anything anhydrous will take it.