Body Butter Formulation Based on Virgin Coconut Oil with The Addition of Triethanolamine and Its Effect on the Antioxidant Activity

Rapid growth of cosmetic industry needs strong research on the chemical formulation with superior biological activity. In this work, the formulation of body butter based on virgin coconut oil and lemon essential oil using various amount of triethanolamine as the additive is examined. Two formulations are prepared to examine the formulation stability, sun protection factor (SPF), and antioxidant activity. Formulation 1 was obtained as pale-yellow sample with the presence of coarse granules, indicating low homogeneity while formulation 2 was obtained as a homogeneous semi-solid white body butter. The formulation 2 with a pH value of 7.26 aligns with Indonesian National Standard (SN). Moreover, formulation 2 demonstrates spreadability values that meet the standard, allowing for simple and satisfactory results. Both formulations have an average droplet size of arround 1.74 µm while only formulation 2 cream sample possesses good stability. Formulation 2 has much higher SPF value than formulation 1’s sample. Formulation 2 exhibits an average SPF value of 2.106, indicating that it falls into the category of sunscreens providing minimal protection. Furthermore, DPPH antioxidant assay reveals that formulation 2 shows the half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) value of 0.20 ppm, which is 40 times stronger than the formulation 1. These results show that formulation 1 shows better physical stability as body butter with a very strong antioxidant activity.