In this post, How can you tell it's a good recipe", Connie asked, I am confused, however, about the percent of emulsifier relates to total percent. I understand that amount of emulsifying wax is 25% of % of oils. But isn't the emulsifying wax considered part of oil phase" When I add that in, isn't it going to change all my percents" I may be overthinking this. :/ 

Emulsifying wax is incorporated in the heated part of the oil phase, but it's not part of the "oil phase" or the oil soluble ingredients that need to be emulsified into the product. We need to know the total of the oil soluble ingredients in a lotion to figure out how much emulsifier we need to use.

Calculate everything that has to be emulsified in your formula. This includes things that might be in the cool down phase.
10% cocoa butter
10% rice bran oil
3% cetyl alcohol
1% beeswax
2% tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate (oil soluble Vitamin C)
1% tocopherol acetate (Vitamin E, oil soluble)
1% fragrance oil

We have a total of 28% oils in the formula. If we are using Polawax as the emulsifier, we'd want to use 25% of the total amount in emulsifier. So 28/4 = 7%. So we're using 7% Polawax in this formula.

HEATED OIL PHASE
10% cocoa butter
10% rice bran oil
7% Polawax
3% cetyl alcohol
1% beeswax

COOL DOWN PHASE
2% tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate
1% tocopherol acetate
1% fragrance oil

Please note, only Polawax has the 25% rule of thumb. Emulsifying wax is 25% plus 1% - so in this formula we'd be us...