Welcome to the home of SwiftCraftyMonkey Formulating Inc.! Join Susan as she obsesses about cosmetic chemistry and other things (some possibly related to monkeys)! Here you’ll find over 5,000 posts and formulas written over the past 16 years for everything from lotions, creams, and body butters to hair care products to fancy facial products filled with actives and cosmeceuticals! Enjoy the site without distractions – no ads, pop ups, sponsored posts, affiliate links, “one weird tricks” – all supported by readers like you.
Hello Yarrowers (I’m not sure what the real word is, but that sounded like fun!) Click the links to find the shampoo and conditioner recipes we made today. Have a great week!...
Oh, stearic acid, how we love you as a thickener! Inexpensive and multi-functional, you make a lotion become a decadent cream! Stearic acid is a saturated, long chain fatty acid with 18 carbon molecules, which is to say it is a chain of carbons and hydrogens with a carboxyl group (that COOH you see at...
Cold ties are long thin scarves containing polymer crystals that soak up water. You tie them around your neck for the hot months after soaking them in water, and they keep you cool during the day. I couldn’t make it through the summer without them! (I’ve even made a pillow out of them! Summer and...
As I mentioned yesterday, I love d-Limonene and can find a use for it in almost everything! Remember to add d-Limonene to any water based or surfactant based products by using equal parts d-Limonene and polysorbate 20 as your emulsifier/solubilizer. If you are creating an oil based product – and I haven’t been able to...
Raymond forwarded me this link on Instructables – Homemade Sunscreen – and I have to rant about it! Please don’t think me bitter or mean! Someone eager to make lotion will try this and be disappointed and never try it again, and they’ve lost out on the joys we have found! Or they’ll get a...