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.
This question came up in yesterday’s post about mixing – why don’t we heat and hold in the same container? Here’s a post I wrote on the topic just before Christmas last year. The summary? We use separate containers to get better emulsification and less artificial emulsification. Sorry for the short post today, but I...
In the small batch post, Annette asked: The problem I have is with the mixing – The oil phase is so small, it starts to re-solidify really fast! Also, what do you use to mix the small batches? I have tried just about everything but a hand whisk! Any tips for the mixing phase? Before we...
A few questions came out of yesterday’s post on evaporation! What are the jars in this picture? These are 500 ml wide mouth mason jars (okay, technically they’re Bernardin 500 ml wide mouth jars, but you get the idea). I find they are a great choice because I can cram quite a few of them...
Tara made a great comment in response to yesterday’s question about why some of my lotion recipes are so thick – I used to agree that your recipes came out awfully thick, but then I learned to account for evaporated water. I now make sure my vessels that contain my ingredients for heating weigh the same before...
In this post about preserving scrubs, Drei said…i think its better that there should be no preservatives. in my opinion, one there is a preservative in one’s product it just make it less organic. thus there is also a some effects if you put some preservatives in it. that is why some people get allergies. I...