Raymond Nichols

What the heck is a surfactant? The word surfactant is short for “surface active agent” and has a hydrophilic (water-loving) head and a lipophilic (oil-loving) or hydrophobic (water-hating) tail. This means it can bring things together like oil and water. So an emulsifier, like emulsifying wax or Incroquat BTMS, is a surfactant. (Click here for...

I cannot stress enough the idea of learning why you’re using the ingredients you are using when you are creating. Yeah, it’s easy to follow a recipe, but if things go horribly wrong (for instance, the lotion doesn’t emulsify) or you want to change something, you need to know why you’re adding what you’re adding....