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.
SwiftCraftyMonkey 
I recently had someone write to me very disappointed that I suggested an ingredient they couldn’t find in their part of the world. I absolutely love that I have readers from around the world, but given how difficult it is for me to keep track of who carries what with the few suppliers I use,...
Hi everyone! Hope you’re doing well. Raymond and I are just getting over almost two weeks of COVID, and we’re both still a bit shaky. We’ve just started going through all the email, messages, Q&A, and other comments this morning, answering quickly what we can, making lists, creating posts, and doing all the other good … Read more
“What’s the emulsifier in this shampoo bar formula?” someone asked about a solid shampoo bar that contained butters and other oil soluble ingredients. The short answer is that there isn’t a need for an emulsifier in a shampoo bar that doesn’t contain water because we only need to worry about emulsifiers when we have oil...
Before we start, as always, nothing on this page or this site is an ad or sponsored post or any advertising of any sort. It contains no affiliate links or anything else that would be revenue generating for me – all links are here for further information or to make it easier for you to...
Rochelle asked in the Q&A for October, I have read a few conflicting stories/posts from different formulation type blogs about the safe usage levels of sodium cocoyl isethionate (SCI) in solid products like shampoo bars. One school of thought seems to be that the maximum usage rate of SCI is 49.5% (or thereabouts) and the...