Let’s make a 10 minute super moisturizing rinse-off conditioner with all kinds of humectants, botanicals, conditioners, proteins, and more: Part six – adding butters!

Butters measured into a Pyrex jug, sitting on the metal plate of a digital scale. For decorative purposes.

Let’s create an awesome conditioner into which we can add all kinds of wonderful ingredients, including the awesome new-to-us humectant XYLISHINE™ (INCI: Xylitylglucoside (and) Anhydroxylitol (and) Maltitol (and) Xylitol (and) Pelvetia Canaliculata Extract). In part one, we looked at what a conditioner is, why we’d use certain ingredients, chose our conditioning emulsifier, then we created...

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Chemistry Thursday: Introduction to esters, part 30

Welcome back to this introduction to cosmetic chemistry course! We’ve had great fun for the last few months looking at carboxylic acids as fatty acids, but it’s time to meet some esters! Woo hoo! This is a pretty huge post as I wanted to have something to which I can refer back in the future....

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Equipment review: Apera pH60-Z Smart pH tester with Bluetooth (and an app)!

Apera pH 60 pH meter with the pH solutions and screen turned on. It's a blue pen type pH meter with an LED screen and white inset where the buttons are

I bought this pH meter – the Apera Instruments PH60-Z Smart pH Tester with Bluetooth – over five years ago now, but somehow forgot to tell you about the most wonderful pH meter I have ever owned! Let’s talk about it now! Why do I like it? 💧 It’s super accurate – it measures pH...

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Where to get supplies in Asia? (Updated 2025)

I found a supplier! My Skin Recipes is a supplier that has all kinds of weird and wonderful things – as well as the basics – and they ship from all over the world from Thailand! I haven’t shopped there, but the very awesome Natalie Skiller does regularly, and she is very pleased with them....

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A reminder: Oils and anhydrous products don’t have a pH!

I saw someone on social media the other day trying to measure the pH of oils, and thought it was a good thing to share this reminder – oils don’t have a pH. They can’t have a pH because you need water to have a pH. Before we start I have a huge section on...

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