Chemistry Thursday: Reviewing what we’ve learned about triglycerides so far and how that affects the melting temperature and potential for grains in oils, solid oils, and butters, part 42

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Welcome back to this introduction to cosmetic chemistry course! We took a break for the month of December because I know how busy everyone gets, so let’s pick it back up for 2026! Let’s start with a review of what we’ve learned so far and why it’s important when formulating products! An important note about...

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#alltheingredients: Sepigel 305™ (INCI: Polyacrylamide (and) C13-14 Isoparaffin (and) Laureth-7) – cold process liquid emulsifier – updated January 20, 2026

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Woo hoo! We’re starting our cold process emulsifier series this Friday, January 9th, 2026, so I thought I’d update this profile of Sepigel™ 305, which we’re using with or instead of Sepiplus™ 400. Let’s take a look at this one today, then the other on Friday.  Sepigel 305™ (INCI: Polyacrylamide (and) C13-14 Isoalkane (formerly Isoparaffin)...

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Let’s talk about costs of making products! Part two – emulsified body butters with formulas! 

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Welcome back to this short series in which we’re looking at making changes to our ingredients to create less expensive products, like anhydrous products and emulsions. In part one, we looked at the costs for an anhydrous whipped body butter using shea butter as the base. We took the cost of our shea butter based...

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Let’s talk about costs of making products! Part one – whipped body butters

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A photo from above of three types of whipped butters in jars. The top is a whipped shea butter with green jojoba beads. The second, below, is a whipped refined shea butter. The third, beside the second, is a whipped unrefined shea butter.

I know things are getting tight financially for everyone, so I thought we could look at making some less expensive products, like emulsions and anhydrous products in January! In general, the most expensive products you’ll make will be anhydrous* ones – whipped butters, salves, balms, lip balms, facial oils and serums, beard oils, hair oils,...

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Happy New Year! It’s January 2026! I published 678,225 words last year – some fun stats – and asking for input on Zoom workshops for the next few months. 

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Holy cow, did 2025 go by fast! I feel like I’m not ready for September and it’s January 2026! Wow, this year was a super productive and creative  year for me. I did the stats – okay, I don’t hate spreadsheets as much as I used to – and I shared 678,225 words between the … Read more