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.
I wanted to draw your attention to a new section of the blog, the glossary, which you can find up there in the menu under “resources”. You can find all kinds of definitions there, and I’ll be updating it as we add more! And if you’re a beginner, don’t forget about the Beginners start here...
If you’re buying e-materials, something is happening with payments if you’re using PayPal. Some are failing while others are pending for an unusual length of time. This means you see the money has come from your PayPal account, but the shop is being told the payment is “pending” and doesn’t release the materials to you....
Yesterday, we took a look at some concepts we’ll need when discussing silicones, esters, and thickeners for surfactants. Today, let’s take a look at a few more. Contact angle: “The contact angle is defined as the angle the water makes with the surface. In this illustration, a low contact angle (θ<90 ̊) means the surface...
I’ve been trying to write some posts on silicones, surfactant thickeners, and esters for quite a while now, and I keep running into the issue that I need to define a bunch of terms before I can start. As I have a question from someone from the May Q&A that hasn’t been answered yet, I...
In the August Q&A, Kh asked: Question: about xanthan gum and the pilling issue, (cause if I’m stuck with the ECOcert emulsifiers, I might be stuck with xanthan). Is it possible that it is pilling because of it’s interaction with another ingredient, like a wax maybe, or one of the film formers? I have tried many...