Let’s talk about temperature: How cold affects our ingredients and products!

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A collage of four photos. Upper left shows the temperature is -17°C. The upper right shows a bottle of yellow body wash. The lower left hand photo shows three bottles of lotion with different coloured cap with a thermometer. The lower right shows two bottles upside down, the contents frozen.

We talk a lot about the importance of heat in our products – Get a bloody thermometer already! Equipment review – but let’s talk a bit about the impact of the cold! It’s so cold!  It’s super cold where I live right now – -17˚C (1.4˚F), but with the wind chill, it feels like -26˚C (-14.8˚F)...

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Chemistry: The chemistry of humectants – water binding, hydrogen bonding, polarity, osmosis, and so much more!

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Before we meet a new humectant, AQUAXYL™, let’s take a look at how humectants work! Before we start… Take a look at my humungous humectants section of this site, found under the “ingredients” tab in the menu bar. What does it mean that humectants have “water binding” ability?  Humectants are hygroscopic, meaning they draw water...

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Q&A: Do we need to add extra preservative to an exfoliating scrub to cover the extra exfoliants?

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In the monthly Q&A, JimmieTF asked, Hi Susan, I’ve made 2 sugar scrub bases, one with sodium cocoyl isethionate or SCI (it’s thick like syrup, so it does not separate) and one with SCS (sodium coco sulfate), and both of course have a preservative in them. Optiphen Plus (INCI: Phenoxyethanol (and) Caprylyl Glycol (and) Sorbic...

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Learning to formulate: Learn how to make your first lotion!

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It’s great to find a free formula like this in the wild, but to make something truly incredible, you need to practice your process for that specific product, following the instructions carefully so the emulsion comes together and stays together without seeping oil or coalescing into “cheese curds.”   For this formula, you’ll want to...

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Learning to formulate: Learn to convert formulas from % to grams, then make a bigger batch!

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If you want to be a formulator, the first thing you need to learn is how to convert a formula into something you measure by weight. In part one of this series, we learned how to convert the formula into a 100 gram formula by substituting the % sign to the word grams to create...

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