The home of SwiftCraftyMonkey! Join Susan as she obsesses about cosmetic chemistry and other things (some possibly related to monkeys). Often strange, occasionally useful, and always worth a stop as a point of interest on your journey through the Intertron.
In this post, A few thoughts for a lazy Saturday, Fuchia asks: A bit off topic but I’m curious about making a Vitamin C cream. I have a face cream recipe I make now and love (it does not contain Vitamin C but uses Optiphen Plus as a preservative) and keep reading online that you can…...
In this post, Lotion bars: Tweaking the waxes, Tracy asks: I was wondering if it would be okay to add an antioxidant like ROE or Vitamin E T-50 to extend the life of the oils? If so, does it matter which one is used? Yes, you can add anti-oxidants to any oil soluble product to extend…...
Vitamin E is not a preservative. It is an anti-oxidant. An anti-oxidant will slow down the rancidity of your oils. A preservative prevents the contamination of your product by things like bacteria, yeast, or mold. Vitamin E will not prevent contamination of your products, but it will retard the rancidity of the oils in your…...
In this post on anti-oxidants, Bridget asks: I’ve read that many antioxidants are light sensitive. They will quickly become inactivated with exposure to light. I know vitamin C is like this. That’s why C serums have to be packaged in opaque or amber bottles. I have read that vitamin E is also light sensitive. So…...
Is there any value in combining anti-oxidants in our creations? If we have a good anti-oxidant like Vitamin E, is there any point in including rosemary oleoresin (ROE) or other anti-oxidants?Yes. Rancidity happens in different ways (for the full post, click here). Anti-oxidants fight that rancidity in different ways – one might kill microbes that…...