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 the monthly Q&A, Free Drey asked, Hi Susan, I had some questions about Tetrasodium EDTA. I know it’s suggested to be used in high alkaline formulations, whereas Disodium EDTA is better for pH under 8. If I only had Tetrasodium EDTA, could I use it in formulations under pH 8 if I adjusted the pH...
The cuticle is the part of the hair that probably concerns us the most on a day to day basis. When our hair emerges from our scalp, it has about 6 to 10 layers of cuticle about 50 micrometres on a side and about 0.5 micrometres thick. The cuticle is attached to the cortex and...
If you’ve spent any time on the blog, you’ll know how much I love love babassu oil! Let’s take a look at this gorgeous solid oil! Yes, babassu oil (INCI Orbygnia Oleifera (Babassu) Seed Oil) is a semi-solid, white oil that’s solid at room temperature, but melts at 24˚C (76˚F), which which means it will...
Welcome back to this short, introductory series on the importance of triglycerides, heat, and choosing our ingredients wisely. In yesterday’s post, we looked at fatty acids and triglycerides, the importance of temperature, and why we need to be using a thermometer all the time when we’re formulating instead of guessing by touching or observing the...
In our short series on the “terrible recipe” for a pumpkin spice anhydrous body butter with actual pumpkin puree and in the post on making a lovely pumpkin spice themed body butter without pumpkin puree, I mentioned that I wouldn’t use coconut oil in an anhydrous product like these with shea butter because they don’t...