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’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 July Q&A post, I live in an area with very hard water, and I’ve heard that could cause a problem when using shampoo bars. I’ve also heard about apple cider vinegar rinse, which does not sound too pleasant to me. Would you shine more light on this? Does the vinegar rinse work because of...
I’m not sure what’s going on out there in the world, but there seem to be some serious misunderstandings about acids, bases, pH, and more, so let’s just get down to it. I’ll give you a quick summary in bold, and a longer explanation, if you want it. WHAT DOES pH MEAN? pH is a...
In the January Q&A, Derek asked: I am eagerly waiting for the cosmeceuticals e-book. A few days ago while browsing different ingredients for cosmetics, I saw ceramide liposomes and retinol liposomes. It says that they absorb more in the skin if liposomes are used. However, I can’t find any resource on the use and formulation...
In the February Q&A for Patreon, Tash asked: There’s different kinds of vitamin E I see. Natural, synthetic and mixed. Is there any difference between using these in formulations? I wrote a few months ago, and never hit “publish”, which actually turned out to the be a good thing as I have more information I wanted...