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.
In my excitement about esters, I totally forgot about hair styling gels! I don’t use them much myself – my hair doesn’t really do “style” that well – but I do like to make them for my mom, who has really spiky hair. Gels are a perfect vehicle for conditioning agents. Sure, you can make...
So what the heck is an ester and how or why would I want to use them in our bath and body creations? An ester is a molecule that has undergone esterification. (Wow, that was clear, eh?) Esterification is a chemical reaction – for our purposes between a carboxylic acid (like a fatty acid from...
I love making gels – they aren’t hard to create and they have so many uses. There are a few ways to make gels – with a polymer like Ultrez 20 or with cellulose – but I’m going to concentrate on the polymer method as I haven’t had a chance to play with cellulose yet...
And it’s name is ununbium, number 112 nestled between Uub and Uuq . It’s super-heavy – the heaviest, in fact – made from fusing zinc and lead. While I’m pleased for the new element and all that, I need an E element for my mental periodic table of the elements Scrabble! (From the category of...
Thanks for your responses to last week’s question – Why do you avoid silicones? There are four major reasons…1. Environmental impact of silicones;2. Environmental impact of the manufacturing process;3. Dislike skin or hair feel; and4. Unavailability of products. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF SILICONESI didn’t think about the environmental impact point, so here’s a little research I’ve...