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 had quite a few of you write to ask why I don’t adjust the pH of my conditioner recipes, and the answer is simple – we don’t need to adjust the pH because it’s in the range we want. Conditioners should be acidic with a pH below 6. All the ingredients we add to...
As you probably know, I’m a big fan of using coconut oil in my rinse off hair conditioners because it offers so many great qualities, including moisturization and a reduction in frizz, but I find this one with 5% is making my hair feel oily around the middle of the second day after washing, so...
SHOULD CATIONIC GUAR SMELL FISHY?In this post, Thickeners: Cationic guar gum, Anonymous asks: Should cationic guar gum have a fishy smell? I think I have some that is gone bad. How do you store it? Hi Anonymous. I’ll have to delete your comment as I don’t allow anonymous comments on the blog, but I thought...
What have we learned from making loads of different products with Incroquat BTMS-50? It’s a versatile ingredient. We can use it as a conditioning agent as it has a positive charge. We can use it as an emulsifier as it will bring oils and water together. We can use it as a thickener and stiffener...
As our final ingredient in this series on Incroquat BTMS-50, we’re taking a look at cleansing conditioners. Cleansing conditioners are no different than regular rinse off conditioners. I know this might not seem to be right, but if you take some time to do some comparisons – click here for mine – you’ll see that...