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 sincerely doubt Farrah Fawcett managed to keep her hair in good condition with all that styling and Aquanet using just a cream rinse, but those were the olden days when we had to wash our hair with rocks and straighten our hair with irons, and the only conditioners we really had were cream rinses....
So what’s the difference between a conditioner and a cream rinse? A cream rinse is basically a detangler that should eliminate fly-aways (reduce static charge), and give our hair a smooth feeling. A conditioner also has these goals, but offers an increase in glossiness or lustre, an increase in body or volume, and may include...
Cetrimonium bromide isn’t used a lot by homecrafters as it isn’t easy to get, but it is a great cationic quaternary compound for really damaged hair, especially hair with gaps in the cuticle. It isn’t as lubricating as BTMS, so you’ll want to include some oils or silicones or cetyl alcohol to ensure you are...
Adding butters to a conditioner may only work for the most dry haired girls out there – normal and oily haired girls might find them too intense, and fine haired girls will probably hate these. All butters contain stearic acid, which is a great moisturizer, so they’ll work for a dry, itchy scalp, and some...
We know that adding oils to leave-in conditioners works well for dry and curly hair types, especially those who aren’t fond of silicones. Oils can reduce the impact of combing forces on wet hair by up to 20%, which can reduce potential damage to the cuticle. And oils can increase the shine and gloss of...