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.
This is a hard question for me as I really love making so many things so I have to think for a bit… Okay, I think my favourite thing to make is body wash. I love figuring out nice surfactant combinations, working with humectants to hydrate my skin after bathing, adding cationic polymers like polyquat...
In the February Q&A, Cecilia asked: I’m picking up some new things again. Looking for more naturally-derived/natural adjacent stuff. Looking for thickeners, emulsifiers, surfactants (I have SCI, CB, decyl and coco glucosides I think), any cool actives, preservatives… doesn’t have to be natural. but what would be your top say 10 or so ingredients, I...
In the Patreon February Q&A, Tash asked: When you get ingredients, what’s the best way to store them? Obviously liquids will be in bottles or the thick bags with spouts, but for powders, pellets, dry stuff that comes in bags, how do you store those? Is it best to get some kind of sealed jar? Are...
I’m trying to do some writing for the blog and e-zine, and I thought I’d share this picture of various thickeners I’ve been trying with all kinds of surfactants, including Miracare Soft 313 (from Lotioncrafter). I started these experiments in the summer, but I need to watch what I make for months and months as...
I’ve also been receiving so many questions about surfactant based products, like shampoo, body wash, facial cleanser, and bubble bath, separating, and I don’t think I know what you mean by that term “separate”. I’ve only once had something that appeared to be separation in a body wash, and that was one that had glycol...