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 realized I didn’t address quite a few questions in last year’s post, What do you want to know?, so I thought I’d attempt to answer a few of them here and over the next few weeks. Wendy asked about making a setting lotion. I’m not sure if I can help here, but perhaps we...
A conditioner, by definition, contains a positively charged ingredient that will adsorb to your hair strand to increase lubricity, decrease friction, decrease fly-aways, and increase combability. These positively charged ingredients include Incroquat BTMS-50, Incroquat CR, Incroquat BTMS-25 or Rita BTMS-225, cetrimonium bromide, cetrimonium chloride, and so on. This main ingredient is generally an emulsifier, meaning...
In this post, Experiments in the workshop: A 3-in-1 that might be good for swimmers, Marg asks: Can you explain your thinking on adding white willow bark extract to your 3 in 1? I love that product, and use it in my aftershave lotion to soothe tiny nicks or scrapes, but not sure if its...
Someone asked if I could make a shampoo recipe with fewer ingredients than those that are currently on the blog. The answer is yes, but… Yes, but the problem that those ingredients are the ones that take a shampoo from okay to freakin’ awesome! If you’re new to the idea of creating a shampoo, take...
I love leave in conditioners! They offer so much wonderful awesomeness to your hair with low levels of ingredients. Where to start making a leave in conditioner? As usual, think about your goals? What do you want in this product? That answer will help you move in the right direction! I have oily, frizzy hair...