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.
Whether your hair is long or short, curly or straight, we all want to take care of our crowning glory! As you can see, my husband and I are big on the long hair! (BTW: Only 4 more days until our first anniversary!) Someone suggested I put up a shopping list for the products we’ll...
I’ve received quite a few queries asking why can’t we use CP soap as a shampoo. I know the perception out there can be CP soap = natural, therefore good and surfactants = processed, therefore bad, and I know I did a post on carboxylates recently, but there are good reasons we don’t use even...
What’s the difference between a clarifying shampoo and a regular shampoo? Clarifying shampoos are intended to remove the styling agents you’ve been using while curling or straightening, so they don’t contain conditioning agents or silicones. You’ll notice I don’t tend to use conditioning agents or dimethicone in my shampoo recipes. The reason for this is...
Now, I know you don’t need another reason to include cetrimonium chloride in your conditioners, but here it is…it can help remove silicone build up on your hair! Yep, our beloved detangling and softening agent can actually help if you’ve been using enough cyclomethicone and/or dimethicone in your conditioners or anti-frizz sprays to de-static an...
From an anonymous commentor comes this question…I read the following from your pdf on conditioners: The main conditioning agent in BTMS (behentrimonium methosulfate) is a cationic quaternary ammonium salt derived from rapeseed oil (the plant for canola oil).My questions are: Any of the shampoos that have ammonium sulfates in them totally wreck my hair. I...