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.
Coconut oil is a great moisturizer for skin and hair, but especially for hair! This study showed that coconut oil reduces lost proteins for both damaged and undamaged hair when used pre-wash or in a post-wash grooming product. The fatty acid lauric acid has a high affinity for hair proteins, and because of its low...
It’s winter and that means subjecting your hair and skin to the ravages of cold, snow, ice, and wind! Lovely oils and emollients to the rescue! Shea butter is an incredible ingredient to add to an intense conditioner. Many aspects help moisturize your scalp, and the occlusive ingredients offer a layer of moisturizing to protect...
Yeah, I know this is a leave in conditioner and I don’t really address this here, but you could think of it as a really liquidy conditioner for the purposes of having a picture in this post…Olive oil is fantastic in hair care products. Sure, you could use it in shampoo, but what’s the point?...
EDTA (or ethylenediaminetetra acetic acid) is a wonderful polyamino carboxylic acid that has the ability to chelate, sequester, and offer anti-oxidizing properties to our lotions. And we only need to use 0.20% to get maximum benefits in our lotions and surfactant based products! What exactly is a chelating or sequestering ingredient? EDTA binds with metal...
I love conditioner bars, and I thought I’d share this visual tutorial for making them with you while I write some lotion posts! If you want to follow along, please check out the conditioner bar or shaving bar recipes! SOLID CONDITIONER BAR RECIPE60% Incroquat BTMS10% cetyl alcohol (you can use stearic if you want a...