The home of SwiftCraftyMonkey Formulating Inc.! Join Susan as she obsesses about cosmetic chemistry and other things (some possibly related to monkeys). Often strange, occasionally useful, and always worth a stop as a point of interest on your journey through the Intertron.
I can’t stress this enough – stearic acid is a non-ionic fatty acid that thickens anhydrous products and emulsions. It is not an anionic (negatively charged) emulsifier. Sight, I thought we’d demythified this one years and years ago, but here it is, out in the wild, messing things up again. Out there in the world...
I started working with this awesome new cold process emulsifier, SEPILIFE™ NUDE, in the spring, and it’s time to share these formulas with you as I’ve had three months to observe these two creamy lotions to ensure they remain emulsified with no separations of oil and water. What is this emulsifier like? SEPILIFE™ NUDE aka...
I see questions about how to use Aloe Vera Gel in emulsions in every space online in which we discuss lotions, and I thought this topic needed its own post, so let’s take a moment to learn more about Aloe Vera, Aloe Vera Gel, and why I don’t suggest using the latter in emulsions. What...
In the monthly Q&A post, Chavi asked, This may be a silly question but it occurred to me while I was reading the new ebook.. why aren’t we concerned with pH when it comes to lotions, conditioners, body butters, etc? I’m sure the answer is in my head somewhere but at nearly midnight, it’s not coming...
Rather than break this into a number of posts over the course of a few days, I decided to leave this as one giant post for easier reference. Honestly, I didn’t expect this to reach over 3,000 words, but here we are! What causes the “soaping effect” or “an undesired foaming phenomenon observed in skin creams...