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 just found this in Voyageur and thought I’d try it out in my products as sweet cherry just sounds so lovely, doesn’t it? So what’s the deal? How does it feel on our skin? What does it bring to a product? Cherry kernel oil contains a balance of fatty acids with about 46.0% oleic...
It’s autumn in Canada, which means the leaves are turning all kinds of shades of orange before they fall off, the squirrels in my yard are collecting their winter nuts from under my walnut tree, and the air is getting slightly nippier. It also means pumpkin spiced everything everywhere you go. In tribute to the...
I love Saturday mornings. I see comments come in all week, but this is the morning I get to write about what I was thinking. It’s great fun, and I love to see how you respond. I’m sick. I have the September back-to-school cold and I’m grumpy and annoyed about it. I spent yesterday in...
DOES BEHENTRIMONIUM DESTROY PROTEINS?In this post, Workshop!, Irina asks: I have read that BTMS cannot be used with proteins as it destroys proteins. What are you thoughts about this, is this true? Also, have you ever worked with peptides? Peptides said to be very fragile and do not like oils, how do you handle them? It...
In the post on hygral fatigue and coconut oil, I stated that oils can’t penetrate our hair shaft. I was wrong! Some oils can penetrate our hair shaft – it’s all about the size and type of molecules in the oil. When I was thinking about oils penetrating the hair shaft, for some reason I thought...