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.
In our post on Wednesday, we took a look at a few ways we might define what it means for a surfactant to be classified as gentle, mild, or harsh. Yesterday, we took a look at how micelles, critical micelle concentration, and other ingredients have an impact on surfactant classification. Today, let’s consider a few...
Micelles are a super important part of surfactant mildness, so let’s take a look at what they are and why we should care. Micelles are defined as “an aggregate of surfactant molecules dispersed in a liquid colloid”. A colloid is a type of mixture in which one substance is evenly dispersed throughout another. There’s generally...
In the October Q&A, Sima asked: Hey everyone, just a question on Shampoo and Conditioning Bars. Was wondering what you do after you have used a your shampoo or conditioning bar on your hair? What do you place in on, do you wipe it dry, do you air dry on a soap dish, how do you...
In yesterday’s post, we reviewed how we might use sodium cocoyl isethionate (SCI) in a liquid product. We found was poorly soluble in water – 0.01% at 25˚C – so we took a look at a few ways we might incorporate SCI into a daily shampoo. Let’s take a look at a few different formulas...
In the September Q&A, Melanie wrote: As an aside, I heard that an easy way to dissolve SCI chips is to soak them in the water overnight. I tried this and it worked well. Would you see any problem with doing this? I can’t seem to ever get it to dissolve, without grinding it, even...