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.
p asks in this post: I’m really confused about one thing, though – the melting point of stearic acid is pretty high, 69 C, or so. So how can the melting point of a butter that contains stearic acid be lower than 69 C? Cocoa butter is about a third stearic acid and its melting point...
Kontakt asked this question: As I understand it, the only difference between centrimonium bromide and cetrimonium chloride is the negatively charged ion: chloride or bromide. What differs between these two compounds in effects, and why? In solutions, the ions should be free from each other so unless the chloride/bromide ion does something in itself, I...
ged asks…Did your research on hair structure convince you that we do actually need to use shampoo for our hair? I think shampoo is necessary for most hair types – especially mine, which is very oily – to remove the sebum from our hair. If you look at the way the sebum can cement stuff...
p suggested…You know how you posted on how you duplicate a product? I would absolutely love an analogous post on how you research ingredients and formulations. You shed so much light on topics that other sites discuss only casually. Do you do your research mostly through books? Or is the web actually a really good...
Anonymous posted this question in this post: What’s the difference between polysorbate 80 & 20? Polysorbates are ethoxylates of fatty acids esterified with anhydrosorbitol. Polysorbate 20 is a polyoxyethylene derivative of sorbitan monolaurate whereas polysorbate 80 is a polyoxyethylene derivative of sorbitan and oleic acid. And as much as I love chemistry, I realize this really...