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 the June Q&A, smc asked, Preservatives for liquid soap. I’m playing with liquid soap make, and due to the high percentage of water I’ll need a preservative. What preservatives work well in a high pH environment and doesn’t have a horrible scent? Thanks. As a quick note before we start, I have pages where...
Someone shared this video from Aromatics International with me of someone showing you how to use a foamer bottle with liquid soap, and I thought maybe I could share some of my thoughts and a formula for diluting castille soap in one of these containers. Foam pump or foamer bottles were designed to create more foam...
In the July Q&A, Melanie asked: I know you don’t do a lot in the area of basic soap, but my question is really about preservatives. I have tried making a batch of my own melt and pour base. I like to be able to whip up a bar of soap to match lotions etc....
I’ve been getting a lot of questions about this topic lately, so I thought I should highlight it again. Most people cannot use cold process soap as a shampoo. Shampoos are generally at pH 6.0 or lower, whereas soaps are alkaline, over pH 8.0. This means CP soaps are not pH balanced for our hair. After...
As you all know I don’t make handmade soap, but I buy it and I’m fascinated by the chemistry of it. After a lengthy discussion that happened in this post, I wrote to Kevin Dunn of Scientific Soapmaking to ask him a question, and he responded! Kevin Dunn has put forth this challenge. (To learn...