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.
Octyldodecanol is a liquid, clear, colourless, odourless oil soluble fatty alcohol that works as an emollient and occlusive in our anhydrous products and emulsions. Whaaaat? Did you say a liquid fatty alcohol? Like one of our solid fatty alcohols, like cetyl alcohol, Cetearyl Alcohol, or behenyl alcohol? How can such a thing be? Is this...
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...
Tribehenin (aka glyceryl tribehenate or tridocosanoin) is a triglyceride like those found in our natural oils and butters with three saturated behenic acid (C22) fatty acid chains attached to a glycerin (aka glycerol) backbone. It’s derived from plants that contain those fatty acids, like brassica, rapeseed, and the Ben-oil tree (Moringa oleifera). It’s an oil...