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 love love love SCI! If I could choose only one surfactant for the rest of my life, it would be SCI! (Click here for more information on this surfactant.) I use it in shampoo bars, body washes, facial cleansers, and everything else that might benefit from a creamy feeling lather and extreme mildness. So...
Welcome to Workshop Stadium. This week the Chairman, Raymond (my lovely husband), has chosen the third Iron Chemist ingredient – LSB (surfactant from Stepan). I’m grateful he chose this one; I accidentally bought two bottles of it, forgetting I had already purchased the first, so I have tons with which I can play! Here are...
Last Sunday, my lovely husband chose SCI as the ingredient for this week’s Iron Chemist! And here are the results! SYNDET BODY BAR50% SCI33% SLSa10% cocamidopropyl betaine3% cocamide DEA2% glycol distearate2% fragrance oil Weigh the SCI and cocamidopropyl betaine in a heatproof container and place into the double boiler. Weigh the cocamide DEA and glycol...
My friend Ken asked if I had anything for dandruff prone hair. I said I didn’t, but I’d be willing to give it a shot! Again, I’m not making any claims here, but I thought it would be interesting to look at the theory behind why people have dandruff prone hair and try to make...
Sorry, I didn’t get around to formulating with the emu oil as I’ve been running around testing everything with my pH meter, and got into the surfactants bin in the workshop! I’ll have some posts on emu oil shortly! My husband has started calling me “magpie” because I’m easily distracted by shiny things! Now that...