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.
This came up the other day, and I thought it’d make for an interesting post. What does it mean for an ingredient or product to be vegan? Quick summary if you don’t want to read the whole post: When it comes to making products, most of our ingredients are plant- or mineral-derived (like sand or...
Welcome to this detailed page on how to test emulsions – like lotions and conditioners – with a pH meter! If you’d like to read a longer post with even more information, you can find it here – Acids, bases, and pH – oh my! Part four: Testing our products with pH meters! If you’d like...
I see questions about how to use Aloe Vera Gel in emulsions in every space online in which we discuss lotions, and I thought this topic needed its own post, so let’s take a moment to learn more about Aloe Vera, Aloe Vera Gel, and why I don’t suggest using the latter in emulsions. What...
You may notice that most of my emulsions contain 0.1% T-50 mixed tocopherols in the cool down phase to protect the oil phase ingredients from becoming rancid quickly. Why do I use that amount? Before we start! If you aren’t familiar with Vitamin E or T-50 mixed tocopherols, I encourage you to read this post...
When can you judge the viscosity of your lotion after creating it? Well, that depends… When will an emulsion reach final viscosity? In general, you can get kind of an idea when you’ve had it at room temperature for a few hours as all the butters, solid oils, fatty acids, fatty alcohols, solid esters, and...