May was a lovely month. Spring has sprung around here – the wildflowers are blooming, the bees are buzzing, and the corn across the street in the field is growing like crazy.
Emjay is settling in around here, making our house her home. She’s such a cutie pie – she wakes me up in the morning with little kisses, then goes Tasmanian devil until I open the door and she can see Raymond.
Here she is singing the song of her people, which lately has been “out out out, treat treat treat”.
I’m doing serious inventory in the workshop – throwing out expired things and giving away other things – so I can get everything to a manageable level, letting me tidy up a bit, and so I can get my viscosity meter on the counter top. I live in clutter, this will never change, but at least I can get a bit more space in the workshop.
Does anyone want a machine for filling lotions? If you can get to my house in Chilliwack to pick it up and don’t mind cleaning it yourself as I will never have the time to do it, please write to me at swiftcraftymonkey@swiftcraftymonkey.blog and I will happily give it to you. I’ve stopped making huge batches.
Let’s take a look at some things going on around here for June, including the Zoom workshop on hair care products!
Site related stuff!
May continued to be busy around here!
I wrote 32,629 words on the site, 5,676 words in the hydrolyzed proteins in facial products Zoom workshop, and 35,494 words in the the e-book, Waterless beauty: Oil soluble actives (part 5) for a total of 73,799 words.
It works out to about a 300 page novel – and I wonder why my arms hurt?
I used up another pen – a black one this time – and I think the blue one is on its way out, which means I’ve used up five pens completely in 19 months. Wow!
💧 If you weren’t, click here to see the e-book in the shop for $30 CAD (~$22 CAD, ~$30.61 AUD, £16.23 UK, €18.81)
If you’re an Innovation subscriber, we have suppliers’ coupons for you this month from Lotioncrafter (USA), Voyageur Soap & Candle (Canada), and Windy Point Soap Making Supplies (Canada). Click the link to see what’s there for June 2026.
As always, you’ll find no ads, sponsored posts, pop ups, affiliate links, or anything like that and you will never ever ever ever find AI here in any form. We want you to have a seamless reading experience with nothing to distract you because that’s so annoying!
Zoom workshop in June!
Join me on Sunday, June 14, 2026, at noon PDT (Vancouver, Canada time) where we’ll take a look at hair care!
We’ll make a liquid shampoo, conditioner, and leave-in conditioner – with the hopes of making a quick detangler – while customizing them for a few different hair types.
These will be open to Formulation and Innovation level subscribers*. As we have before, you’ll get a handout on the topic along with at least two formulas so you can follow along. I’ll share the meeting link, password, and printed materials a week or two before the big event.
*You can upgrade your subscription to one of these levels at any time – even the day of the workshop – to join the workshop or access our last three on shampoo bars, pH, and cold process emulsifiers. Click here to find out more!
Don’t forget you also get a giant e-book every month as an Innovation subscriber! Last month’s was 133 pages with 41 formulas!
I’ll share the meeting link, password, handout, and formulas in the week before the workshop. If you’re interested, please RSVP me at swiftcraftymonkey@swiftcraftymonkey.blog. Please RSVP if you’d like to watch the replay so I can get a sense of how much interest there is.
I can’t wait to meet up again! These workshops are such a blast!
📺 If you can’t attend, you can watch a replay. You can find all the replays for the Zoom workshops by clicking this link to see the page! I’ll share the replay a day or two after the workshop so you can watch it then.
Chemistry Thursday continues!
Chemistry Thursday continues with the Chemistry Thursday series in March, starting with polyatomic ions, then solubility, then acids and bases.
Click here to see links to the complete series!
We started working with foamy, bubbly, lathery™ surfactants in May, looking at individual ones, and learning how they work.
We’ll continue this into June as we look at more types of surfactants, how they thicken, the salt curve, and so much more!
In part 50, we looked at polyatomic ions, solubility, and why we don’t use tap, spring, or mineral water in our products.
In part 51, we looked polyatomic ions, electrolytes, compounds with sodium, and an introduction to soap & surfactants
In part 52, we looked at foamy, bubbly, lathery™ surfactants, like sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) and sodium coco sulfate (SCS).
In part 53, we looked at foamy, bubbly, lathery™ surfactants – ASM, reading data sheets and data bulletins, and looking at SLeS
Woo hoo! I’m so excited about this series!
What else is going on?
I have so many things on the go, it’s hard to say at this point. You’ll see part three – the advanced post – for the summertime tropical melting body butter later this week.
You can find the beginner post by clicking this link.
You can find the intermediate post by clicking this link.
I’ve written posts on sodium PCA and pentylene glycol that still need photos, but they’re coming.
I have a huge profile on daikon radish extract coming soon. (Again, it needs photos.)
You’ll find formulas for liquid shampoo, conditioner, and leave-in conditioner in the hair care handout with formulas for the Zoom workshop in mid-June.
Share your thoughts with me!
I’ve realized this year I really need to hear from you, my awesome readers! It pushes me out of my comfort zone, gets me thinking, gets me into the workshop, pushes me to do more research, all of which are great things. It gives me ideas for e-books and Zoom workshops.
And it’s just really nice to hear what you’re thinking, so please share your thoughts with me in the comments, in the monthly Q&A, on my Facebook page or on Instagram (@SwiftCraftyMonkey), or by email me at swiftcraftymonkey@swiftcraftymonkey.blog.
I can’t write you a complete formula from scratch and I can’t consult for your business, but I can listen to what you’d like to know or what’s bugging you, and write some posts about your questions. You might see a formula or two, or it might turn into a series, who knows?
Woo hoo! Welcome to June 2026! Hope you’re having a great month!