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.
Yesterday we made a lotion with minimally processed ingredients, let’s make a body butter in a similar fashion. Again, I’m going to use an emulsifier and a preservative, which means I can’t have a 100% minimally processed product. But we can go for something on par with 92% minimally processed ingredients! So what ingredients do...
A few people have asked me about astringent oils lately, and the main question is “are they drying?” Allow me to recap a post from last year with a bit more detail… An astringent is actually defined as “chemical that tends to shrink or constrict body tissues, usually locally after topical medicinal application.” By definition...
At least once a day, I get an e-mail from someone wanting to make a natural lotion. I tend to answer this with another question – what do you mean by natural? Infuriating, I know, answering a question with another question, but apparently that’s how I roll. After almost five years of making my own...
Will writes….I’d love to learn more about the whole _____ionic thing and how it applies to lotions/cream, etc. I’ve read about it, and the more I read the more confused I become. How about dumbing it down and explaining it in your excellent fashion? Just wishing… Wish no more, Will! When it comes to chemistry, you ask and...
So we’ve tweaked the formerly six ingredient shea, soy bean, and sesame oil lotion to the point where it’s a completely different recipe…and that’s the point of this series! To tweak recipes to make them your own, to offer the skin feel and properties you want! So let’s take a look at tweaking this recipe...