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.
In the March Q&A, Doris asked: I finished up a litre bottle of Bioterge today and was surprised to find quite a large amount (maybe 10-15% of the total) of a solid/gel/something like that at the bottom of the bottle. I went to get the new bottle I received just a week ago and discovered...
In the February Q&A, Nadia asked: My questions today have to do with choosing which form of an ingredient to use in a particular formula. For example with Calendula I could use an infusion, an essential oil, or an extract, either oil or water soluble. In this case I am talking about making a lotion, so I...
This is a hard question for me as I really love making so many things so I have to think for a bit… Okay, I think my favourite thing to make is body wash. I love figuring out nice surfactant combinations, working with humectants to hydrate my skin after bathing, adding cationic polymers like polyquat...
We’ve made two cleansing products with Siligel as the thickener – this rose & chamomile facial cleanser and this body wash with Miracare Soft 313 – so I thought we should take a look at one of the exfoliants I use the most in facial products, jojoba beads. Jojoba beads are not plastic micro beads....
We made a lovely facial cleanser the other day with Miracare Soft 313 and Siligel. Let’s take a look at using other surfactants in this formula. The key to using Siligel as your thickener for surfactants is to remember what you can’t use with it. You don’t want to go higher than 5% active anionic...