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 monthly Q&A, Susan asked, I recently made your Epic Rinse Out Conditioner and am very happy with it but I have a couple of questions … If I’m correct, isododecane is a volatile ingredient so I’m wondering why it’s added to the warmed water phase rather than at cool down. Also, I’ve seen propanediol...
This conditioning ingredient profile appeared in its original form in the e-book, Shiny things, volume 3: Things that distracted me, issued in November 2019. This is is the kind of material I share in these e-books – ingredient profiles, emollient profiles, other profiles along with formulas to show you how to use them. Many are exclusive...
Have you ever caught a whiff of a positively charged conditioner like Incroquat BTMS-50 or Honeyquat and wondered why it smelled fishy? There’s nothing wrong with the product: You’re smelling the ammonium salt in the cationic quaternary compound! Some people can smell it, some can’t. It’s hard to know if you’ll be a smeller or...
You know how much I love conditioning ingredients, so I was extremely excited to use this new one from Lotioncrafter, ClearHance™ C (INCI: Cassia Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride) This is a cationic or positively charged polymer powdered conditioner derived from cassia seeds that works as a conditioner to increase both wet and dry combing, reduce the potential for...
Welcome back to this multi-part series on creating rinse-off hair conditioners with silicone substitutes. In part one, we took a look at how we might create a basic formula, choosing ingredients and preservatives. In part two, we analyzed the formula to see what each ingredient brings to the conditioner party, then took a look at...