Welcome to the home of SwiftCraftyMonkey Formulating Inc.! Join Susan as she obsesses about cosmetic chemistry and other things (some possibly related to monkeys)! Here you’ll find over 5,000 posts and formulas written over the past 16 years for everything from lotions, creams, and body butters to hair care products to fancy facial products filled with actives and cosmeceuticals! Enjoy the site without distractions – no ads, pop ups, sponsored posts, affiliate links, “one weird tricks” – all supported by readers like you.
In this post, Incroquat BTMS-50 in solid scrub bars, Birgit asks: Update on the scrub bar: even though it was soft, I took it to shower after I had “cured” it for a few days. First, I was quite thrilled, the level of scrubbiness was very nice, and it went on well. The problem arose...
In this post on turning conditioner bars into shaving bars, Melanie asks, What is the difference in usage between BTMS and BTMS-50? I see that BTMS-50 includes Butylene Glycol, but how do I choose between these two when making a shaving bar? (or anything else for that matter) From this post, how to use BTMS-25 in...
I’ve had quite a few of you write to ask why I don’t adjust the pH of my conditioner recipes, and the answer is simple – we don’t need to adjust the pH because it’s in the range we want. Conditioners should be acidic with a pH below 6. All the ingredients we add to...
As you probably know, I’m a big fan of using coconut oil in my rinse off hair conditioners because it offers so many great qualities, including moisturization and a reduction in frizz, but I find this one with 5% is making my hair feel oily around the middle of the second day after washing, so...
SHOULD CATIONIC GUAR SMELL FISHY?In this post, Thickeners: Cationic guar gum, Anonymous asks: Should cationic guar gum have a fishy smell? I think I have some that is gone bad. How do you store it? Hi Anonymous. I’ll have to delete your comment as I don’t allow anonymous comments on the blog, but I thought...