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.
I’m a huge fan of silicones in just about any application in which you can put an oil. Dimethicone is my favourite by far. It adds slip and glide to a lotion, offers oil free moisturizing in a moisturizer, helps to defrizz my hair in a conditioner, offers conditioning in a shampoo, and more! What...
I love silicones! I think they are the silkiest feeling ingredients we can find, so I’ve always wanted to make a silicone serum like the No 7 one my mom uses or the Oil of Olay one my bestie likes so much. I found this ingredient at Lotioncrafter – Lotioncrafter Serum SE* – and thought...
DO WE NEED PRESERVATIVES IN ANHYDROUS PRODUCTS?In this Newbie Tuesday post on lotion bars, AZ asks: Do we need to add any preservative to them? Or all oil only creations do not need preservatives? No, we don’t need to add preservatives to oil only products. We add preservatives to water containing products because the beasties...
Mich brings up a very good point that I think needs addressing! Here you have the HLB requirement for dimethicone as either 9 or 10, depending on c.s. It is listed as 5 on both LabRat’s PDF and the Herbarie’s list. (Neither of those specify the c.s.)In the texts I’ve been reading, I keep seeing...