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.
As you know, I’m a huge fan of cetrimonium chloride – short form, cetac – in my conditioners, and I seem to put it in every phase possible. But which is the best phase… Here’s the official word from the Handbook of Cosmetic Science & Technology, second edition, page 413… The length and number of...
Wow, I’m really overscheduling myself when I don’t have time to write posts in the morning! I must work on my boundaries! What else can we do with a moisturizer for dry skin? Yesterday we made a nice moisturizer filled with wonderful oils and humectants, and you can tweak this to your heart’s content. Let’s...
How does a moisturizer differ from a lotion? A moisturizer is an emulsified product, like every other lotion, but they tend to have a higher water phase than other lotions. Generally moisturizers are 80% to 90% water, which means we have a 10% to 20% oil phase, which isn’t huge when you consider that we...
In this post, seventh77 asks: I’ve come across various “organic skin care” blog-type sites that claim propylene glycol “denatures” skin and causes it to age prematurely and sag. Is there any truth to that?I answer the question in the comments in the post, but the short answer is no, there’s no truth to these claims. And...
Thanks for your good thoughts about my math exam! I got an A-, something I didn’t expect as I wrote it while enjoying some serious back and hip flexor pain, a memento of a serious fall I had on a ferry four years ago. I hope to get back to writing more detailed posts on...