5 Reasons You Should Attend a National SCC Meeting
A blast from the past. First published in 2008. Still relevant now… On Friday afternoon, I walked out of the New York Hilton and waved…
Spider Silk in Your Skin Lotion?
I had a spider that was living on my front porch this fall. She was a cool creature and made some excellent webs. I’ve always…
The Whole Foods Banned Ingredient List is Wholly Flawed
I intend these posts to be a multi-part series focusing on different parts of the nebulous Whole Foods banned ingredient list. The list I’ll be…
Cosmetic Industry Sales and Market Distribution
As a cosmetic formulator or cosmetic industry entrepreneur, it is helpful to understand the market and where cosmetics are sold around the world. The challenge…
How to Tweet a Scientific Meeting
Coming up in December is the National SCC Cosmetic Science Symposium where cosmetic chemists and formulators from around the country and world will gather in…
Memories of a Cosmetically Disturbed Mind - Book Review
I first became aware of Johann Wiechers, the author of Memories of a Cosmetically Disturbed Mind, through the pages of the IFSCC magazine. He was the…
Episode 33: Cosmetic Process Engineering
Interview begins at 10:00 Bob Bornfriend is highly experienced in a variety of R&D, Quality, Engineering, & Manufacturing positions. He’s had extensive exposure to product,…
Skin biology - how it grows
This is a pretty good, short video explaining how skin grows and protects you from the environment (including cosmetic ingredients). Happy Halloween!
Cosmetic Chemist Talks Cosmetics
Yesterday I had the opportunity to participate in a Google Hangout. It was pretty cool. Essentially a hangout is a video chat with another person…
Halloween Chemistry Experiment
Did you ever see a flaming pumpkin? Well here’s a video by my coauthor on the book Beginning Cosmetic Chemistry demonstrating just how to do…
Personal Care Industry - Past Present and Future
This looks like a very interesting program and if you are in the Midwest or Cincinnati area, you should make it a point to attend.…
The award for the most innovative cosmetic ingredient goes to…a non cosmetic
This report in Cosmetics Design about the award recently granted to a researcher for his development of a new “cosmetic” ingredient left me feeling a…
Why an oil phase heats faster than a water phase
I was sent an email asking me about what the best set-up was for heating batches. It seemed that this formulator was having a hard…
The Beat Goes on to Hyaluronic Acid Mini
Hyaluronic Acid, the ever acclaimed naturally occurring Biopolymer, with 50% of its bodily existence in the skin is sounding good…REAL good. We have experienced the…
Quick method for creating a cosmetic talk
This fall I traveled a lot doing presentations and happily spreading the word about cosmetic science and formulating. The talks have ranged in length from…
Limits for including a cosmetic raw material
When you look at the back of a cosmetic product label, you will see all of the raw materials included on the list of ingredients…
Stem cells and cosmetic ingredients
I’ve never thought stem cells in the cosmetic industry were anything but a marketing story. I have been, and remain, highly skeptical of the claims…
NGOs and the Cosmetic Industry
In an ideal world, cosmetic chemists would spend our time formulating, researching, experimenting and developing new cosmetics that provide better benefits for consumers. Or we…
Badger Sunscreen recall demonstrates risk of small brands
This was bound to happen. A mid-sized but growing brand who positions themselves as “natural” and “safer” than conventional products doesn’t put a proper preservative…
When should you reformulate your cosmetic product?
I was just alerted to this article that said J&J will be reformulating their sun cream formulation after receiving 150 allergic reaction claims. It turns…