Using Knockout Experiments to reduce formula costs
I don’t know how I stumbled on the knockout experiment but it is by far the most useful formulation exercise. I think I was inspired…
$100 Dollar Start Up - Book Review for cosmetic chemists
I learned about the $100 Startup book while listening to some podcast. I don’t recall which one, but the author made the book sound interesting…
How to evaluate cosmetic raw material marketing
Last week was the annual Suppliers Day for the New York chapter of the SCC. It’s always a huge event and you can find thousands…
Cosmetic Innovation in Sun Care
There haven’t been many new technologies introduced into sun care in the last few decades. There was the introduction of mexoryl sunscreen in the mid…
Is the end of gray hair near?
I saw this interesting news story about a group of European researchers who say they have found a treatment that can eliminate gray hair. Two…
How to influence people
As a cosmetic chemist or cosmetic entrepreneur, you need to develop the power to influence other people to get the things done that you want…
Are gold nanoparticles causing wrinkles?
Scare stories about the dangers of cosmetics always grab headlines. Whether they are put out by fearmongering groups, politicians or even researchers, these stories are…
Cosmetics Ingredients are not all the same
As a beginning chemist, one of the most frustrating things for me as I started my career was the product ingredient lists. While all the…
The upside of fear induced cosmetic formulation
I saw a story indicating that the shareholders at Avon were going to vote on whether to remove “dangerous chemicals used in their beauty products…
Anti-Cellulite - Cosmetic Products of the Future
The future of cosmetic chemistry may be changing. While being able to mix surfactants, emollients, occlusive agents, and other cosmetic raw materials in the proper…
How to Select Overhead Stirrer Mixing Tools
By Bob Wilcox In an earlier article on cosmetic mixing with overhead stirrers I outlined how these lab tools are used to provide a fast…
Qualities of a Good Chemist
This is a guest author post These days, people are interested in all different types of disciplines. More and more students realize that the economic…
What is the INCI?
In the cosmetic industry, the compounds on the ingredient list are determined by the PCPC and published in a book called the International Nomenclature of…
Cost savings in a shampoo formula
Here is a typical shampoo formula. It’s pretty basic and features sulfates, betaine, standard preservatives, and a fragrance. Whenever you are creating a formula, you…
25 tips all cosmetic chemists should know
I saw an article on the FutureDerm blog about 25 things everyone should know about skin care. That inspired me to come up with this…
Tips for learning cosmetic formulation
Guest author: Roger Rodriguez Now that we are in the 21st century, people are starting to learn more and more about different job opportunities and…
Will bottletop burettes work for your formulation efforts?
By Bob Wilcox If you’ve been frustrated from time to time (or lots of times, for that matter) trying to dispense the exact amount of…
How to save a cosmetic batch
As a cosmetic formulator you will undoubtedly run into a situation where you screw up a batch. Or maybe the batch just gets ruined through…
General guidelines to scale up cosmetic formulations
We had an interesting question posed by one of our readers who has a background in Chemical Engineering. Specifically, he wanted to know if there…
How does a shampoo work
Some years ago I went through a phase where I was really into making computer animations. Here’s one I did that explains roughly how shampoos…