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…
Category: Formulating
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…
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…
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…
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…
A Primer on Magnetic Stirrers
Author: Bob Wilcox Laboratory magnetic stirrers are clever mixing tools that, most simply defined, use a rotating magnet in the base of the unit to…
Why All Sodium Lauryl Sulfate Sources Aren’t The Same
I spent much of my career formulating hair care products including shampoos, conditioners, and styling products. One of the largest projects that I was ever…
Using Homogenizers in the Cosmetics Lab
Author: Bob Wilcox We’ve noted several posts in the Chemists Corner discussion forum on using homogenizers to prepare shampoos. Our take on homogenizers is primarily from the…
What to do with working cosmetic technologies you can’t use
If you are not in the business of formulating hair care products you may have missed the big kerfuffle caused by the use of formaldehyde…
10 Consumer Trends in 2013 that will affect cosmetic formulators
Euromonitor International is One of the market research firms that reports on the cosmetic industry. They often provide interesting insights into what consumers are thinking.…
Why most active ingredients don’t work
I was listening to one of my favorite skeptical podcasts, The Skeptics Guide to the Universe, and they were talking about Deer Antler Spray. Apparently, a…
How to find a cosmetic market niche
While it may be a dream of a cosmetic formulator to make a product that will be bought and used by everyone, this almost certainly…
How long do cosmetics last?
In Colin’s post on nail polish, he reminded me of a common question I’m asked about beauty products and cosmetics is “how long do they…
Greenwashing - A Cosmetic Chemists Guide
I saw that there was going to be a masterclass on greenwashing so I thought I would add my two cents about the different levels…
Preservative free cosmetic formulating - How to make them
There was an interesting question posed on the cosmetic science forum the other day. The forum member wanted to know whether they could still call…
Cosmetic Mixing with Overhead Stirrers
This is a guest post by Bob Wilcox Overhead stirrers find wide application in the cosmetic industry. They provide a fast way to develop formulations and…
Cool chemistry reactions
This is pretty cool. You almost never get to conduct cool chemistry experiments like these in a cosmetic science lab but they are still pretty…
Calculating Cosmetic Formula Costs
Deciding on the use level of raw materials in a cosmetic formula is an important aspect of formulation. However, product performance is only one factor…