What is cosmetic chemistry?

Cosmetic chemistry is the science of creating and formulating personal care products, cosmetics, and beauty items. It involves understanding how different chemical ingredients interact to create safe, effective, and stable products.

How do I become a cosmetic chemist?

A background in chemistry or a related science field is typical. Chemists Corner offers online courses, resources, and a community to help aspiring cosmetic chemists learn formulation skills and break into the cosmetic industry.

Do I need a degree to create cosmetic formulations?

While a formal degree in chemistry or chemical engineering is helpful, it is not always required. Many successful formulators have learned through hands-on experience and dedicated courses like those offered by Chemists Corner.

Midwest SCC scientific summary

Today, I went to the Midwest SCC Technical Symposium and was pretty impressed with the event. The talks were nicely done (no awful slides) and the topics were really engaging. Of course, I might be biased because I did give one of the talks but I thought overall, the talks were better than most events that I've attended. A great job all-around. ## Cosmetic Science Topics The topics included:

Formulating Products for the Growing Ethnic Skin and Hair Care Markets
Eunice Cofie, President and Chief Cosmetic Chemist at Nuekie

I did not realize ethnic hair care was a $1.2 billion industry. Also learned about HouseofMikko.com which is a great place for seeing what consumers care about.

Designing Devices for Better Skin Care Efficacy
Robb Akridge, PhD, Co-founder and VP of Clinical Affairs for Clarisonic

An interesting story about the development of the Clarisonic skin device. Came from the people that worked on the Sonicare toothbrush. A good summary of the product development process.

Choosing Successful Fragrance for Personal Care
Jill Costa, PhD, Chief Perfumer at Bell Flavors and Fragrances

Learned lots about fragrance — for example, why vanilla fragrance works better from candles than citrus.

Specks and Flecks, Lumps and Bumps — Identifying What Shouldn't Be There
Kathleen Martin, Research Scientist/Spectroscopist for McCrone Associates

Ever wonder what those little unknown bits are in your products? Kathleen does. She looks at these things using a microscope and figures out what they are. Usually bug parts, paint chips, or pieces of dirt.

Interpreting the FDA's Final Rule for Sunscreen Formulation
Farah Ahmed, Chair of the Personal Care Product Council's Sunscreen Task Force

Pretty good summary of the new proposed rules.

Internet Research in Personal Care Formulating
Perry Romanowski, Brains Publishing

This was my talk on how a cosmetic chemist can best use the Internet for doing their job.

I especially liked the student posters. This was the first time we had posters at an event like this and it is encouraging to me to see new people come into the industry. ## Networking In addition to the talks and posters, I enjoyed catching up with so many cool people in the industry. I've known most of the people in the Midwest SCC chapter for more than 10 years and it is always fun to swap stories. One of the biggest companies here is shutting down and lots of people are losing their jobs so there was plenty of talk about what people are going to do. Overall, a great event! If you get a chance to go to one of these in the future you must do it. Incidentally, if you are on Twitter you can get our complete reporting of the event by searching the hashtag #midwestscc.

Learn more: This topic is covered in depth in our The Cosmetic Industry: A Complete Guide.

Filed under:Cosmetic IndustrySCCcosmetic scienceMore Cosmetic Industry articles →

Related Reading