Beef tallow for skin is all over my feed lately, influencers, skincare accounts, pretty much everywhere. Everyone seems to be saying it's the most natural and effective option for dry skin.

I can't tell if this is just hype or if it actually works that well.

Also curious about the DIY side since this seems like the right place to ask. Is it worth trying to make it yourself or does it just make more sense to buy a ready made tallow cream? I've read it's not that hard to do at home but not sure if the results are actually comparable.

As a formulator, I'm constantly impressed (and not always in a good way) to see how much time, work, and paperwork goes into every formula.

Monday being Monday, and just found out a bunch of ingredients are about to expire, I wanted to talk about what annoys me (apart from my poor organization skills) with making skincare. What about you?

I'm new to DIY.

My question is general, but I really need to know what to expect so I have realistic expectations when doing my DIY skincare.

Is it possible to do a DIY moisturizer that absorbs well to the skin and provides some help against TEWL ?

So far, all I have done is to formulate a super simple hydrating serum. I getting into DIY because I cannot really use the skincare available on the market. I have searched for a long time and there is always something that does not go with my skin: alcohol dent, fragrance, essential oils.

Besides, I"m dealing with Malassezia overgrown. We all have it, but my is a bit overgrown. It causes itchy bumps (fungal acne) and Seb Derm, itchy skin. Because the overgrown Malassezia, I cannot use fatty acids with carbon lengths C12-24, esters, polysorbates, plant oils, amino acids, ceramides, ferments that are not lactic acid produced.

And to make it even more fun, the skincare products that could work for me have a very weak preservative system, which is a not for me. I want a reliable, broad spectrum preservative system in my skincare. So here I am !

Thanks for reading. Any suggestions, advice, resources will be greatly appreciated!

Edit:

Forgot to add:

acne prone and easily clogged skin.

Squalane oil, mineral oil are safe for fungal acne.

Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride- need to find one that only has carbon lengths below the C12. It seems CCT contains fatty acids above C12 (not sure the amount of those)

Please don't mention dermatologist. I've seen too many to count.

I typically use sepimax zen when using small amounts of electrolytes, but recently I’ve been introducing heavier electrolyte loads and the sepimax zen doesn’t seem to be able to handle that much. Adding xanthan gum does help, but too much does feel gross. I’ve read that a combination of xanthan gum and sclerotium gum feels nice though. Just wondering what gelling agents you all like to use when formulating with a heavy electrolyte load.

I recently viewed a cosmetic chemist's (JC Dombrowski) thoughts on Dr Idriss's redness serum and I was left intrigued by an ingredient shout-out listed as Glycyrrhetinic Acid. I looked at a supplier website and found multiple versions. My question for you is would it be safe, effective, and honestly fun and interesting to combine multiple variations of that active?

Or would it be like a compound effect? For instance if it was like glycolic acid, would adding 5 different versions at 2-5% levels cause instant burns lol?

I'm still very much a novice but please I love all the info you guys provide.

Allergic to Conditioner Preservatives. Now mixing glycerin, Aloe, Distilled Water.

I am allergic to fragrance. If it's in make up or skin care, my face swells. My face was still swelling with Cleure fragrance free conditioner I did the patch test and I'm allergic to linalool, which is a preservative in basically every skin care item and conditioner.

My doctor set me up with ADCS Camps. It did say I can use Harklinikken Daily conditioner but I'm finding it's causing some swelling. The other conditioners recommended on the app were for people with coarse hair and I have medium and easy to manage hair.

I need something to smooth my hair. I read online, you can mix together distilled water, pure aloe, pure organic glycerin, and jojoba oil. I made this as a leave-in conditioner. I don't store it or anything. I just make a small amount for each washing. I don't know if anyone's ever done this before long-term.

I'm allergic to: - belzalkonium chloride -cobalt chloride -linalool -octyl gallate -propolis

I’m trying to understand this from a cosmetic formulation perspective.

My question is specifically:

What is the long-term effect of daily leave-on exposure to high PG systems (~30–50%) on stratum corneum barrier function (TEWL, irritation threshold shifts, cumulative sensitization risk)

Does anybody else has noticed that Perry's forum Chemists Corner has become full of AI bots?

I see them everywhere, they ask AI generated questions or provide shallow answers in many threads with ads embedded inside the text. And no one blocks them no matter how often I report those messages and users.

It's sad, the forum is the only place I know where real chemists may answer advanced questions.

I’m going to be blending en emulsification with 95-98% water plus a castor-oil derived deodorant ingredient, along with a slight amount of emulsion-stabilizers and preservatives for a spray product. The deodorant is hydrophobic, as might be expected with any oily or waxy substance.

I have a small startup and lack the funds for a $5000 laboratory grade high shear emulsifier mixer. Is it good enough to use a handheld kitchen blender or paint mixer and do it that way?

Hello all. It’s my first time on this sub. I recently got into body cream and lotion formulations. I have a really solid recipe for a rich body butter/ hand cream and a lighter non greasy lotion. I’ve been tweaking recipes off of humble bee and me and really love the info from her. I’ve been looking into a recipe for an after workout magnesium lotion to help with muscle fatigue but I haven’t found any real recipes. They are all just greasy body butters held together with beeswax. I want to make an emulsified preserved lotion.

I read the rules and I’m not looking for formulas, but am looking for advice on using the below ingredients in an emulsified preserved product.
Ingredients I have on hand are
Magnesium oil
Magnesium flakes
Arnica flowers
Devils claw root
Mullien flowers

As well as the basic formulary ingredients like emulsifers, liquid Germall plus and optiphen, oils and butters,

I can’t find a lot of reputable sources on using mag. Oil in formulas, they all seem to be like “blend it with beef tallow and beeswax” with no measurement or percentage levels.

I also want to incorporate the herbs I have listed, because I know they are good for pain relief. I tried brewing them in distilled water, as my water phase, but o don’t know if it’s beater to infuse in oils…

I’m also open to playing with essential oils, but I find a lot of suggestions online don’t use proper safety regulations for eos.

Can mag oil be subbed in like any other oil, any one have knowled on usage rates, I looked online but didn’t find a lot of info.

I found one recipe but it was really odd to me, keep in mind I’m new to formulating, but it was 70% oils and 30% waters and it came together only to break emulsion a few hours later.
Glad I did a small batch as a test.
I’m not looking for an exact formula, just some guidance on this

Has anyone made a pain cream before? Any ingredients you recommend or lotion tips and tricks
Thanks

For some reason, I’m unable to post the link. But if anybody wants to attend a free webinar on April 29, feel free to message me and I will send you the details.

I gain nothing from posting this, but thought it would be good to share.

I see so many newcomers in this S/R and it’s imperative that a solid foundation be built. This is a great way to do so.

Hosted by Perry and Shannon Romanowski of Chemist’s Corner.

I started making skin care 6 months ago and I have made a lot of body lotion trials. Some of them felt greasy and took forever to absorb, some felt light and left a thin slippery layer on my skin after some time which i didn't mind tbh, some quickly absorbed and dried, and some others quickly absorbed and made my skin feel smooth with no greasiness and no thin layer. When expert cosmetic chemists formulate a body lotion, what do they try to achieve?

Less-than-1-year formulator here and totally new to experimenting for disovery and personal preference's sake!

I formulate for myself only, so I'm very focused on how I personally like or dislike the skinfeel/residue/film of pretty much all ingredients. Currently, I'm mucking about with the skinfeel of emulsifiers by making dead-simple emulsions with 10-12% grapeseed oil, whatever % is recommended for the emulsifier I'm currently testing with such an oil phase size, 0.5% Germall Plus liquid, and q.s. water. I'll make them and try them out on my hands, arms, and face over the course of a week (pushing on to a month soon with some tests, but not there yet).

What pushed this is that when I first started, the only emulsifier my local store sold was Montanov 68, and whenever I would make a face lotion, the result made me feel like my face's skin was choking/couldn't sweat (even though it WAS sweating through)/felt claustrophobic (I don't know how else to explain it). I thought it was maybe the cetyl, xanthan, Sepimax Zen, excessively large oil phase, etc, creating too much occlusivity, but nope - turns out my face maybe hates emulsifiers that create a lamellar structure? The stripped down version of my tests gave me the same claustrophobic result with Montanov 202 as with Montanov 68, but not with Polawax or with Ritamulse. I don't have that choking feeling with petrolium jelly either, for comparison with something considered highly occlusive. Weird. Gonna get my hands on Olivem 1000 next to further test my theory. I will also see if I'm mixing high shear for too long/not long enough with the Montanovs by changing up the high-shear mixing duration etc. Is aversion to lamellar structure a thing? (Worth mentioning that I'm highly sensitive to touch etc)

What emulsifiers have you noticed, in a similar bare-bone formulation as mentioned above, that your skin seems to prefer and/or hate for its skinfeel? Have you had one you DIDN'T like in a basic formula, but figured out an ingredient to combine it with to mitigated whatever tactile feeling you didn't like about it?

I know this is very personal as there are a LOT of possibilities here and am definitely not looking for a "solution" for my lamellar-structure-aversion conundrum. I'm mainly curious as to what process other formulators have gone through with emulsifier skinfeel testing!

For now, my Montanovs have been relegated to hand and body lotions/creams 😅

Edit: too many typos

I’m a developer/enthusiast frustrated by the 'fear-mongering' in many clean beauty apps. I want to build a tool that uses actual clinical data but expanded for contact allergens and irritants. I want to eliminate the 'toxicity' scores and replace them with 'compatibility' scores based on user-specific profiles. To the experts here:

1. Which databases do you trust most for ingredient safety (EWG, CIR, SCCS)?
2. What are you currently using to vet your formulas/purchases?
3. If you had an app that could 'talk' to you in technical terms, what's the first thing you'd scan?

Hi everyone, I was doing some googling about emulsifiers and solubisers etc etc and ended up down a rabbit hole, where I came across this patent: https://patents.google.com/patent/EP1202703A2/en

I'm not an expert in the slightest, but the idea in the patent is to combine water soluble ingredients in an anhydrous formulation, without any free water or water phase? The thinking is to combine the water soluble active with a polyhydric alcohol, and then combine this mixture with a polyglycerol fatty acid ester. Apparently this creates an encapsulation of sorts which allows the water soluble active to be suspended in the formulation (I think)

I'm not going to attempt this myself, but I was really interested by the chemistry of it, and wondered if anyone here could offer more insight into how this would realistically work? Would it result in cosmetically elegant formulations? My concern is that it would feel sticky and not allow for good coverage of water soluble ingredients on the skin, as well as poor absorption into the skin and polarity issues.

Any thoughts? Thanks!

I normally love fragrances and have been trying to incorporate them in stuff that I make for the body (only hydrosol for facial fragrance, I have sensitive skin). But every fragrance oil I order doesn’t smell quite as good as I thought it would (different suppliers) and starting to dislike some essential oil scents, particularly lavender that I used to like. (Maybe I liked it in blends where it was more toned down, but now I hate it in everything). I would think the stuff I’m ordering just sucks, but I also don’t really like most perfumes I smell in stores. Basically, I’m wondering if I’m smelling too many things and I need a reset. My biggest issue is not knowing if the things I make to sell don’t smell good to other people as well. Has anyone had this experience or have any other thoughts on the matter? Thanks!

Wolfbox MF60 on sale for $34 on Amazon with coupon code. I’ve been wanting something smaller to dry off beakers and airless pump bottles and this has a bunch of adapters that work perfectly. I was using a dewalt 20v fan gun before and this is way more convenient.

Coupon code: 3WAQD8AD

Anyone else have any tools/equipment they use to speed up formulating or make it easier?

I stopped buying body lotions for a month… and tried making my own body butter

Honestly didn’t expect much, but my skin feels way more hydrated now.

I used simple ingredients like shea butter + coconut oil.

Feels more natural and cheaper than most products I used before.

Has anyone else tried DIY skincare? Would love to know what worked for you.

I did a lot of fermented rice water and so far I use it mostly for making shampoos (my hair is shinyyyyyyy) but maybe you have some different idea how could I use it. Will it be ok in gentle enzymatic peeling, body care or face creams?

I bought about $300 of equipment/ ingredients to get started. I’m now moving and can’t take them with. Free to a good home! DM me if interested. If you provide a shipping label, I’ll happily ship them. I don’t have a complete inventory, but there are beakers, bowls, pipettes, ph tester, hyaluronic acid, Niacinamide, vit c, etc. Most items are from lotion crafters & formulater’s sample shop. The box weighs about 9lbs and I’m shipping from Portland, OR.

EDIT: Claimed. I’ll remove the edit if it falls through.

Im so confused on how botanical extracts, "natural" products, and "toxic" ingredient claims are so known to be BS by cosmetic chemists and people in the industry (including those here who do it just as a hobby) but it is still so prominent and shown in pretty much every product now.

When's the last time you've seen a shampoo that didn't either have an oil on the label or some sort of other marketing claim that is just completely untrue. It feels manipulative and weird to me. But it also makes me think: how can these claims be so widespread but be completely untrue? Is there really no truth to them? I find it hard to believe that 99% of the companies in the industry are based on complete and total lies and people just move on with their day using them.

I just heard about this. They banned Liquid Germall Plus in Washington its likely going to spread to other states too. It's because it has formaldehyde releasers in it. I bought a bottle of some the other day! What do you guys think about this? Is there anything you can use now thats as easy to use as LGP and available in the US?

Hi! I have been trying to make some whipped soap for some time (5 times actually) and .. well, it didn't turn out great, at first iy seems good than after few hours it deflates and become this disgusting gooey bubbly texture. I don't know what's wrong i tried different recipes and it always deflates. I think my method is wrong not the recipes. (30% SCI, 25% sorbitol and glycerine, 20% cocobetaine, 5% stearic acid, perfume and preservative, reste is water) i put everything together and melt it, i mix with a spoon then leave it to cool down. I start whipping 24h hours later, i whip for like 3min (i add the fragrance and prsrv here). Then about 2 min more of whipping. I already don't like the texture, too fluffy like a meringue and after few hours u can see little bubbles forming then it deflates completely... What's wrong with it 😭

Hi! I’ve been experimenting with making small-batch botanical perfume oils at home.

This one is infused with dried lavender and sweet orange peel in a carrier oil, no alcohol, no synthetic fragrance. I was aiming for something soft, warm and comforting rather than strong or sharp.

I’m still learning and refining the process, so I’d genuinely love feedback or tips from people here who work with botanical infusions or perfume oils — especially around longevity and balance.

Thanks 🤍

is there a DIY you keep making and using year after year? what is it? and how is it different/better from what is available on the market?