Cosmetic Chemists Corner

Plant derived ingredients can be useful. But from a plant is not the same thing as better.

This is where cosmetic formulation gets more practical than the marketing story. A material can be natural and still cause irritation. It can be plant based and still vary from batch to batch. It can sound good on a label and still do very little for the formula.

The better question is not, “Is this natural?” It is, “Does this material make the formula work better, stay stable, and meet the product goal?”

That is the part formulators have to keep asking.

How can a new cosmetic chemist become an expert?
The answer is not “memorize every ingredient.”

Expertise comes from doing the work.
Learn the basics of making formulas.
Understand what each ingredient is doing.
Learn how products are tested.
Get familiar with suppliers, raw materials, claims, regulations, and the companies in the industry.

Then pick an area and go deep.
Maybe it is emulsions. Maybe it is hair care. Maybe it is preservation, surfactants, color cosmetics, sunscreens, or claims testing.

You do not become an expert by knowing a little bit about everything. You become an expert by building a foundation, getting practical experience, and then developing depth in a specific area.

And do not ignore people skills. This is something I wish I prioritized when I was starting out in the industry. Technical knowledge matters, but if you cannot explain your ideas, work with marketing, talk to suppliers, or get along with others, your expertise will not go very far.

How do you decide which trending ingredient belongs in a formula? This is where formulators need to be careful.

A trending ingredient may be great for marketing, but that does not mean that it automatically improves the product. Before adding it, you need to ask a few practical questions.

What is the ingredient supposed to do?
Is there evidence it works?
Can you use it at a meaningful level?
Will it affect stability, preservation, viscosity, color, odor or skin feel?
Does it support the product concept, or is it just label decoration?

There’s nothing wrong with using a trending ingredient. The problem is using one without understanding why it’s there. Good formulation isn’t about adding whatever is popular, it’s about making smart choices that improve the product, support the claim, and work in the real formula.

Can you heat the oil and water phases together?

Sometimes, yes. But it is not automatically the best process.

Heating both phases together can save time and simplify production, but only when the ingredients, emulsifier system, solubility, and process all support it.

The questions to ask are:

Will everything dissolve properly?
Could any ingredient degrade during heating?
Will the emulsifier hydrate and organize correctly?
Can you still produce a stable, repeatable emulsion?

A shortcut is only useful when it does not create a new problem.

The goal is not to follow a rule just because that is how formulas are usually made. The goal is to understand what each phase needs and choose the process that gives you the best finished product.

If you remember hairspray from years ago, you may think today’s products do not hold quite the same way.

You are not imagining it.

One reason is that regulations limit the amount of volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, that can be used in aerosol products. Those solvents helped hairspray dry quickly and form a strong film on the hair.

As VOC limits changed, formulators had to adjust the balance of solvents, propellants, polymers, and water

This is a good example of how regulations can change product performance, even when the product name stays the same.

Are more ingredients better in a formula? Or are fewer ingredients better?

This is one of those questions that sounds simple, but the real answer is: it depends.

A formula with more ingredients is not automatically better because it looks more sophisticated. And a formula with fewer ingredients is not automatically better because it looks cleaner or simpler.

What matters is whether each ingredient has a purpose.

Is it improving performance?
Is it helping stability?
Is it making the product safer, easier to use, or better for the consumer experience?

A good formula is not about cramming in more stuff. It is also not about stripping everything down just to make the label look minimal. It is about using the right ingredients, at the right levels, for the right reason.

That is what good formulation looks like.

This is one of those questions where people sometimes misunderstand my position. I do not think beauty products are useless. Most of them work just fine for the thing they are designed to do.

Shampoos clean hair.
Conditioners make hair feel better and easier to comb.
Moisturizers can temporarily improve the look and feel of dry skin.
Sunscreens protect against UV exposure.
Cleansers clean.
Color cosmetics add color.

So where does the skepticism come in?

It is usually the extra claims. The “reverses aging” claims. The “repairs damage at a molecular level” claims. The “this one ingredient changes everything” claims.

Cosmetic products can work. But that does not mean every marketing story attached to them is true.

That is the difference.

Is micellar water a solution or an emulsion?

This is one of those cosmetic chemistry questions where the simple answer is, “It depends how strict you want to be.”

Micellar water is mostly water with surfactants dissolved in it. At the right concentration, those surfactants can organize into tiny structures called micelles. Those micelles help pick up oil, makeup, and dirt so they can be wiped away.

But that does not make micellar water a typical emulsion, like a cream or lotion. There is not a separate oil phase dispersed throughout a water phase in the same way.

So, for practical formulating purposes, I would think of micellar water as a colloidal solution, not a traditional emulsion.

Cosmetic chemistry is fun because the answer is often less about memorizing labels and more about understanding what is actually happening in the formula.

The FDA has approved bemotrizinol as a new sunscreen ingredient in the US, which sounds like a huge breakthrough.

And it is significant, mostly because the US has been behind other parts of the world when it comes to newer sunscreen filters.

But will this suddenly revolutionize sunscreens? Probably not.

A new ingredient can give formulators more options. But a single supply source, cost and demand will all impact the market for at least 1-2 years.

So yes, it matters. But as usual, the marketing story moves faster than the formulation reality.

Should glycerin be in a shampoo?

Maybe. But this is one of those ingredients people often overvalue just because it sounds good on the label.

Glycerin is a humectant, so in theory it can help with moisture. But in a shampoo, which gets rinsed off quickly, the benefit may be limited. It can also affect the formula itself, including viscosity, clarity, and overall performance.

So the real question is not “Is glycerin a good ingredient?”
The real question is “Does glycerin improve this specific shampoo formula?”

That is how formulators should think about it.

Ingredients are not automatically good just because they are popular. They have to earn their place in the formula.