Joan Morais Cosmetics School

Sensitive skin doesn’t need more ingredients, it needs the right ingredients.

When formulating for sensitive skin, every ingredient should have a clear purpose and be used at the mildest effective concentration.

The main formulation goals are to:

• Support and protect the skin barrier
• Hydrate the skin and help retain moisture
• Soothe irritation and discomfort
• Maintain a skin-friendly pH
• Avoid unnecessary additives and potential allergens

Consider gentle, low-foam cleansers, barrier-supporting moisturizers, hydrating serums, alcohol-free tonics & mists, and soothing mask treatments.

Simple, balanced, and intentional formulations can make a meaningful difference for sensitive skin.

Comment “sensitive” for a free guide and to learn details on formulating with Bisabolol vs. Beta-Glucan: Soothing Ingredients for Sensitive Skin Formulations.

Sensitive skin needs more than a lotion that simply feels good, it needs a thoughtfully designed formula that moisturizes, softens, and supports the skin barrier.

This is our Sensitive Skin Body Lotion. I love this lotion. It makes an immediate difference on the skin.

Bisabolol and beta-glucan are two of my favorite ingredients to consider for sensitive skin formulations.

Bisabolol is oil-soluble and valued for its soothing properties and ability to help reduce the appearance of redness, without adding heaviness or stickiness.

Beta-glucan provides hydration, soothing benefits, and barrier support while helping the skin feel softer and more comfortable.

A formulator may choose one based on the desired benefits and texture, or use both for complementary support. However, even the best active ingredient must be incorporated into a properly developed, preserved, and tested formulation.

The Sensitive Skin Body Lotion formulation and complete procedure are included in the Professional Natural Skin Care Formulation Course.

Comment COWASH below and we’ll send you the link to read the full article and download Co-Wash: What It Is, Who It’s Best For & How to Formulate It.

The co-wash shown here was formulated for fine hair.

What exactly is a co-wash, and how do you formulate one?
A co-wash is more than simply washing your hair with conditioner. A properly formulated co-wash combines gentle cleansing with conditioning, giving you a product that can cleanse the scalp and hair while providing softness, slip, detangling, and manageability.

Co-washes can be especially well suited for curly, coily, textured, dry, and fragile hair. From a formulation perspective, the key is finding the right balance between the surfactant system and the conditioning system so the hair feels clean, but never stripped or weighed down.
I put together a guide covering:
* What a co-wash is
* Who it’s best for
* How to use it
* How to formulate it
* Main ingredient categories
* pH
* Viscosity
* Lather
* Cleansing and conditioning balance

I formulated this Coenzyme Q10 + Vitamin C Serum to be a lightweight, anhydrous oil serum designed to leave skin looking brighter, smoother, firmer, and more radiant, without a heavy, greasy feel.

I combined Coenzyme Q10, oil-soluble Vitamin C, marula oil, and rosehip seed oil, this is a beautiful example of a high-performance product that is also approachable to formulate.

If your goal is to become a cosmetic formulator and create products you can confidently take to market, this is the kind of formulation included in the Professional Natural Skin Care Formulation Course that you’ll learn to make in our professional training.

One of the most important qualities I look for in a hair conditioner is SLIP.
What is slip? It’s that beautiful glide you feel when you work a conditioner through the hair, the strands begin to separate, your fingers move through more easily, and there is less pulling and friction.
Good slip helps with detangling, smoothing, manageability, and reducing mechanical breakage, and it’s especially important for curly, coily, textured, dry, and thick hair. Formulating a conditioner with good slip requires knowing your ingredient’s and which ingredients provide slip.
Our students love this Hydrating Hair Conditioner made with Conditioning System #2 because it provides moisture, softness, and that wonderful slip you want from a well-formulated conditioner.
HairConditioner

Do you wonder what the difference is between a homogenizer, overhead mixer, and immersion blender, and which one you should use when making a cosmetic emulsion?

Which is best for emulsifying the oil and water phases together? And which is best for keeping your emulsion uniformly mixed as it cools and thickens?

A homogenizer uses high shear to create a fine dispersion or emulsion by breaking larger droplets into smaller droplets.

An overhead mixer keeps the entire batch moving uniformly and helps distribute those droplets throughout the formulation. It is especially useful for continued mixing as an emulsion cools and develops viscosity.

An immersion blender produces moderate to relatively high localized shear and is often sufficient to create a smooth, small-batch cosmetic emulsion—making it a practical option for students, beginners, and small-batch formulators.

Each tool has a different job, and understanding when and how to use each one can make a difference in your formulation process, texture, and finished product.