Sugar-based surfactant development gains ground, riding on the success of growing demand for APG (excerpt from Doris de Guzman’s excellent overview on the future of carbohydrate based surfactants. Read Doris de Guzman’s green chemicals blog for the latest news on green surfactants) Growing demand for alkyl polyglucoside (APG) – a non-ionic surfactant made from vegetable […]

Companies can now source from approved EU and US organic ingredient suppliers for their NSF/ANSI 305 compliant products, increasing global access to certified products ANN ARBOR, Mich. — NSF International’s American National Standard for Personal Care Products Containing Organic Ingredients (NSF/ANSI 305) has been expanded to allow plant-based ingredients that are certified to European Union […]

The Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010, (H.R. 5786) passed by the House of Representatives into committee, is starting to look like it is going to be a reality, not in small part due to the lobbying of very large cosmetics concerns who would like the House to stop artisans from competing with them. You can […]

Colin Sanders has posted a long and informative article on cosmetics, skin absorption  and the long term effects therein over at the Personal Care site. Colin Sanders has been a formulator of cosmetic and topical pharmaceuticals for 27 years and an active member of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists since 1985. You can also read […]

You know the big difference between me and nanotech researchers?  I have never once been at a carnival with a big ball of spun sugar and thought “Wow, I could make nanofibers with that cotton candy machine!” But that’s just what happened with the bioengineers at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, as […]

Contributed by Ruth Esteves at Sirona Springs Handmade Soap. Soapmakers often get asked about the use of lye in their soap. The fact is that lye (sodium hydroxide) is indeed used to make soap. While in many minds, “lye soap” brings up images of grandmas and washboards and red, red hands, anyone who has used […]

One of the groovy things about science is that obscure discoveries can suddenly become world-changing. As an example; examine the organic material called a Janus dendrimer. Janus was the dual-faced Roman god. Dendron is the Greek word for ‘tree’ or many branches. A dendrimer is a molecular sphere with many branches forming the shape. (Picture […]