Here's a list of cosmetic things I think are overpriced things that do nothing or very little
Food supplements: unless you have a deficiency in any of the micronutrients that are advertised as promoting hair growth, skin rejuvenation, and other wizardries, you'll likely just eliminate them through your metabolism.
Hair repairing products and expensive treatments: hair is dead stuff. It cannot be repaired. Once broken, forever broken
Professional (gel) manicures: imo the worst thing you can do to your nails is getting them done by nail techs, even by the best ones. I’m not immune to this, as I’ve been visiting a salon for a couple of months to feel like a rich bitch, but buffing the nail, cutting the cuticles, filing the gel down are horrible things to do to nails. The reaction of your nails to the idea of going to a salon should be the same as my cat's when he understands we're going to see the vet
Shampoos with "non-stripping surfactants": they don't exist. Also it's not true that sulfates are bad. Everything is in the formulation and in the hair type, and nothing will ever justify 20 € for a 200 ml shampoo bottle.
Anything that has to do with the word "rejuvenating": nothing can reverse ageing. You're old. You'll become older.
The organic/natural label tax: a product that is organic certified is not automatically better than a product that is not. Frankly, in most cases it's only more expensive. The sustainability of the product is also questionable - is murumuru butter from the Amazon forest really more sustainable than its counterparts used in standard cosmetic products?
Anything that costs more because of exotic fancy ingredients: platinum, gold, caviar extracts, plankton, frog breath, the cry of a newborn child, anything that is put in homeopathic amounts in cosmetic products only to inflate their prices. Will your skin really notice that the cream contains 0.000001 wt% of fermented seaweed water?
Disposable stuff: I hate this trend. In a world that is drowning in its own garbage, why do you need a disposable towel to dry your face every day?
Nail polish with active ingredients: nails are just as dead as hair. No nail polish can make them grow faster or make them magically absorb keratin.
Any skincare routine that requires too many steps/products: skin needs to be clean, moisturized and protected from sun, it typically doesn't benefit from applying five layers of serum
Today I feel like writing about useful plants for hair
I bitch about the uselessness of most stuff all the time, and a lot of the stuff I bitch about is natural stuff, but I am actually a big fan of plant-based slurries of questionable colors and smells to smear on hair to dye it or make it look nicer, so here we go with some nature positivity for once
Dyeing plants
here, have these pics of my hair dyed with henna and with indigo
Henna my beloved
So henna is the dyeing plant. It is famous for mehndi (used on skin) and I know absolutely nothing about that process or the cultural background so I’ll just say what’s inside and how it works on hair:
Henna powder as sold for dyeing hair is usually powder of Lawsonia inermis leaves. In its dry powder form it contains lawsone in a sort of inactive form (as glycosides). When mixed with water under mild acidic conditions, the lawsone molecule is freed and oxidized, and can bind to keratin on hair. This is what “stains” the hair. The stain is somewhat orange and builds up on the natural hair color, which is why henna will dye hair ginger on natural blonde hair, auburn-ish on brown hair, and will be barely visible on black hair. Multiple applications deepen the color, which is what you see in my picture (at that time I’d been hennaing my hair for years, with very potent henna leaves and an extremely obsessive process to squeeze as much dye as I could from those leaves - my natural hair is medium-dark brown)
Also, it conditions hair and leaves a perception of thicker hair. If you like the color, and you can exclude allergies, it’s definitely one of the best plants for hair appearance and feel.
Indigo my beloathed
Indigo (Indigofera tinctoria) is henna’s dark counterpart. Its leaves contain a precursor of indigo dye, which is the active blue dye released when the indigo paste is prepared in water.
However, indigo dye does not bind to keratin so the indigo plant is not used on its own on hair, but after having used henna first.
Why my beloathed? Because using henna first is cumbersome, and because indigo STINKS. I loved my black hair but I really detested the smell of indigo paste.
Anyway, it’s really great if you want to dye your hair brown or black. For brown, you may not need to apply henna first and indigo next; a mixture of indigo and henna should do. And please for the love of God if you go for it, check the ingredient list: it must say Indigofera tinctoria and nothing else. Stuff like paraphenylenediamine should not be present. Good quality indigo forms a dark blue/violet shimmering layer on the surface of the water-indigo slurry after about ten-fifteen minutes. Also after the application and washing and drying your hair, your neck might become blue and stain everything you wear until you wash your hair again. The collar of my lab coat dreaded my indigo days.
Cassia
Cassia is not entirely a dyeing plant but since it has some very light dyeing potential it is usually put together with henna and indigo. It’s also called “colorless henna”. It may leave a yellowish stain on very light or gray hair because of an antraquinone molecule it contains, otherwise it’s indeed colorless.
I’m not dyeing my hair anymore so that’s what I’m using right now. It has great conditioning properties and leaves hair feeling somewhat thicker and shinier. I haven’t really investigated the chemistry, but the reason is likely a mixture of stuff like polysaccharides and mucillages (like in many plant products).
Cleansing plants
Shikakai / Acacia concinna
This one is obtained from its seed pods and contains saponins, molecules that act as surfactants and can wash stuff - including hair. The paste made with shikakai powder is acidic, so the hair looks pretty shiny after the wash, but please do close your eyes or you’ll regret it
Soap nuts / Sapindus mukorossi and Sapindus saponaria
Basically the same thing as with shikakai (contain saponine compounds so they wash). I find them somewhat more aggressive than shikakai, but hell do they make foam
More plants
There are many other plants that you can find in any natural cosmetic or new age shop selling cosmetic products coming from mostly from India and Pakistan.
I don’t think any of those really does much of what they are advertised for, because even if they did contain some molecules that stimulate hair growth or contrast hair loss or do whatever hair-changing thing, the dose and exposure needed would be much, much higher than those of the standard and safe use of these botanical products.
Provided that you do not have any allergies, they don’t hurt. Popular plants with some conditioning effects are known as amla, sidr, brahmi, methi (fenugreek), and some others I forgot.
There is however one specific plant I would like to mention on account of being the one plant that I believe smells nice:
Kapoor kachli / Hedychium Spicatum
I don’t have much to say about this plant since I believe it does nothing, but it smells nice and I add it to my cassia mud just for that.
today i have an update on the hair dyeing situation: here’s when i started vs. first henna application vs. today (about a month later - beware, however: it’s not only henna; more on that below)
so what i did was hennaing three times, on weekends: twice with only henna, once with a henna gloss (meaning half henna paste, half conditioner). the last application last friday was not henna but a temporary dye (specifically dark tulip by la riche/directions).
it sounds like cheating but that’s a way to boost the vibrancy of the color without damaging the hair or having weird color reactions with lawsone underneath.
those temporary dyes like la riche/directions and crazy colors are, from the formulation perspective, essentially conditioners. the ingredient list of the one i used is as follows:
Aqua (Pure), Cetearyl Alcohol, Distearoylethyl Hydroxyethylmonium Methosulfate (and) Cetearyl Alcohol, Ceteareth-20, Propylene Glycol, Citric Acid, Methylparaben, Formic Acid, Basic Violet 16, Basic Red 51, HC Yellow No.4, HC Blue No.15.
most of the formula is indeed a rather standard conditioner, but with a blend of temporary dyes that can sit on the hair and give it a different hue for a while, being gradually washed away. the mechanism is therefore different from permanent or oxidative dyes that can permanently bind to the hair (damaging it in the process). it’s a way to highlight the color i already had underneath, which was already quite red because of the three henna applications.
oh and by the way i will now decrease the henna frequency to about once a month, using the temporary dyes from time to time. the reason for hennaing that often was to build up some color, but now i’ll put some more distance between applications as it is not necessary to apply henna much more often than every four weeks.
i know i know, i have asks to answer, but i had a thought about the target markets of the cosmetic industry and how not to waste your money and wanted to share
so long story short, in my opinion (which is based on knowledge about cosmetic formulation and not on being a dermatologist, which i am not - that is, none of this is medical advice), a lower-tier target market is not an index of lower quality of the cosmetic product.
cosmetic products fall under a certain set of categories from the point of view of formulation and of what they are supposed to do. a cleanser is generally a gel- or cream-like product that should cleanse. a moisturizer is a cream- or lotion-like product supposed to create a barrier on your skin to reduce water loss. a serum is a product containing a (hopefully) concentrated amount of specific ingredients. products can vary in terms of the fancy ingredients they may contain, but the ingredients that are essential to do the actual job are chosen from the same pool, regardless of the brand.
there are different markets targeted by the industry, and these are what dictates the price of the product. so it’s not the quality and it’s not the effectiveness, but rather the market “tier”.
i couldn’t find an “official” chart of these but i’d say the traditional macro areas are the drugstore tier, the luxury tier and the pharmacy tier. there are also some other areas, like the aesthetician tier and the organic/natural cosmetic tier. some are pretty expensive, like the luxury tier (the ones you find in perfume shops - example: estée lauder, lancôme) and the aesthetician tier (the ones they use in professional beauty studios, example: reviderm). the pharmacy tier (examples: la roche posay, cerave) and organic cosmetic tier (example: lavera, sante) can vary a lot in prices and go from almost-drugstore prices to almost-luxury prices. the drugstores also offer a variety of brands, some more expensive than others, but generally also have either own brands or popular brands that are in the lower price category.
but the point is: the effectiveness of a product does not depend on the tier it belongs to. and even pharmacy tier products can be tainted by marketing, claims and current trends.
to navigate this sea of marketing, you need to understand what a product is supposed to do and what ingredients are only claims.
one thing i learned recently for myself, for example, is that having combination skin prone to breakouts does not mean you should use those aggressive “purifying” cleanser. these may strip your skin of its barrier, only adding to the constant inflammation state and making you need even more products for fighting breakouts.
a simple cleanser that has nothing but mild surfactants should do the job of cleaning the skin. these are typically the mild cleansers for dry skin.
the same goes for moisturizers. what they should do is create a barrier on your skin. a lot of products marketed for combination or oily skin (in any market tier) do not succeed in that.
do these need to be expensive for being effective? no. they just need to have a decent formulation.
i don’t like to advertise brands but i would like to give some examples of what i think are simple and effective formulations that do their job without costing a fortune. some of the products below are pharmacy tier or kinda drugstore tier but on the pricier side. i’m sure there are similar basic formulations that cost even less. i put some links so you can see the ingredient lists (they link to european websites - cerave is available also in the US but i noticed they have slightly different products)
mild cleanser for dry skin (cerave)
moisturizing cream for dry/very dry skin (cerave) - this one comes in a big jar of about 400 g and can be used for anything, so even if the jar itself costs about 17-18 €, it’s a good deal
3.5% hyaluronic acid serum (aromazone) - i’m not sure 3.5% is really necessary but aromazone is a brand that was born for DIYers, so they are very transparent as regards the concentrations and ingredients of their own finished products. i tend to prefer brands that give the actual percentages for serums because otherwise there is a high chance that there are only traces of the ingredient you’re interested in.
10% glycolic acid serum (also aromazone; the ordinary also has one)
1% retinol in squalane (the ordinary) - the ordinary is a very hyped brand and does have a few products that fall inside the marketing claim category, but i generally appreciate the indication of the percentages of the active ingredients
30% AHA + BHA (the ordinary) - one of the few concentrated exfoliants out there, again i appreciate the percentage
and the most basic sunscreen i know, but that is not a cream so it doesn’t feel too heavy (but my husband says it smells like beach) - this one from dm
my favorite super boring and sulfate-based shampoo from dm for 0.65 €
for the records, a basic skincare routine does not really require any serum. you can live peacefully with a cleanser, a moisturizer and sunscreen. save your money for your crafting hobbies!
thanks for reading this long thought, i hope it… was somewhat useful
Update on my “user experience” - using products I know don’t do the magic they claim but help me earn “I’m taking care of the nail problem”-points
Here’s a before-after one week of “user experience”
What I’ve been using this week is the product with the ridiculous name (“keratin booster”), the nail/cuticle cream and the oil, 2-3 times a day on bare nails
I think what did most of the job were the cream and the oil and the job they did was keeping the skin around the nail soft and nourished, so it looks better
I don’t think there have been major changes to the surface of the nail and the growth is at a standard rate.
Yet I haven’t been biting my nails and I’m getting closer to the point of no return where I’m happy with how they look and so I won’t be tempted to pick them, so the mission has been accomplished
For the next week the “user experience” plan is to use the “s.o.s. base” and keep using the cream/nail oil
Also friends don’t forget that chemistry asks are open so you’re free to ask anything about what’s inside stuff you put on your skin and why
Official “ask your chemist friend” post: ASKS OPEN
I really like to ramble about everyday chemistry and posting my chemistry log, but I don’t always know what to talk about and what people would like to know about the products we use or the stuff we eat
So here’s where you could help me: if you were looking for someone to ask dumb questions to about everyday chemistry, jump to my ask box!
I (try to) answer questions about:
- Cosmetic products my beloved - you can ask general questions about cosmetic chemistry, send the formulation of a product, ask how something is made, what I think about a cosmetic claim, stuff like that
- Food chemistry - what’s inside stuff, why do we use eggs for baking, how is cheese made, stuff like that
- Household cleaning products, like, should you really ditch your beloved baking soda
- To some extent I accept questions about drugs and generally the pharmacy area BUT
By NO MEANS I can give medical advice. I only talk about chemistry of things and at most some purely cosmetic procedures, so I can tell you how tablets are made but not what medicament to take for your problem
ASK AWAY, give my doctorate in formulation a meaning since I don’t use it for my real life job
I know there’s google for that but isn’t tumblr a cooler place for asking stuff to strangers
Let’s talk about household cleaning products. Apologies - it will be a long ass post because I like to clean (weird I know) and I like cleaning products and making them (even weirder).
Maybe you saw my silly post a while ago, begging the world to stop using vinegar and baking soda alone. Now I feel like I should elaborate on this. Also maybe you’re on a budget and wonder if you can make effective cleaning products yourself, saving money and plastic bottles.
FATTY FACTS ABOUT CLEANING
First things first: what do we do when we “clean”?
Here, I’m talking about cleaning hard surfaces and sanitary ware. When we “clean”, we aim at removing dirt and possibly microbes like bacteria and yeast.
Dirt is commonly made of fat stuff.
Microbes have cell membranes, which are also mostly made of fat stuff (I’m making it simpler than it actually is, but at the end of the day it is fat stuff)
So when we clean, we want to dissolve fat stuff: this will carry away the dirt and destroy the membranes of microorganisms.
Vinegar is an acidic aqueous solution. Washing soda (sodium carbonate) or baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) are inorganic salts that form alkaline aqueous solutions. Neither vinegar nor carbonate/bicarbonate interacts with fat stuff, strictly speaking. So, they do not “clean” on their own. At most, they make microogranisms’ life a bit uglier because of their pH, or in the case of carbonate/bicarbonate used directly as powders, they might remove some dirt by simple abrasion - something any crystalline powder could do.
The only things that interact with “fat stuff” are other “fat stuff” (oils) and surfactants. I think it’s self explanatory that we won’t clean anything with oil, because we’d replace greasy dirt with more grease. But surfactants could do!
Surfactants are amazing molecules that can interact with water and fat stuff. When an aqueous solution of surfactant meets an oily substance, the surfactants will interact with it and envelop it in “micelles”, think about them as small spheres acting as shuttles for the oils, allowing them to enjoy their stay as a suspension in water. When washing away the surfactant solution, the fats are carried away by the micelles and the surface is clean.
(The same concept applies to any detergent we use in cosmetics and that is supposed to “wash”: hand soap, shampoo, body wash; and also dish soap - they all act in the same way)
(Also btw surfactants are also the heroes who keep lotions and creams together - even those that are not supposed to “wash”. Different kind of surfactants, but they kinda do the same job)
Surfactants used in household products (and in personal care products) are generally mixtures of anionic, nonionic and amphoteric surfactants. Standard surfactants that you'll find and use in household products are sodium lauryl sulfate and sodium laureth sulfate (anionic), alkyl glucosides (nonionic) and to a lesser extent betaines (amphoteric). For the record, fabric softeners usually contain yet another type of surfactant, the cationic ones like quaternary ammonium compounds, which incidentally are the same used in hair conditioners. You'd be surprised to learn how many ingredients are used for both heavy duty/household cleaning products and personal care products, since what matters is the formulation rather than the ingredient itself.
KEY QUESTIONS WHEN MAKING THESE PRODUCTS
When it comes to making your own cleaning supplies, or considering if a product will work, in my view there are a few key questions you need to ask:
1) Do you need a surfactant (do you need to “clean”)? Most times the answer is yes. I mean, these products have basically one job?
2) Do you need acidic pH? The answer is generally yes when you need to remove limescale (sanitary ware, purely limescale-removing products). One of the most stupid things I read online is when people use washing soda to attempt removing limescale: limescale is mostly calcium carbonate, an inorganic salt that dissolves in acidic solutions. Smearing an alkaline solution on it essentially means feeding it with its bro sodium carbonate who will join the limescale party.
3) Do you need a preservative system? The safe, textbook answer is always: yes. Cleaning products like the ones I make have extreme pH, which means that common contaminants will not want to grow there. But the risk is not zero - extremophiles exist. You can either accept this risk and try to minimize it as much as you can (make small quantities that you use quickly; sterilize bottles; boil the water you use), or you can get a preservative system that works at extreme pH.
4) Is the product supposed to be rinsed off? This affects the concentration of surfactants you will use. Small amounts of surfactants generally do not require rinsing, so they can be used in spray cleaners for hard surfaces.
BASIC INGREDIENTS ON A BUDGET
Here’s the essentials list:
Liquid dish soap: this is your surfactant system. If you are really but really into DIY, you could get an anionic primary surfactant and a secondary surfactant separately and make your own system, but why bother? Liquid dish soap can be bought for cheap at the drugstore and already contains a balanced surfactant system.
Citric acid (pure, in crystals): you can find it at the drugstore, usually sold as anti-limescale product; it’s your guy for lowering pH and dissolving limescale.
Washing soda (sodium carbonate): I think it is available at the drugstore; its role is mainly to make the pH of non-acidic products very unfriendly to contaminants.
Alcohol (isopropanol): isopropanol or isopropyl alcohol is the main component of rubbing alcohol; online you can also find it with high concentration (99%). Great ingredient for hard surfaces and glass.
Some optional ingredients:
Preservative system: see above - the safe tip is that this is not really optional, the budget tip is “if you don’t use it, be aware of risks and try to minimize them”
Essential oils: if you want things to smell nice
Food coloring: if you want things to look fancy
pH strips: to make sure your product has a really nasty and evil pH
Xanthan gum: a gel building agent is a nice addition for those products that are typically available as gels, like toilet cleaners. It’s not an essential one because it does not change the cleaning effectiveness - just the handiness of the product. Many gel builders exist and some are likely better than XG but this one is cheap and easy to find.
You'll also need some containers for the products: generally, spray bottles and if you make a toilet cleaner, one of those curiously shaped toiler cleaner bottles. The best way to save money and plastic there is to recycle the bottles from commercial products once you're done using them.
FORMULATION EXAMPLES
I'll admit that I tend to change the formulations "freehand" every time I make a new batch, but to give you an idea of how a product can be made, below are some examples.
Disclaimer: if you try this at home, I take zero responsibility if anything goes downhill. Even when ingredients look harmless, chemistry can be a bitch. Never breathe the stuff. Never touch anything that is notoriously very acidic or very alkaline with your bare hands. Be aware of the possible microbial contamination when doing anything at home. Consider if your furniture is sensitive and should not cleaned with this kind of stuff.
Spray for hard surfaces
about 10 wt% isopropyl alcohol
about 0.5 wt% sodium carbonate
about 10 wt% liquid dishsoap
the remaining up to 100 wt% water
pH of this kind of product will be 10-11; if you want to use a preservative system, it must be one that is active at this extreme pH. As a fragrance for this kind of product, I personally like orange or lemongrass. I don't bother dyeing cleaning products anymore, but if I did I would dye it orange.
Kitchen cleaner (to be rinsed off)
about 20 wt% liquid dishsoap
about 0.5 wt% sodium carbonate
the remaining up to 100 wt% water
pH will be around 10-11, see above. The main difference with the other spray is that it contains more surfactant and no alcohol. The surfactant concentration makes it useful for cleaning greasy stuff in the kitchen or the kitchen sink, and rinsing it off is a good idea. Alcohol is not included in this one because there is no need for the shiny lab desk-like instant-drying effect that one may like for hard surfaces like a table or a counter top. As fragrance, I like citronella. I'd dye it yellow.
Toilet cleaner
about 0.5 wt% xanthan gum
about 25 wt% liquid dish soap
about 1 wt% citric acid
the remaining up to 100 wt% water
This one has a very low (acidic) pH - it's a standard for most sanitary ware cleaners, because they are constantly in contact with water and build up limescale. Xanthan gum makes it become a gel, which is typical for this product type. As fragrance, I like lavender. I'd dye it blue/violet.
Sanitary ware spray (to be rinsed off)
about 20 wt% liquid dish soap
about 1 wt% citric acid
the remaining up to 100 wt% water
This one is the opposite of the kitchen spray - very low pH because of the limescale thing. As for the fragrance, I'd go for lemongrass or lavender.
As a note: the last two products are not exactly badass disinfectant cleaners. They clean well because of the surfactants (which should also remove bacteria fairly well because of the massacre of cell membranes) but they do not have the same devastating power as hypochlorite-based cleaners. If you need something like that and like your bathroom to smell like a swimming pool (a valid point tbh), you should probably just buy a commercial hypochlorite-based product or buy a big bottle of sodium hypochlorite disinfection liquid (they sell it at the drugstore) and dilute it (like, 1:3) in water with some liquid dish soap.
Dishwasher finish liquid
about 15 wt% citric acid
the remaining up to 100 wt% water
I'm not a fan of any DIY recipe for dishwasher soap/tablets/powders or laundry products, because I think these machines are a delicate matter and the producers know better what should and should not be used with them. But the dishwasher finish liquid became my nemesis since I have a slightly bigger dishwasher that seems to feed on that thing and always asks for more.
I found out that a strong citric acid solution works very well as a finishing liquid, so maybe you could use it too.
Glass cleaner
about 50 wt% isopropyl alcohol
about 10 wt% liquid dish soap
a preservative system
the remaining up to 100 wt% water
The difference with the spray for hard surfaces is that this one has a lot more alcohol and does not include carbonates, meaning that the pH will be much less hostile for our microfriends. Hence the explicit mention of a preservative system (one that works at about neutral pH - although 50 wt% alcohol is already quite unfriendly on its own, but better safe than sorry)
Isopropyl alcohol on its own is actually great for glass and the screen of devices, but a bit of dish soap might be useful if there really is something to clean and not just to make shiny.
Thank you for reading until the end of my chemistry brainrot!
This year, I would like to go back to blogging about household cleaning products and cosmetic chemistry. Last year I tried to pick up this hobby again with a secondary blog, but I already have one secondary blog about W.I.T.C.H. that I tend to neglect, so I’ll just post some chemistry thoughts here on main when something comes up to my mind.
Today I’ll start with some background and with talking about a past hobby that was a huge part of my 20s, and that I never talk about: making cosmetics and household cleaning products at home.
When I was studying at the university, I became interested in cosmetic formulation. Funnily, this interest did not come directly from my studies (which were, in fact, about chemistry and formulation) but rather from my personal hair struggles. I'd been dyeing my hair red for a long time, and was frustrated that I never managed to get past shoulder length. I blamed the hair dyes, so I looked for information on how to dye hair red without dyeing (?!). Well, back then, the internet brought me to an Italian forum of long hair enthusiasts who dyed their hair with henna. In that community, people were slightly obsessed with natural cosmetics, and there was inevitably a group of people who dipped their toes into the DIY world.
So I realized that as someone who was studying exactly that kind of stuff, I should definitely try it out.
What makes DIY cosmetic formulation different from professional cosmetic formulation is that as a hobbyist, you only have access to a limited catalogue of ingredients. Mostly, you have access to "natural" ingredients or ingredients that have somewhat natural vibes, like ingredients that are certified as being suitable for organic/environmentally friendly cosmetic formulation. So in this regard, DIY cosmetic formulation required some additional studying to the dirty and evil chemistry I was learning at university.
Anyhow, I learned to make some products and had a lot of fun during my university years, even if my formulations back then were not the best.
(Meanwhile, about the hair situation: henna completely changed my hair and I had the best hair of my life)
During the PhD years I mostly abandoned this hobby and applying henna, because I was living in a different city and in a very small apartment. Also, I was spending my entire day in a lab and even though I enjoyed my research activity, I did not look forward to playing with labware at home as well.
After the PhD, I had a sort of sabbatical for quite a few months (read as: I struggled to find a job). I was then living in a bigger apartment and had lots of time at my disposal, and some money set aside, so I invested in getting my DIY cosmetic equipment back and went back to formulating. The years spent in research were very useful: although I did not specialize in cosmetics, my brain was now thinking like a scientist and I was fact-checking everything I came across in the DIY world before putting it into practice. Lots of experience in an actual lab also helped.
I shared my findings and formulations on a blog on Wordpress, which became quite successful over the years. I also wrote an ebook. My blog is not public anymore, but maybe one day I'll restore it.
These are some of my "creations":
As you can see I made lots of different things, and I liked solid cosmetics the most.
Things changed after I found a job and after my working hours gradually increased. Making cosmetics takes a lot of time - thinking, planning, making, and most of all cleaning up. I was also a little concerned about the stability of the products: while I took all possible precautions, used the right preservative systems and worked under the cleanest conditions I could, I still had no ways to check what the microbial stability of my stuff was.
As I also had other hobbies, but less and less free time, at some point I decided to abandon this one and use my free time to do something less challenging.
My interest for cosmetic chemistry, plastic-reduced options and product awareness is still high, though.
I also still make a few things myself: I still do henna, I make some simple products (like oils, occasionally hyaluronic acid gel, and stuff like that), and I make my household cleaning products (much easier to make than cosmetics).
In 2026 I would like to go back to some aspects of this old hobby that kept me company for many years: I'd like to share my knowledge, but in a less "Wiki-like" way than I did with my old blog, maybe help someone else who's looking for cosmetic and household solutions on a budget without having to get a doctorate in chemistry. Maybe I'll share some of my old articles and how I make the household cleaning products. I would like to recover my poor nails from the past months of salon visits, that will leave them in a very bad state after I'll remove the last gel application, and which will require some intense DIY care.
Since I'm not making complex cosmetics anymore, I'd like to just share some thoughts on the simple products I still make and on the products I buy (not in an influencer way - just about the ingredients they contain and what they do).
Let's see if I keep it up or if this will be the first and last entry of this log...
