Period After Opening Symbol
Do you know what this symbol means? Have you even noticed it before? You will find it on most, but not all, of the personal care products in your bathroom.
May 2013
Pantene Pro V Shampoo
When I first started working on cosmetic formulations back in the eighties, every month a list of the best selling shampoos in the UK market would appear. Sadly, I cannot remember who used to compile it. It wasn’t a tremendously exciting list- Head and Shoulders and Vosene were always at numbers one and two. They …
Witch Hazel In Eye Drops
Here is an interesting question from Claire Hi Colin, I was looking at some eye drops today fortired eyes (optrex- I think it was the refreshing ones) and I noticed that witch hazel and alcohol were listed as ingredients, I though that both of those were astringent and I can’t see how they could make …
Is Phenoxyethanol Banned in Japan?
Is Phenoxyethanol Banned in Japan? My recent post on phenoxyethanol prompted this question on Twitter. The answer is no it isn’t. Phenoxyethanol is limited to 1% in Japan exactly as it is in the European Union. But why did my twitter chum think it might be. I did a quick google and found that there …
Phenoxyethanol
Phenoxyethanol is a preservative that hasn’t gathered a huge amount of attention until recently. This is largely because of what it isn’t. It isn’t a formaldehyde donor. It isn’t particularly sensitising. It has never been linked with cancer. Basically it has kept its head down and nobody has taken a lot of notice of it. …
Phthalates, Fragrances and Pregnancy
Long standing reader Ffiona has not only a question but also some happy news as she expecting her first baby in July. Hello Colin love the blog I always scan my feeds to see if you have written anything new and read that first. I have another question, this time about phthalates. I have seen …
Caprylic Capric Triglyceride
The names of cosmetic ingredients, and food ingredients, often make them sound a lot more complicated than they really are. Caprylic capric triglyceride is a name that often appears on ingredient lists and I doubt that many people take much notice of it or wonder where it comes from. But it is, usually, simply a …
The Elves and the Shoemaker
I was listening to a talk about marketing the other day and the speaker referred to the old fairy story of the elves and the shoemaker. The shoemaker was down on his luck and down to his last pieces of leather. It was desperate times – even if he could make a pair of shoes from them the …
Is Titanium Dioxide Safe?
I enjoy being a cosmetic chemist, but like every job some things can be a bit tedious. None is more so than complying with legislation. In California they have a particularly irritating example of this in the form of a thing called Proposition 65, which includes a list of chemicals that California has decided are …
King of Shaves Azor 5 Review
I moved house a few weeks ago. Moving is a good opportunity to change habits and I have thought for a while I ought to improve my personal grooming skills. So I dumped all my products and personal care technology and I am now looking at replacing them all with new and better ones. So …
