I'M NOT A

chemist
BUT I LOVE
FORMULATING
WRITTEN BY GABRIELLE COLLINS
 TABLE OF
contents
The goal of this book is to explain the necessary steps to
properly create a formulation while understanding the
necessary components of the formulating process.

@prolificgabrielle @prolificgabrielle curlgirlgabby@gmail.com

4 Getting Started

5 Types of Formulas

6 What Is A Cosmetic Formula?

7 Formulating In Depth

11 Looking At Preservation

15 Reducing Microbial Contamination

16 pH Importance

17 Formulating Templates

19 Hair Typing

25 Cosmetic Resources &

Packaging Suppliers
 sta r t e d Getting

*Disclaimer: This book is meant to ONLY give you a start at what making cosmetic
emulsions consist of. This is in no way meant to be a definitive source of research. You are
highly encouraged to do more research upon reading this information to consistently grow
and learn. Outside help is also encouraged no matter if it's a chemist, scientist, or
professional formulator.

SANITATION FIRST
As you know, working in a sanitary environment when making cosmetics is a priority. This
step cannot be skipped because you want to ensure the safety of your emulsions as well as
cleanliness. This will help to keep down the possibility of contamination within your
emulsions so that you're able to avoid the growth of bacteria at all causes.

This is especially important if you plan to sell your products and make a business out of it. You
want to ensure the highest quality possible for your products. If your products are not of high
quality, your customers will know, you will know, and it could possibly make you lose business
as well as interest in making your cosmetics.

KEY STEPS TO FOLLOW:

Disinfect anything that you will be working with to prepare your emulsions. This includes
your surface area, equipment, hands, etc.
Make sure to keep your hair up and out of the way when dealing with making cosmetics,
it's good practice to cover your hair at all times while making cosmetics.
Wear disposable gloves as well as a face mask at all times while working with cosmetic
making.
Any final container that you decide to package your products in, make sure to disinfect it
as well with alcohol to minimize contamination.
Make sure to have all the necessary equipment to make your emulsions such as mixers, pH
indicators, stick blenders, scale, etc.
CLEANLINESS IS PRIORITY!!
 form u l a s Types of

In hair care formulating, there are three different types of formulas. Each of them are very
different in the ways that they are created and function.

AQUEOUS
An aqueous formulation is anything formulated to contain water. These are mainly products
that are water based, or containing water-soluble ingredients. These types of formulations
will require a preservation system because any formulation containing water has more of an
ability to be contaminated thus grow bacteria.

Water-based products, or aqueous formulas would be products such as shampoos,

lightweight hair sprays/mists, hair rinses, hair gels, hair toners, etc.

ANHYDROUS
An anhydrous formulation is anything formulated to contain oil. These are mainly products
that are oil based, or containing oil-soluble ingredients. These types of formulations will not
require a preservation system because of the nature of the product not requiring any water.
Remember, water in products is key to contamination and bacterial growth.

For anhydrous products, antioxidants can come in handy when trying to extend the shelf life.
Since oils can become rancid, basically, antioxidants slow the process of oxidation within
these types of products making it less of an issue for them to become rancid so quickly. Oil-
based products, or anhydrous formulas would be products such as dry shampoos, lightweight
hair oils, hair/body butters, etc.

EMULSION
An emulsion formulation is anything formulated to contain water and oil mixed. These are
mainly products that contain water-soluble & oil-soluble ingredients. These types of
formulations will defnitely require a preservation system because of the nature of the
product requiring water, it will also need an emulsifier and stabilizer in many cases.

Emulsions would be products such as hair conditioners/masks, hair milks/lotions, hair

creams, etc.
WHAT IS A COSMETIC
FORMULA?
A cosmetic formula is just a fancy way to create a
recipe more professionally. A cosmetic formula is
made up of cosmetic ingredients that are separated
into various phases to create an end product for
hair, skin, etc.

STEPS TO CREATING
A FORMULA...

THE CONCEPT
1
This is where you'll think about what
product(s) you want to make. You want to
think about all characteristics of the
product(s). Think about how you want the
product to perform, what you want it to do,
what you want the texture to be like. Take
notes on all of this before you start.

IDENTIFY A STARTING FORMULA

2
Formulas can be hard to come by from
scratch, especially if you're new to this. Try
to find sources that have a good formulary
with starting formulas that you can begin to Once you get the hang of things, you'll develop
work with. Ingredient suppliers or cosmetic your own unique style of formulating. Be
books may be a great start. proud!

PREP YOUR TEST BATCH TEST THE PROTOTYPE

3 6
Once you've identified your starting
formula, you want to put ingredients in
place. Figure out how much of each
ingredient will go into the formula and the
correct phase each will need to go into. Get
your formula sheet prepared.
You've created some magic here...or so you
think. This is the time that you need to test
out your product. Does it do what you
intended for it to do? How does the product
feel? Did you lose water, replace the loss
water. Do you like it? Complete a stability
test. Don't forget to test the pH.

PREP EQUIPMENT REVISIONS

4
7
Gather up all of your needed equipment to
This step is super important. You will need
make your test batch. Make sure all of your
to evaluate your prototype very well to see
tools are sterilized. Make sure everything is
if this is a product that you would use and
setup properly so that you have no issues
sell. Make sure that all measurements add
when making your test batch.
up. Make sure that all performance tests
and stability tests are complete. Revise the
formula to meet your exact needs. The
THE PROTOTYPE more you do this, the more you'll get the
5 hang of playing around with ingredients
It's time to begin. At this point you want to and figure out which ones don't suit you
began the mixing magic. Make sure to follow best.
all instructions of your cosmetic
formulation and take notes along the
process. Figure out what works and what
doesn't.
 d e p t h
Formulating in

Let's dive into how to write formulas. Remember, formulas are a more professional way of
creating a recipe...but they are NOT to be mixed up with one another because there is a
difference between them.

HOW TO WRITE FORMULAS

Cosmetic formulas require thorough research. To properly write a cosmetic formula, you
must incorporate all parts of what will be included in a cosmetic formulation. See example
chart below of how a formulation should look. ***Please note this is NOT a formula and should
not be used as a starter formula, this is merely an example of how a formulation should be put
together.

PHASE INCI TRADE NAME FUNCTION (W/W) %

ALOE BARBADENSI S
PHASE A ALOE VERA JUI CE BOTANI CAL 15
LEAF JUI CE

GUAR
PHASE A HYDROXYPROPYLTRI MO GUAR GUM CONDI TI ONER 0. 8
NI UM CHLORI DE
ORGANI C
BUTYROSPERMUM
PHASE B 3
SHEA BUTTER
Thu PARKI I ( SHEA)
BUTTER
EMOLLI ENT

PHASE B STEARAMI DOPROPYL CONDI TI ONER 2. 0

CONDI TI ONER SD
DI METHYLAMI NE

HYDROLYZED SI LK
PHASE C SI LK PROTEI N PROTECTANT 1.2
PROTEI N

BENZYLALCOHOL,
PHASE C BENZYLALCOHOL- DHA DEHYDROACETI C PRESERVATI VE 0. 5
ACI D

PHASE A PHASE A PHASE A

PHASE A
PHASE C
FORMULA BREAK-DOWN
PHASE A PHASE A PHASE A
PHASE A
So nowCthat you have an idea of how to create a formula. Let's break down each part of a
PHASE
formula so that you can better understand why it is created this way.
PHASE A
 d e p t h
Formulating in

A cosmetic formulation is made up of phases, inci, trade names, their functions, and the
weight of each ingredient.

PHASES
A formulation is broken down into phases. Each phase is for specific ingredients. Let's take a
look at what kinds of ingredients would go into each phase.

Phase A - This phase is generally water based or water-soluble ingredients. This phase may or
may not need to be heated depending on what type of product you are making.
Water
Botanicals
Humectants
Some Thickeners/Conditioning Agents (Guar Gum)
Some Stabilizers (Sodium Gluconate)
Some Proteins

Phase B - This phase is generally oil based or oil-soluble ingredients. This phase generally
needs heating due to emulsifiers being used that may need to melt prior to incorporating into
phase A.
Surfactants (Shampoos)
Oils
Butters
Waxes (Emulsifiers)
Thickeners
Emollients
Conditioners

Phase C - This phase is generally a mixture of cool down ingredients. This phase is only added
once an emulsion has completely cooled enough to add these ingredients or you can
destabilize your creation.
Preservatives
Some Proteins
Fragrance
Antioxidants
 d e p t h
Formulating in

A cosmetic formulation is made up of phases, inci, trade names, their functions, and the
weight of each ingredient.

INCI
Not many understand what the INCI of an ingredient is. This is just a fancy name for an
ingredient in the cosmetic world. INCI stands for International Nomenclature of Cosmetic
Ingredients. This is the name that you always want to put on your labels for your ingredient
list. This is the proper way to label products.

TRADE NAME
The trade name for a cosmetic ingredient is the name that we can more comfortably identify.
This is the name that we would be able to most effectively identify in an ingredient list. You
may find suppliers that will go by the trade name more so than the INCI of the ingredient. You
can list the trade name of ingredients on your labels in parenthesis with the INCI for more of
a reference to your customers.

FUNCTION
This is super important in a cosmetic formulation. You don't just want to get in the kitchen
and start mixing up ingredients that may not be useful or functional to your formulation. It is
important to research the functions of the ingredients that you intend to use in your
formulations to ensure quality and effectiveness. Some ingredients function to be a
humectant, such as glycerin or honey. There are the ingredients that function to be hair
repair agents or protectants such as proteins. Be sure to understand your formulation and
know what exactly you want your product to do so that you are not adding in unnecessary
ingredients.

(W/W) %
This is the most important part of a formulation. One key thing to remember is that your
formulation MUST EQUAL 100%. If your formulations do not equal 100% than you need to
revise your formula. You always want to measure by weight rather than volume so that your
batches are adequate every time. You will need a scale for this, measuring spoons and
utensils are not accurate for formulating.
 d e p t h
Formulating in

Formulations and recipes...aren't they the same? Let's talk about it.

RECIPES VS. FORMULAS

Formulas should not be mistaken with recipes. When creating a recipe, you would be mostly
measuring with tablespoons, 1/2 cups, pinches here and there, etc.

These are not going to work for a formulation because if you created a test batch that you
liked, you would not be able to replicate it again in a bigger batch because the recipe did not
call for weight and percentages.

It is not going to be accurate to convert 1/2 cup of a 100g test batch to 3,629g. This will make
your product inconsistent.

WHY USE FORMULAS INSTEAD?

Your formula will be able to be converted into bigger batch sizes which is definitely needed in
the long run when you need to make more product. This will keep your product being
consistent and more importantly accurate each time. You will know that your ingredients are
being used safely when you are using them at the recommended usage rates.

Using a formula will not only ensure consistency, but it will minimize the amount of mistakes
made thus saving a lot of expensive ingredients from being wasted.

When using a formulas, you can easily revise your formula by the percentage which will
continue to allow for consistency within your batches no matter the size.
LOOKING AT
PRESERVATION
This is the most triggering topic when starting a
cosmetic business. Many are not really sure about
preservation when it comes to their cosmetic
creations. There is so much to learn about the
preservation process...so let's break it down!

HOW DOES CONTAMINATION

EVEN HAPPEN?

WATER IMPACT ON
PRESERVATION
Always use distilled water or deionized water because they are said to be more pure than
using tap water. With using tap water or even mineral water, they contain impurities and
other chemicals that can either destabilize your products or even lessen the shelf life of your
products which causes issues with preservation.

Now let's get a little scientific for a moment when looking at water activity in products. We all
know that microorganisms only survive in water right?

So the amount of water that is available for the microorganisms to grow has a huge impact on
whether or not your product will be prone to contamination. To make this easier to
understand, bacteria, mold, and yeasts cannot grow below a certain amount of water activity
within a product.

This is why sometimes you'll see glycerin, butylene glycol, propylene glycol, propanediol, and
others within a cosmetic because they help to reduce the amount of water activity within a
formulation. Usually these ingredients are added to the water phase of formulations as well.

Other ingredients that work to reduce the amount of water activity in products are silicones,
sugars, as well as salts. Many people try to avoid these ingredients within their formulations
for specific reasons.

Again, do your research and do what works best for you and your products.

All in all, placing an adequate amount of a broad-spectrum preservative will eliminate the
growth of microorganisms within your product.

@prolificgabrielle @prolificgabrielle curlgirlgabby@gmail.com

pr e s e r v a t i o n Looking At

Preservation goes even deeper...

ANTIOXIDANTS
Be sure not to confuse antioxidants with preservatives. Antioxidants only work to extend the
shelf life slightly of oil based products, not products containing water in them.

It is important to remember that products containing oil are more prone to contamination,
bacterial growth, and fungi. Using an antioxidant for these types of product will NOT work to
protect the product against these factors, and your product will not last.

Vitamin E is a great example of an antioxidant. You may see this on the ingredient list of
several cosmetic products, however, the products containing water will have an added
preservative to the list. DO YOUR RESEARCH.

TESTING FOR
CONTAMINATION
All formulas, no matter what should be tested for microbial contamination. How testing
ideally works is, the first sample after you've created the prototype of your dreams should be
tested about 24-48 hours for the initial testing phase.

You'll also test the sample after about one week, two weeks, one month, two months, and three
months.

If you've noticed little changes within the product after these time intervals, it's probably safe
to say that your product can withstand at room temperature for approximately one year.

There are at home kits that can be purchased to help test whether a product has been
contaminated. The most thorough testing is done in a laboratory of course due to the nature
of labs having the proper equipment needed. A great investment for you would be to
purchase and incubator to do your microbial testing.
pr e s e r v a t i o n Looking At
How about we make preservation a little more clear?

WHY IS A PRESERVATIVE
NEEDED?
Implementing a preservative is essential to help prevent microbial contamination. Basically,
when a preservative is added, it stops the growth of bacteria, yeast, and mold by killing the
cells thus will protect your products from causing irritation, going rancid, and or being
harmful to your consumer.  

WHEN SHOULD YOU ADD A

PRESERVATIVE?
Whenever you make a product that contains water or has the possibility of containing water,
you should add a preservative. Examples of water-based ingredients are:
Aloe Vera Juice
Botanical Extracts
Hydrosols
Milk (Goats Milk)
Just to name a few. If you are creating a product for hair that does not contain water, be sure
to instruct your consumers to keep the product away from water. Sometimes, we have wet
hands when using our products, make sure to tell your consumers to use on dry hair if it will
not have a preservative in it. You can also have your consumers refrigerate the product and it
may last for a few days or weeks.

WHY CAN'T I JUST USE AN

ANTIOXIDANT?
There's a lot of buzz about antioxidants being preservatives or sufficient enough in cosmetic
applications. Familiar antioxidants such as Vitamin E, Rosemary, Grapefruit Seed Extract, and
many others are commonly mistaken to be preservatives.

These will only suffice for slowing down the process of oxidation thus keeping the oils from
being rancid so quickly ONLY if water will not come into contact with the product. Therefore,
if you're making a hair butter with only oils, using one or more of these antioxidants will
slightly extend the shelf life of the product.

These antioxidants however, WILL NOT protect your product against mold, yeast, and bacteria.
pr e s e r v a t i o n Looking At
How about we make preservation a little more clear?

HOW DO I KNOW IF MY PRODUCT

IS PRESERVED CORRECTLY?
The only real way to know is not by sight or smell, but by TESTING. Most labs will test a
sample against bacterial cultures but since the average individual would not have access to
this in their homes, you would perform an at home microbial test with a test kit that can be
purchased from ingredient suppliers.

WHAT DOES PH HAVE TO DO

WITH PRESERVATIVES?
pH is a major factor in preservation because bacteria depends on certain pH ranges to grow
and develop. This is why you will see many ingredient suppliers list ideal pH ranges for certain
ingredients. This is also why you'll see a lot of preservatives being ineffective at certain pH
ranges that are too high or too low.

If you happen to use a preservative that only works via pH ranges 4-5.5 but your product is
has a pH of 6, your preservative may very well be ineffective and bacteria could still thrive
within your product.

WHAT PRESERVATIVE SHOULD I

USE?
In the cosmetic world, they always recommend a mixture of preservatives as it is said to give
broad spectrum protection against the growth of bacteria, yeast, and mold.

Some preservatives only protect against mold, others may only protect against gram positive
bacteria, others may only protect against yeast.

This is where good research comes into place because you want a mixture of a broad range of
protection in your products.

However, you want to use these mixtures of preservatives at a low usage level so that you
don't create too much irritation upon use and you also do not want to destabilize your
product which can happen using too much preservative.

Tip: Be sure to use a preservative blend which is broad spectrum. This means it protects
against gram positive bacteria, gram negative bacteria, mold, and yeast.
REDUCING MICROBIAL
CONTAMINATION
Below is a list of tips that can help you to reduce the
chances for microbial contamination within your
cosmetics. Make sure to follow all guidelines to
reducing contamination and as always DO YOUR
RESEARCH!

TIPS TO REDUCE
CONTAMINATION...

USE PRESERVATIVES
1
Many preservatives can be added directly to
the water phase of your products. Others
can be added at the very end and still be
very effective. You do not want to add
preservatives in the oil phase, research this
more.

MIX PRESERVATIVES
2
Always consider mixing your preservatives
in safe amounts of course. This will help to
protect against bacteria, mold,yeast, and
fungi. *A chelating agent basically boosts the
preservatives efficacy in the product.

MINIMIZE WATER ACTIVITY ADJUST PH

3 6
Adding a small amount of either glycerin,
propanediol, propylene glycol, or other
similar ingredients to the water phase can
lower the water activity. Do not use too
much of one of these as it can make your
product feel sticky.
Make sure that the pH level of the
formulation is where it should be for the
preservative that you decide to use. This
will allow the preservative to do its job in
inhibiting growth of bacteria, mold, yeast,
and fungi.

4
STRENGTHEN PRESERVATIVES HOW DO I ADJUST PH?
You can add a little EDTA, which is a
Test the pH with either a pH meter or strip
*chelator into the water phase once heated
to figure out the initial pH of your product.
in order to make your preservation system
If your pH is too low, consider adding
more effective. Citric acid could be used as
triethanolamine (TEA) which will increase
well or even sodium gluconate and others.
the pH. If your pH is too high, add citric
Research this more in depth as well.
acid to decrease the pH. Whichever you
use, make sure to add it into your product
ADD ANTIOXIDANTS slowly because pH can change drastically.
5
So we know that antioxidants are not
sufficient enough on their own. However,
adding them to your product can help to
boost preservation since they have
antimicrobial properties.
Im p o r t a n c e pH
All this talk about pH...but why?

WHAT IS PH AND WHY

IS IT IMPORTANT?
pH is a scale of how acidic or alkaline a solution is. This scale ranges from 0 to 14. 0 is where
the scale sees the most acidic solutions and 14 is the most alkaline (basic) a solution is.

To break it down more, anything below 7 is acidic and anything higher than 7 is alkaline
(basic). A 7 is considered to be a neutral pH. pH is measured when dealing with solutions that
contain water in them.
 
When it comes to the hair, it is hard to repair damaged hair. Perms, coloring, bleaching, etc.
can all lead to damaged hair because these solutions are in the pH range opposite of what the
natural hairs pH should be.

If you happen to use products that are not in the correct pH range, you may notice that your
hair is more easily tangled, maybe super dry, brittle, breaks too easily, or even difficult to
style.

Incorrect pH does not allow for the hair cuticle to close, making it more susceptible to
damage. It is super important to use products within the correct pH range to minimize the
occurrence of damage to the hair and scalp.
 
When making hair products, make sure that you are ALWAYS testing the pH to make sure
that it is in the safe range for hair.

You don’t want your consumers having any irritations to their scalps or disliking your
products because they feel that their hair is being damaged. You don’t want your products to
do more harm than good.

To be sure this does not happen, make sure that your products have a pH somewhere
between 4 and 7 at best.

As always, DO YOUR RESEARCH!

 Ty p i n g Hair
Why even talk about hair typing?

HAIR TYPING, WHY IS IT

IMPORTANT?
Many do not like to hair type, others don't really have a view on it. Hair typing plays an
important role in product formulating because certain hair textures do not take too well with
certain ingredients. It is important to understand who you're targeting so that your products
work for the hair types that you want them to work for.

HAIR TYPES

1 2a 2b 2c 3a 3b 3c 4a 4b 4c
WHAT PRODUCTS MATTER TO
HAIR TYPING?
Let's look specifically at conditioners for this matter. Most conditioners, if not all, consists of
many emollients, thickeners, emulsifiers, humectants, etc. You don't want to create a
conditioner high in emollients for hair types 1-2 because those hair types may be oily enough
and weighed down, thus they would be looking for a product to do the opposite for their hair.

For hair types 3-4, conditioners high in emollients would be fine since this type of hair is
generally more on the dry side especially during the cold winter months.

Make sure to study your target market to know what they do and don't like for their hair.
f o r m u l a t e ? Ready To

These next few pages are formulating templates for you to create your very own professional
formulas. Make sure to write your business name, product title, and properties of your
product on every formulation page. This is important so that you know exactly what they
product is and what it does. If you need to make revisions write that on your original template
and then recreate it for a cleaner look.

The following pages are instruction pages for what you should remind yourself to do as you
are making your formulation. Be very specific and let yourself know what ingredients should
be mixed at the same time, or one by one. Make sure to always follow your instructions very
carefully the same way each time to minimize mistakes.
Business Name:

Product Title:

Product Properties:

PHASE INCI TRADE NAME FUNCTION (W/W) %

Thu
Business Name:

Product Title:

Product Properties:

WHAT IS THE METHOD FOR

THIS PRODUCT?
In the space below write down your instructions for how you will put this product together.
Be very thorough, don't leave out any details. Write anything that you may have revised on
this page as well. Be sure to record everything that you do so that you remember to do it
exactly the same way for future batches. Remember always have fun and be creative!
Business Name:

Product Title:

Product Properties:

PHASE INCI TRADE NAME FUNCTION (W/W) %

Thu
Business Name:

Product Title:

Product Properties:

WHAT IS THE METHOD FOR

THIS PRODUCT?
In the space below write down your instructions for how you will put this product together.
Be very thorough, don't leave out any details. Write anything that you may have revised on
this page as well. Be sure to record everything that you do so that you remember to do it
exactly the same way for future batches. Remember always have fun and be creative!
Business Name:

Product Title:

Product Properties:

PHASE INCI TRADE NAME FUNCTION (W/W) %

Thu
Business Name:

Product Title:

Product Properties:

WHAT IS THE METHOD FOR

THIS PRODUCT?
In the space below write down your instructions for how you will put this product together.
Be very thorough, don't leave out any details. Write anything that you may have revised on
this page as well. Be sure to record everything that you do so that you remember to do it
exactly the same way for future batches. Remember always have fun and be creative!
 Cosmetic
Resources INGREDIENT SUPPLIERS

WWW.LOTIONCRAFTER.COM
WEBSITES, TOOLS, & MORE WWW.MAKINGCOSMETICS.COM
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WWW.BULKNATURALOILS.COM
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I wish you nothing but success in your endeavors!
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Thank you so much for supporting me and I hope
that I have helped you learn something that you had
PACKAGING SUPPLIERS
not known before. I hope to inspire many to never
give up on their journey. I hope that you are able to
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cosmetic line. I pray that you find the strength and WWW.CPRSALE.COM
guidance needed to continue to move forward with WWW.MIDWESTBOTTLES.COM
what God has in store for you. Well wishes &
blessings!
LABELS & GRAPHICS SUPPLIERS
-Gabby

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 You!
Thank

@prolificgabrielle @prolificgabrielle curlgirlgabby@gmail.com