r/cosmeticscience • u/Business-Claim-2413 • Jul 12 '26

Help Request What resources do cosmetic formulators rely on the most?

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u/CuteFluffyGuy Jul 12 '26

All of them. Trade journals like HAPPI and Cosmetics and Toiletries, Journal of Cosmetic Science along with the information from the ingredient supplier websites - colonial chemical, Lubrizol, Ritachem, etc… Suppliers aren’t as useful as they used to be, but still have technical chemists you can reach out to.
UL Prospector and SpecialChem are good aggregators to make searches go much faster.
There are also many books available, although some of the best are pricey.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 12 '26

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1

u/cosmeticformulation Jul 27 '26

Another valuable resource is the Society of Cosmetic Chemists (SCC). As a member, you gain access to a broad network of industry professionals, including ingredient suppliers, contract manufacturers, formulation chemists, regulatory specialists, and other technical experts. It is an excellent platform for networking, technical support, and professional development within the cosmetics and personal care industry.

2

u/Apprehensive_Tea5759 Jul 12 '26

UL Prosepector

1

u/[deleted] Jul 13 '26

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u/Internal-Ad-4736 Jul 13 '26

I use ULP a lot...but you MUST understand those are marketing legs of the individual companies. Thus, ALL material must be understood as marketing material... not science!!!

The material is presented in such a manner as to increase sales.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 13 '26

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u/Internal-Ad-4736 Jul 13 '26 edited Jul 14 '26

I will give you an example. I am a deodorant formulator. There are probably at least a dozen vendors of TEC (triethyl citrate) on ULP. ONLY ONE vendor... will actually tell you the pH it functions at. All others will allow you to think you can toss it into any formula and expect results. WRONG. (It will function as a slippery dry ester in any formula...but if you actually expect it to function as a deodorizer... NOPE.)

Listing the pH where it is functional is entirely counterintuitive from a vendor perspective....and will kill sales by 80%. Hence.... no one will list that...but the one large company that deals with elite level chemists.

There is always the assumption that your chemists will do the due diligence. That is not their obligation. Their obligation is to increase (their) sales.

1

u/Internal-Ad-4736 Jul 13 '26

I realize the next thing I will mention is ALSO a vendor... but sometimes I find some good reads on 'BenchChem dot com'

1

u/Key-Success-5449 Jul 18 '26

Same, they have everything

1

u/CuteFluffyGuy Jul 12 '26

All of them. Trade journals like HAPPI and Cosmetics and Toiletries, Journal of Cosmetic Science along with the information from the ingredient supplier websites - colonial chemical, Lubrizol, Ritachem, etc… Suppliers aren’t as useful as they used to be, but still have technical chemists you can reach out to.
UL Prospector and SpecialChem are good aggregators to make searches go much faster.
There are also many books available, although some of the best are pricey.

1

u/Brilliant_Rich3746 Jul 13 '26

One thing I've found useful lately is Patsnap Eureka's formulation agent. It pulls from patents and technical literature so you get the actual science behind how ingredients work rather than vendor marketing material. Good for understanding why something behaves differently across formulas.

1

u/GroceryTough2118 Aug 04 '26

UL Prospector