The New Year brings new beginnings, a clean slate, mysteries to unravel, etc., etc.—all noble sentiments, but every January we hear them over again. I propose a new sentiment: experimentation. Sure, you do it in the lab all the time, but can you take it a step further?
My son is walking now, and he’s the inspiration behind this. In spite of his bumps and bruises—and a recent kitchen chair incident, which cut his little eyebrow—he brazenly continues testing his limits. The scientific minds reading this can appreciate his trial and error, I’m sure.
We at Cosmetics & Toiletries are embracing this sentiment too, in many ways; for instance, in a recent article by Marthaler, where the author discusses formulating natural products and points to water as a source for several problems, such as the need for preservatives. A self-proclaimed “granola chemist,” he proposes removing water entirely to resolve this issue. Recognizing the controversy in some of his views, however, we also have included industry reactions and counter-reactions throughout the text; the point being to stir debate and make us all think.
Don’t worry, the strong and practical technical content for which we are known will remain intact; it’s one of our core strengths. But you likely will notice more emotion and surrounding context to the information we present both digitally and in print. Keep an eye out.
Another semi-experimental article in this issue is from Healy et al., which describes water-soluble polymers borrowed from the medical industry for sustained release applications in personal care. This article came from having met one of the authors at the Informex specialty chemicals trade show in February 2012, an event Cosmetics & Toiletries had not previously attended. Did this experiment work? Please read the article and let us know what you think. After all, experi-ment leads to experi-ence.
