Here's how it works: you drop a formula, a product idea, an ingredient question, or something you've been quietly puzzling over, and I give you proper, specific feedback. Not "looks great!" but actually useful input you can do something with. It can be the shampoo from the Abbey Yung series, something completely unrelated, or a question you've been sitting on for a while and weren't sure was worth asking. There are no silly questions here, genuinely. Post it below, and I'll work through them over the course of the day.

Most formulators know this in theory. Foam doesn't equal clean(s)ing power. A surfactant can cleanse perfectly well without producing a dramatic lather, and some of the harshest surfactants make the most impressive foam. But here's the honest question: do you actually believe it when you're the one using the product? I ask because I notice it in myself sometimes. I'll test a gentle cleanser bar that I know is working at a good surfactant percentage, pH is right, micelle formation is fine, and everything checks out. And yet if the lather isn't satisfying, there's a small part of my brain that questions whether it really cleanses. It's consumer psychology working on the formulator. We're not immune to it. Quick poll — when you use a low-lather cleanser, do you: Tell me in the comments, too. I'm genuinely curious whether this changes with experience level.

At work, I'm working on a non-tinted version of our 50+ SPF so we can sell it as a body SPF. I think the results are good; there is an ever-so-slight white hue when applied (downside of some mineral SPF ingredients). I am also working on powder masks for clinics. For this group, I am finalising the March Masterclass that was delayed due to the platform migration. 👩🏻‍🔬 What are you currently working on?

Quick one this week: I want to know where people actually are with stability testing. Which of these best describes your current process? Pick what applies. Multiple answers are fine if you do more than one. And if your process is something different entirely, tell me in the comments. I'm not looking for ideal answers here, just an honest picture of where people actually are, so I can see how I can help.

There's a question I've been thinking about this week, and I wanted to ask your thoughts. A formulator asked me recently whether putting her formula on a shelf and checking it regularly counted as a stability test. The short answer is: not quite. Watching a formula over time gives you useful information about how it looks and behaves at room temperature. But it's a single type of data under a single set of conditions. It tells you nothing about pH drift, how the formula handles temperature stress, or whether the preservation system is holding up. But here's the thing: most of us do start here. Leaving something on the shelf and watching it is a reasonable starting point, and I don't want to make it sound like everything you've been doing is wrong. My question for this week: when you make a new formula, what does your stability process actually look like? Are you running a deliberate testing protocol, or are you mostly observing and kind of hoping things hold? And if it's the latter, is that a choice you've made intentionally, or just something that hasn't come up yet or perhaps you don't know what to do? I'm genuinely curious where people are with this. Stability testing is an area where many formulators, including experienced ones, have less coverage than they'd like. No judgment here, just an honest conversation. 🌼