Dear Valerie: What is one piece of lab equipment you can’t live without? We have a little budget left this year and wanted to take advantage of it. 

—Bunsen Burner

Dear Bunsen:

When I show people my lab, they’re underwhelmed. You don’t need much to make a basic cosmetic product—just a scale, hot plate and mixer. Of course, I have a homogenizer, although (truth be told) I don’t really use it much in hair care. (That’s the benefit of having conditioning agents that are emulsifiers.)

The best investment I ever made was a quality analytical balance. It’s helpful for weighing small amounts of colorants and other materials repeatedly and accurately. My balance has motion sensors you can wave your hand in front of to do different things like open a door or tare the scale—a must if you have undetectable colorant all over your gloved phalanges.

I also am surprised by the number of labs without a light box. Consistent lighting is key when evaluating color of bulk and changes in bulk over stability. Walking inside and outside to color-match is good; having consistent lighting inside a chamber is better. Just be sure not to use it as a storage unit as chemists did in my previous lab, which leaves scratches in the monochromatic interior. A pet peeve!

Lastly, if you wanted to splurge and get something fun, I would get a photometric device that can assist in calculation of peroxide and p-anisidine values of oils. This is most particularly helpful if you are formulating products sensitive to oil quality. It will tell you how rancid the oil is and how long it’s been rancid. You can couple this with other instrumentation, like IR, to check residual solvent content. I once found an oil had extensive quantities of residual toluene present, prompting us to disqualify the source. Not all oils are the same!

Valerie George

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Valerie George is a cosmetic chemist, science communicator, educator, leader, and avid proponent of transparency in the beauty industry. She works on the latest research in hair color and hair care at her company, Simply Formulas, and is the co-host of The Beauty Brains podcast. You can find her on Instagram at @cosmetic_chemist or showcasing her favorite ingredients to small brands and home formulators at simply-ingredients.com