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Measurements.

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I made more progesterone solution after I ran out.

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Added progesterone and took measurements.

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I made the mixture of the progesterone and placed them into each dish in proportion.

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I make some plates using the original proportions I calculated. I made six.

(Aesthetic)

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So I was able to get some progesterone, but it's in these really tiny vials which I have to add more water to. But now I have to calculate how much solution I can make for each plate.

I might be here a while.

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I added more gelling substance and it looks okay...when I make more I'll have the progesterone there.

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I mixed some materials together using the stuff minus the progesterone to make a test and it's really liquidy and cloudy. I don't like it. I'm going to add more gelling substance to it.

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I basically go on a wild hunting spree to collect my materials for my experiment
(Here's sleeve one of two because I couldn't find complete sleeves)

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After that we put some of the sample underneath a microscope. The distribution wasn't that good sadly, as it seemed very sparse. That means it had to go and be mixed more. Still pretty though.

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Dr. Baki and I discussed some future plans and scheduling. She also discussed what types of jobs someone with a cosmetic sciences degree can receive. She also said she would be looking for help in June, and I'm excited for it, even if its not paid. It's still experience.

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After that you have to measure the viscosity of all the batches made. In each station we had six, so we took measurements for all 18 batches.

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For two hours (TWO HOURS) we had to sit there and add this fun type of powder called Titanium Dioxide. The problem with this fun type of powder is that you have to add it so slowly or else it will spread all over the place because its so light in its molecular weight. On top of that, it's hydrophobic too, so you have to mix it in very very well. It was the worse.

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I came in for the final four hours (I lost two pictures, so I made up for it) to help a senior named Taliyah make sun screen for those darker skinned.

The easy part was making the base and stuff using water and shea butter and everything else. We had three different stations going though, so you had to work quickly.

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Basically for the next hour, Dr. Baki and I talked about being a cosmetic scientist and the nature of big companies. Companies can basically say whatever they want as long as they don't say it will cure this. They have to be very tricky on their wording so they don't get in trouble by the FDA, but they can basically say whatever they want.

"This body wash can make your skin smoother after one use!" --Apparently not, because that body wash washes right off, leaving your skin with nothing.

"This shampoo leaves your hair thicker and stronger!" --Nope.

As a cosmetic scientist, if a company wants to be truly credible and successful, companies will hire you to perform research and formulations to achieve the best product that they can sell to the public, because product that works sells better than those that don't (shocker!).

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She had me come back on an afternoon and try to get me to do some staging. She had this really fancy camera that made me super scared to use because I'm always paranoid to use something so pricey. Anyways, I took this with my phone but did the really nice stuff with the camera.

Aesthetics isn't my forte. .-.

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So apparently a huge part of publicity for the cosmetics sciences program at UT is taking pictures of the products made. Dr. Baki, between me cleaning, had me stage the products to take pictures and send it to her. I kind of screwed up in making it look pretty, but I think I did okay with this one. Some others were really rough.

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Some groups after finishing their foundations made concealers. They could get away with having a lighter pigmentation than their foundations. I basically collected supplies from the cart.

It's actually super cool how much science actually goes into the cosmetics. It's something you don't actually think about, because it's just something you buy and have right there that's so ordinary. But in making cosmetics you have to have exact proportions of materials, know which compounds make the best colors, test on what do the different things we put on our skin do, and quite a bit of chemistry. It's interesting.

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Eventually after putting it to warm and liquefying it, the cream to powder looks like this. I've never seen a cream to powder before this because I've always used color correcting.

Some had to restart their cream to powder all over again because when they added their pigments to their base, it either became too dark or too light. Matching skin tones is hard apparently.

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Eventually they put me with the group making a liquid foundation. They added more pigments and more stuff and stirred it furiously. I basically became a person running around getting their supplies and needs.

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Depending what you're making, you have to add another type of pigment and emulsion i order to come out with the desired effect. Here we are making a cream to powder base. I basically went around and ground up everything with a mortar and pestal for all seven groups.

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They're making different types of foundation and concealer today. I have to team up with multiple people because they didn't have enough supplies. I did help make the pigment though.

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After checking the viscosity, we placed it under a microscope connected to the computer to demonstrate the spread of the ingredients throughout the cream. It looked like it had great spread, but it also looked really pretty.

Unfortunately Dr. Baki informed us that the liquid shea butter used was dark shea butter. Apparently, how she explained it, is that the difference between the two is like aspartame and real sugar. The samples made differed from ones previously made, meaning we have to start from scratch all over again.

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Next we had to check the viscosity of all the batches we made. The machine kept malfunctioning so much that they had to call in someone to help fix it. After that, some batches did work, however some of them we had to go remake.

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The final step was to whisk it all together. The problem is that you have to do it while everything is still warm without the mixer blades touching each other. To try to accomplish this, the water that I boiled was put into a beaker and the beaker with the ingredients were put into that one. Minah unfortunately broke some breakers along the way, so much so Soujong took over. I felt bad, she looked defeated.

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We had two different stations going, where Minah and this other girl named Soujong kept adding emulsions to make the two different butters melt and combine with the water and other ingredients. I just made hot water using a coffee pot.

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I helped a senior named Minah, who is working on the lotion for the darker skins. She developed all these percentages for two different creams using liquid and solid shea butter. We basically just measured for all the ingredients because the order they do in is specific and needs to be done quickly. We have to measure out 5 batches for each

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After shoving it carefully into its tube, the lipstick is almost complete. You take an exact-o knife and give it its signature diagonal cut. To make it more shiny and like an actual product, you put it over a flame, but you have to be careful, or else it'll melt. Mine almost did and a senior named Morgan pulled it out before it could melt.

The rest of the time i helped clean and aid the others. To remove lipstick, you use oil.

This is the final product, by the way.

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After its cooled down, you wait a little bit before popping it out of its mold. You have to be careful or else the product would break. After popping it out, you wait a bit before measuring its mass to see hos much product was lost. How much product you are left with is a bit important part, because companies do not want a ton of waste on their supplies in order to make a profit. If there's a loss of more than 5% they get marked down for the loss.

Mine turned out better than the other girl who was teaching me, and her's was for a grade. I apologized out loud for that and Dr. Baki yelled at me.

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After mixing the mixture and putting it to its melty self, you pour it into these cute little molds. In bigger companies, as I was told, they have these things in the thousands, all automated. They pour the mixture all over the molds and put it into a refrigerator almost. We did the same thing, except we let the mixture cool for a little bit and put them into a tiny fridge in the back of the lab.

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After that, you add these really pretty shimmery pigments called mica. That gives lipsticks and highlighters the shiny part. The red pigment actually comes from iron (II) oxide. You have to stir it in quickly or else the new melted waxes will harden and then you have to put it on the hot plate and wait until it melts again so you can stir it in completely. It's annoying.

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The next step was to start making. They had enough for me to make one, so I made a solid one. First was to add a bunch of different waxes together and melt them all together. But you can't add them all at once because they all have different levels of melting, some taking at least 30 minutes to melt, at all different weights. When it completely melted, you had to add liquid or solid shea butter and then keep it there til it almost bubbled.

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Dr. Baki allowed me to attend a lab where they were making lipsticks and other lip products. First the students had this paper with different quantities to make lipstick in an industrial setting with different weights to make huge batches for consumption. For their small scale work, they had to convert some details to their small scale amounts for three batches they had to make. They also took a quiz of some kind, so I just observed.

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Two students named Soujong and Tamare fiddled around with the device I read up on the other day. We took different samples on our arms, legs, foreheads, and anywhere we could think of that did not have hair on it. You would have to keep the pen at a certain angle or else it would have an inaccurate reading. You also couldn't press down on it too hard or else it would damage the device. After keeping it on the skin for about two or three minutes, you would apply moisturizer (shea butter or an oil) and measure the content. After each time, you'd have to wipe the area with a baby wipe to clean off any residue and let it dry or else it would affect the validity.

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She also had me read up on another device used in the lab to test the effectiveness of the skin barrier. The particular device measured the absorption of water from the environment. Any reading below 30 was exceedingly dry, 30-40 was dry, and anything above 40 was moisturized. During this time Dr. Baki and I talked about the different types of skin on a scale called the Fitzpatrick scale, where it put skin color into types, and each type has a different level of retention.

Also melanin has enough protection for about an spf 5. Dr. Baki says that's why its crucial for all people from different skin types to wear sunscreen always, even when its cloudy out.

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So after reading the manual and playing with a machine that records the average waterloss, I tried it out on myself. I tried four different times on my own skin and it didn't like it. Nothing would show up on the screen or it would say error. Some students and I tried to change the battery, or turn it on and off again, but it would not work on my skin. We then tried it on a girl named Minah's skin. It would work for her. If we would try it on someone who had a darker complexion, like mine or a girl named Temare's, it wouldn't work.

Dr. Baki ended up putting it away.

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One of the things I am being asked to do is take the moisture content of my skin and the skins of others. As one of Dr. Baki's research projects, she's trying to develop a cream for darker skinned people. Moisturizers are generally formulated for those with lighter skin and don't tend to lock in enough moisture (the skin is a porous barrier that allows water to leave and enter in). Having skin that is poor in locking in moisture becomes extremely dry and can wrinkle easily. To measure the effectiveness of the skin barrier and the effectiveness of the moisturizer, they use special pens. I had to read up on one in the manual for its use. The Tewameter measures the rate of water going out from your skin, and gives it a number from 0-something past 30. We have to look at a non-hairy patch of skin before and after moisturizer is placed to accurately get a reading from the person's skin. That would be my job.

Also I found out that you can't fool anyone when you're old, even if you put botox on your skin. People don't tend to moisturize their neck (and hands), so it will wrinkle quickly, showing your age.  Moisturize

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I met with Dr. Baki the first day to discuss scheduling and where I should go and what my expectations were. She also told me I was the first senior to approach her and ask if I could work with her. She also seemed excited that I would be willing to clean up after labs and such. So far, she told me that I can come to labs, go to lectures, and be involved in three projects she's overseeing.