What Is Hyaluronic Acid? Hyaluronic acid (HA), along with its cousin sodium hyaluronate, is an immensely popular ingredient in skincare and makeup. It’s also naturally found in the body. Most of it dwells in the extracellular matrix, the scaffold which holds up the cells of your skin. Hyaluronic acid is found in both the epidermis and the deeper dermis, where …
This post is sponsored by Ulike. I did a deep dive into the science behind red light a little while back. Since then, I’ve been trying out more products and the Ulike ReGlow LED mask (use code MUFFIN for $100 off) has been one of my favourites so far. It has great specs, along with really user-friendly design features that …
There’s been a lot of people testing heat protectants on receipts lately. You spray a heat protectant on a thermal paper receipt, then use a flat iron hair straightener on it. Since receipt paper turns black with heat, the receipts that stay white have the more effective heat protectants… … Or so the logic goes, anyway. But does this test …
Does retinyl palmitate in sunscreens increase skin cancer? This is a myth that’s been promoted a lot by clean beauty organisations like the Environmental Working Group (EWG), especially in their annual sunscreen guide. More recently, this was included as the first point in toxicologist Dr Yvonne Burkart’s video: “You’ve been lied to about sunscreen: Toxicologist reveals 6 things you should …
Your scalp’s itchy and inflamed – and none of the products you’ve tried seem to be working. And now, maybe your hair’s even thinning. Here’s the problem: Most scalp products aren’t treating the right cause, and no one’s really explaining what that is. And a lot of scalp products actually make things worse. I’m the owner of a problematic scalp, …
I’ve become a bit of an airborne transmission nerd during the pandemic. Every once in a while I’ll share some of the tools I use on social media, and I’ve realised quite a lot of other people are also interested in how to not get sick, or at least get sick less, outside of getting vaccinated. So here’s a quick …
Here’s a growing directory of resources on sunscreen myths. They’re written as truths instead of myths, except where explicitly called out. These are mostly secondary sources, by me or other science communicators – most cosmetic science studies need to be interpreted with nuance to be useful. Also check out this sunscreen FAQ, and my Basic Skincare Guide eBook which goes …
You might have seen that Hawaii has banned certain sunscreens that have been linked to coral bleaching. In particular, it’s the organic “chemical” sunscreen ingredients oxybenzone and octinoxate that have been banned. It sounds like a great victory for the environment, right? But if you search a little past the headlines, you’ll find that there are actually a lot of …