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 …
Is synthetic braiding hair giving people cancer? In February 2025, Consumer Reports announced that they had found carcinogens in all 10 products of artificial braiding hair they tested. They claimed this was putting the health of wearers and braiders at risk. But is this actually true, or is it fearmongering? Here’s the video version – keep scrolling for the article. Overblown …
The most controversial topic in Dr Andrew Huberman’s skincare episode is probably sunscreen safety, which is hugely misunderstood even by scientists and medical doctors. Much of the confusion comes from differing sunscreen regulations around the world, and the fact that “not safe” has different meanings in everyday, regulatory and toxicological contexts. This is part 2 of my articles responding to …
A little while back, Dr Andrew Huberman, a Stanford neuroscientist with a massive podcast, released an episode called “How to Improve Skin Health & Appearance”. It had a bunch of slightly weird recommendations if you’re familiar with skincare science. He mentioned some of his sources, but didn’t have any experts talking. 1.5 months later, he released another skin episode, this …
There’s been a few viral posts about how harmful chemical sunscreens are. The latest one is a post about “Sunscreen Swaps” from @a.glimpse.of.amelia (an Australian “low-tox” consultant) and @jordiepieface (a nutritionist from New Zealand), claiming that “some conventional sunscreens can do more harm than good”. Unfortunately, most of the post is inaccurate, and it’s likely scaring people away from using …
There’s been a lot of stories about benzene contamination in personal care products over the last 4 years. This year, benzene was discovered in benzoyl peroxide, a staple acne treatment. How concerned should we be? Petition and original paper I’ve written about the background behind Valisure’s benzene analyses before, as well as questions about the accuracy of their data and …
How do you check if information is reliable? One shortcut that works well (most of the time) is to check if the source itself is reliable! This is much faster and easier than trying to learn the science behind an area you’re not already familiar with – it takes a lot of time to properly factcheck information, even for experts. …