I recently chatted all things skincare with Simon Hill on his podcast The Proof for about three and a half hours. You can listen to the first part on sunscreen here and the second part on skincare, clean beauty, haircare… basically everything else – here. The Proof is a great listen if you’re looking for deep dives on pretty much …
There’s been a lot of fearmongering about chemical sunscreens. There were scary-sounding new stories – sunscreen absorbing into blood, killing coral reefs, zinc oxide being toxic, benzene in sunscreens… Related Post: Top 7 Sunscreen and SPF Myths I’ve covered most of these before, and they’re largely just the media taking things out of context and sensationalising them, partly for views, …
There’s been another beauty product recall because of benzene. This time it’s dry shampoos produced by Unilever, including products from Dove, TRESemmé, TIGI and Suave. I’ve talked about benzene contamination in products before, specifically sunscreen. It’s a very similar situation this time. The key points: Benzene is not intentionally added to products. Rather, it’s a trace contaminant that’s accidentally found …
Over the years I’ve gotten a lot of questions from students and teachers about investigations and demonstrations related to cosmetics that could be done in class or for independent research projects, with limited equipment access. Here are some chemistry-heavy suggestions that might be helpful. Saponification, soaps, detergents Different oils used for saponification have different fatty acid profiles – how does …
There’s a sort of industry secret with mineral sunscreens: a lot of them contain unregulated chemical sunscreens. Which isn’t always a big problem… but it also kind of is. Today we’re talking about inactive ingredients in sunscreens that aren’t really inactive. The video is here, keep scrolling for the text version…. SPF boosters It’s not that easy to make a sunscreen. It …
This post is based on a sponsored video. Sulfates, fatty alcohols, silicones, preservatives… what are they doing in your shampoo and conditioner, and do you need to avoid them? Today’s post is a deep dive into some of the key ingredients in haircare products. The video version is here if you prefer that format! Science of Shampoo Let’s start with …
This video was sponsored by Cynosure, although this post was not. Lasers! You can use them to cut things, you can use them to point at words, and you can use them to treat about a million different skin-related things. These are just the ones I found on the AAD website: Birthmarks, melasma, hyperpigmentation, freckles, acne, rosacea, psoriasis, wrinkles, fine …
I asked on Instagram for all your unpopular opinions a short while back, and filmed a chatty video discussing a handful of them – check it out here! Topics covered: 0:19 Body moisturisers are good face moisturisers 1:10 Skincare is unnecessary 2:32 Physical exfoliation is terrible for sensitive skin 5:20 Hyaluronic acid causes inflammation 8:23 Hyaluronic acid dries skin out …