Benzene in your products, Part 2: The story of Valisure

Bunick confusion

Here’s Part 2 of our deep dive into benzene contamination in your products. In Part 1, we talked about whether the experiments were “realistic” (no), and whether the cancer risk was described accurately (also no). This time, we’ll be discussing the wider issues around the private lab behind these findings, Valisure. This is adapted from the video version (which works …

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Does rosemary oil work for hair growth? The science

rosemary oil hair loss

Is rosemary oil a natural, science-backed treatment for hair growth?  According to a lot of doctors, scientists and trichologists across the internet, yes – there’s “scientific proof” that it works as well as minoxidil. But unfortunately, that isn’t true. It all seems to be a misunderstanding of a single study: Rosemary oil vs minoxidil 2% for the treatment of androgenetic …

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Do sunscreen sprays actually work? The science

sunscreen spray thumbnail

Sprays seem like the perfect way to reapply sunscreen without messing up your makeup. But how effective are they? I did some experiments to find out – the results were very eye-opening!  The video with footage of the experiments is here, keep scrolling for the text version… A while ago, I looked at the protection you get from sunscreen sticks …

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Does tranexamic acid work? Response to The Beauty Brains

TXA base

I recently talked about how I don’t think tranexamic acid works in most skincare products I’ve come across, in both a YouTube video and an Instagram post. Perry Romanowski and Valerie George of The Beauty Brains podcast commented on my opinions in Episode 369, “Can Tranexamic Acid Really Reduce Hyperpigmentation?”, published 14 July 2024. Unfortunately I don’t think they looked …

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Benzene in your products, Part 1: Bad science

valisure benzene video

It’s now Round 5 of “benzene in your products is giving you cancer” – over the last three years, this “known human carcinogen” been found in hand sanitiser, sunscreen, deodorant, dry shampoo, and now benzoyl peroxide acne products.  I previously talked about benzene in sunscreen and dry shampoo, but it’s time for a deeper dive into these findings, and the …

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Amodimethicone: The Science of My Favourite Hair Ingredient

Amodimethicone: My New Favourite Hair Ingredient

Since I bleached my hair and dyed it purple (and am now slowly shifting to pink), my hair care needs have changed massively. Related Post: My Asian Hair Bleaching Experience (Video) Related Post: What to Expect After You Bleach Your Asian Hair Typical straight, black East Asian, hair naturally has low porosity, with the outside cuticle lying very flat. This means that …

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Why you can’t trust study abstracts

One of the biggest sources of myths in beauty is misunderstanding how scientific research works, and how to interpret scientific evidence. A huge problem I’ve seen is people relying on abstracts – the short summary of the paper – instead of reading the full text. Here’s why this isn’t a good idea. This article is based on part of this …

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Why “scientific” products don’t always work: mechanistic reasoning

good bad mechanism outcome

There’s a troubling pattern with a lot of “science-based” cosmetic products. Many of them make claims solely based on mechanistic reasoning, rather than any actual measured effects on humans.  This is a big problem because mechanistic reasoning often doesn’t predict what happens on actual humans – and it’s especially the case with the ways these claims are often used for …

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