What is tranexamic acid? Tranexamic acid (TXA for short) is a relatively new ingredient in skincare. It’s a synthetic derivative of the amino acid lysine: You can take tranexamic acid orally as a tablet, apply it topically on your skin as a cream or serum, or have it injected into the lower layers of your skin (the dermis). Oral tranexamic …
I’ve been seeing a lot of people say that it’s impossible to see results from retinoids (vitamin A derivatives used in skincare, like retinol, tretinoin, adapalene, tazarotene) for a certain amount of time. This time varies: some people say 2 months, or 3 months, or 6 months. While it’s true that retinoids can take months to start working, they can …
Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic there’s a hand sanitizer shortage… and a ton of DIY hand sanitizer recipes. Will they actually work? (Spoiler: Most of them won’t.) I’ve made a video breaking down some of the good bad DIY hand sanitizer recipes out there. Check out the video on YouTube here. Key points: COVID-19 is caused by SARS-CoV-2 (novel coronavirus …
Alcohol (ethanol, ethyl alcohol, SD alcohol or alcohol denat) is one of the most controversial ingredients in skincare. You might’ve heard that it speeds up aging, kills skin cells, and creates inflammation. But what do the studies actually tell us? Stephen (@kindofstephen) and I have been working on this topic for a long time, and we hadn’t decided on the …
If you’re wondering what the difference is between all of the different acne patches around, and whether they even work, you’re not alone – I get asked this a lot, so I made a video about them! I was also itching for an excuse to use my microscope again, so there are some fun(?) closeups of microneedle patches. I was …
You might remember a similar post that I published in May 2019, after the previous flurry of “The FDA Admits Sunscreens Are Poison” headlines. Now that the second study has been published, it’s time for Round 2. Gratifyingly, this time the coverage seems a little less hysterical (maybe they learned from last time?), with the exception of the Daily Mail, …
Australian sunscreens are a bit unusual. A few people have recently asked me why Australian sunscreens often don’t show a full ingredients list, and why some sunscreens get downgraded from high SPFs to SPF 15 once they hit the Australian market. There’s also the fact that some Australian sunscreens have questionably low SPF ratings, and why some companies just can’t be bothered …
As a dedicated skincare addict, I own quite a few never-ending bottles of exfoliating acid toners that I can’t really use up fast enough. They’ve been sitting around going dusty, and I was prepared to gift them to my grandchildren one day. Enter Tracy Robey, of fanserviced-b. Tracy, a longstanding member of the online skincare community, has kindly performed some …