How Do Sunscreens Work? The Science

Sunscreen mechanism thumbnail

I’ve had a lot of people ask me to explain the nitty gritty behind how sunscreen ingredients work. I warned everyone it would be super nerdy and really quite complicated, but a lot of people said it was fine… so here it is: the deep dive into how sunscreen ingredients work! A warning: this goes into physical chemistry, at upper …

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Should you avoid aluminium in deodorants? The science

I’ve recently been approached by several natural deodorant companies to talk about the health risks of aluminium-containing antiperspirants. As much as I’d like that sweet sweet cheque… I can’t. Because the science just isn’t there. So instead, I’m going to debunk the aluminium scaremongering. (Note to deodorant companies: There are valid reasons to switch to natural deodorants. Aluminium ingredients can …

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Do They Work? Colorescience SPF Powder, Skinnies “Pea-Sized Amount”

Colorescience and Skinnies: Do They Work?

I’ve had a lot of questions about certain sunscreen products with unusual claims, and what I think of them. I’ll be talking about what I personally think of the claims for 2 products in this post, but there are a lot more products that I’ll talk about later – let me know if there are more products you’re wondering about …

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Purito Sunscreen and All About SPF Testing

SPF testing Purito

Recently you might have heard that one of my former favorite sunscreens Purito Centella Unscented Sun tested at SPF 19, which is much lower than its labeled protection of SPF 50+. There were rumours that it didn’t match the label claim before, but until INCI Decoder published the two in-vivo SPF tests on their blog, a lot of scientists were …

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The Myths of “Medical-Grade” Skincare

Medical Grade Skincare

There’s a lot of misinformation about how “medical grade”, “clinical” or “professional” skincare products are guaranteed to be better than drugstore or “over-the-counter” (OTC) products you can buy at the supermarket. Like a lot of other myths, this myth has mostly been promoted by some well-intentioned people who have unfortunately been fed the wrong information by brands who know better (or …

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Microcurrent Devices: Science and Foreo Bear Review

This video is sponsored by Foreo. Microcurrent devices are handheld electronic gadgets that have two metal spheres on them. There are lots of claims about how they tone and contour your face, so here’s the science behind microcurrent, how to use a microcurrent device and the results I’ve gotten after using the Foreo Bear on the right side of my …

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Clean Beauty Is Wrong and Won’t Give Us Safer Products

Think Dirty App

If you use beauty products, it’s impossible to not have heard of clean beauty. It’s a revolution. You want your products to be clean – you don’t want to use dirty products! You want your products to be good for your health and good for the environment. There are beautiful celebrities telling you about how they detoxed and cleaned out …

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What’s in a Lipstick?

What's in a Lipstick?

Have you ever wondered what’s in a lipstick? Obviously there’s the colouring agents that make it red or pink, but what’s all the other stuff? Let’s talk lipstick science. The video is here on YouTube, scroll down for the blog post version… What makes a good lipstick? First let’s talk about what a lipstick is. I mean, I think we …

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