Earlier this week I posted about the different types of base ingredients in moisturisers: occlusives, emollients and humectants. I’ve dug up a few facial moisturisers I have lying around to deconstruct. When looking at most product ingredients lists, the ingredients will be in order from the highest concentration to the lowest. Typically, when deciding if a moisturiser will suit your …
Formaldehyde is listed as an ingredient in a number of beauty products (in particular, nail strengtheners and Brazilian Blowout-style hair treatments), and there’s been some controversy about whether or not it’s really in these products. In particular, cosmetic chemist Doug Schoon has stated that formaldehyde in water readily reacts to form another chemical, methylene glycol. Most of the top search …
Continuing on my pH and hydroxy acid kick, today’s Fact-check is on the influence of pH and alpha and beta hydroxy acids. Hold onto your hats for this one – it gets a bit technical – but hopefully I can translate it to something understandable. Further questions are welcome and I will try to answer them as best I can! …
Neostrata have recently released a range called Enlighten recently, which claims to lighten spots and reduce hyperpigmentation. Will it work? You may remember a recent post here on non-hydroquinone skin lighteners – for more information on the whiteners mentioned here, you can refer back to that. Neostrata Enlighten Ultra Brightening Cleanser ($39.95 for 100 mL) is a creamy cleanser that …
Note: This information is not quite correct. There’s some evidence to show that the pH of salicylic acid products isn’t that important to how well they work – for a longer explanation check out this post on pH and AHAs and BHAs. ——————————- Stridex “in the red box”, manufactured by Blistex, is a cult product that’s worthy of the hype …
Recently we looked closely at the most famous of the whitening agents, hydroquinone – it’s the most studied and very effective, but has some serious (though often overstated) side effects, is irritating to the skin, and has been heavily restricted in some countries as well. Today let’s have a look at some of the other whitening agents on the market …
This week’s Fact-check (it’s late, I know, sorry!) looks at another controversial skincare ingredient, hydroquinone. What is hydroquinone, what benefits does it have in skincare, why do people say it’s harmful, and is it actually bad? Let’s find out… What is hydroquinone? Hydroquinone (sometimes referred to as “HQ”) is a chemical with the structure shown below: It occurs naturally in …
Today’s Fact-check Friday focuses on one of the most unfairly demonised of chemicals in beauty products: parabens. You probably own at least one beauty product that proudly declares itself to be paraben-free – is there any reason to buy more, or is it pure marketing? What are parabens? Parabens are chemicals derived from a chemical called parahydroxybenzoic acid, with this …