I’ve been a little frustrated with what scientific concepts I can get through in words and crudely drawn illustrations on this here blog. When I teach at my day job, I do a lot of hand-waving, emphatic underlining, symbolic gesturing and smashing together of whiteboard markers, and not having the ability to show movement sometimes feels a bit like I …
Aztec Secret Indian Healing Clay makes a great mask, but it’s alkaline so you need to mix it with apple cider vinegar to bring the clay to a skin-friendly pH. But then you slap it on your face and try to relax, but you can’t because all you can smell is vinegar. What can you do? I was stuck with …
There have been quite a few skincare launches in the past few months, and I’ve been busy trying out all the new cleansers! Jurlique have been around for a while, but Boots No 7 and Skin Theory are two brands which have just launched in Australia which is super exciting. Here’s what I thought of the cleansers: Jurlique Purely Age-Defying …
I have a little collection of AHA products now, and since I also have a bunch of pH strips lying around at home, I thought it’d be a good idea to test all the pHs out, since they’re pretty important when it comes to choosing an AHA, and companies rarely state what they are. If you can’t remember, this post …
It’s the second part of my soap making post! Last time we looked at the chemistry behind soap making (also called saponification) – today we’re looking at how to actually make a bar of soap, using ingredients from the supermarket. Related Post: Make Your Own Soap! Part 1: The Chemistry Behind Soap Making From the previous chemistry post, we know that …
In the middle of teaching some high school students about the chemistry of soap-making, I realised that I really, really wanted to try making some soap myself and write about it here. My write-up ended up being really long, so I’ve made it a two-parter – Installment 1 is all about the chemistry, and Installment 2 is about the actual …
I’ve recently started trying out thermal cleansers. These are special cleansers that heat up when you rub them on your skin and add water. What’s the point of them and how do they work? I’m glad you asked, hypothetical reader! Do pores open with heat? Heat makes muscles relax, while cold makes muscles contract (you may know this from treating …
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! …