What is clinical strength antiperspirant deodorant?

My go-to antiperspirant deodorant, Nivea Stress Protect, has recently come out with a clinical strength version, and since it’s been a while since I blogged about underarm matters, I thought it was time to revisit the basics of sweat science… What’s the difference between deodorant and antiperspirant? Deodorant targets smell. It usually contains fragrance, and sometimes antibacterials too to kill …

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How Do You Say… Skincare Edition

Want to talk skincare science in person, but you don’t know how to pronounce any of the sciencey words? Don’t worry, I got you covered! Here’s a handy cheat sheet that will make you sound like a pro in no time… go forth and dazzle everyone with your brilliance! (click to enlarge)

The pHs of some AHA products

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 …

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Fact-check: “Solvent-Free” Nail Polish Removers

For years, we’ve been using just 2 solvents, ethyl acetate and acetone, to remove nail polish. But recently a whole host of new removers containing neither of those have made their way onto the market – what are they, and are they worth a shot? Are they really solvent-free? No. Anything that dissolves something else up is a solvent – …

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Make Your Own Soap! Part 2: Let’s Make Some Soap!

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 …

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Make Your Own Soap! Part 1: The Chemistry Behind Soap Making

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 …

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Fact-check: Can you remove nail polish with vinegar and lemon juice?

In one of the nail polish enthusiast groups I’m in, this article was recently brought to my attention. In summary, it says that if you’ve run out of nail polish remover, don’t worry! You can easily remove your polish by first soaking your nails in warm water for 10 minutes, then soaking cotton balls in a mixture of equal parts …

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Fact-check Feature: How do cleansing oils work?

If you’ve been around the beauty scene for the last few years, you’d have run into a few cleansing oils (as opposed to the oil cleansing method). The most famous is probably the Shu Uemura range, which has kick started a whole new category of cleansing oils, which go on and melt make-up like oils, but wash off cleanly with …

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