Are salt sprays good for hair and other hair care questions - episode 239

Perry Romanoski (0:00)

Hi, I'm Perry, and you're listening to The Beauty Brains.

The Beauty Brains Welcome to The Beauty Brains, a show where real cosmetic chemists answer your beauty product questions and give you a unique insider's look at the cosmetic industry. This is episode 239 I'm your host, Perry Romanoski, and with me today is the brightest cosmetic chemist in California. At least that's what it says on her business cards. Valerie George.

Valerie George (0:36)

Hi, Perry.

Perry Romanoski (0:37)

Yeah, how are the fires out there in California? They died down yet?

Valerie George (0:41)

All gone, but they might come back again. So who knows? We've been having a lot of heat waves.

Perry Romanoski (0:45)

Oh my, well, I don't miss living in California, although I never have.

Valerie George (0:52)

I was just gonna say, what?

Perry Romanoski (0:54)

Hey, you know what we have on today's show, Valerie? I was going through all of the questions that were sent in, and there were like 80 questions behind.

And I like to categorize all of the questions, and I was like, hey, there's a bunch of haircare questions. I said, let's make today the haircare extravaganza, and we're just gonna answer questions about haircare. Sound fun?

Valerie George (1:18)

We do love hair. We love hair.

Perry Romanoski (1:20)

Well, today we're gonna be answering questions about whether a cold tire can be a substitute for AHA and BHA products, whether there are any downsides to those color, fast hair colors that, or those hair colorants that develop really fast, whether salt sprays are safe to use on your hair, and whether people are wasting their money buying the purple shampoos.

But first, let's do some of that inane chit chat that we got. Have you got anything to report today since last time?

Valerie George (1:54)

Well, I'm very tired. Today was the annual lecture that I do. Perry and I are guest lecturers at the University of Toledo for their cosmetic science program. And I speak about hair color chemistry. It's a very long presentation.

I maximize the whole 55 minutes. And I literally sound like an auctioneer at the end because I'm like running out of time. It's pretty funny.

But University of Toledo is on the East Coast and I'm in California. So I had to get up at 4 a.m. just to make sure I was ready for the 5 a.m. lecture. So I'm a bit tired today.

Perry Romanoski (2:27)

I can imagine that. Although you say East Coast, it's sort of the mid coast as it's at Ohio. It's not even near the ocean, right?

Valerie George (2:35)

Well, it's like borderline midwest, you know? But I don't think the midwest claims it. I don't think the East Coast claims it. Ohio is like kind of no man's land.

And I'm allowed to say that I'm from Ohio.

Perry Romanoski (2:48)

That's right. You are from Ohio. Well, on my end, I've still got this kitty cat that I've had for two months and she's fabulous, but I think we might actually have an adopter for her.

Yeah, which makes me a little sad, but my wife is happy because she's been sneezing and her eyes are a gal puppy and she's like, oh, well, there you go.

Valerie George (3:15)

Well, good for the cat too. That'll be good to have a forever home.

Perry Romanoski (3:19)

Indeed, indeed. All right, are we ready to move on to some beauty science news?

Valerie George (3:29)

What did you see this week?

Perry Romanoski (3:31)

Well, I saw a couple of things. The first one I saw and I thought of you, it's a story about L'Oreal and a patent that they got related to hair coloring. Says L'Oreal files a patent of a smart robotic system for personalized hair care dye kits.

It turns out that L'Oreal said it has designed this smart network and it engaged in personalized hair color. And essentially what happens is that the consumer will order a specific hair color, and then the robot will figure out exactly what kind of mixture it's supposed to put through. And then it uses artificial intelligence to fill this single unit bottles according to the personalized online orders.

So essentially this should replace all of the cosmetic chemists out there who are working color. Don't you think that's lovely?

Valerie George (4:38)

Well, someone has to formulate the bulk that the robot is picking up and putting in. So this actually is not L'Oreal's first patent when it comes to devices meant to custom make cosmetic products. There were some patents filed or at least granted in 2013 or 14 related to how these machines are designed and built and measuring color. I'm a little surprised with this patent. It'd be interesting to read the fine details because there's another company on the market called E-salon, and I may or may not be familiar with them based on my work history, but they already utilize customized technology with machinery. So I'd be interested to see how this is different.