Can infrared lights get rid of wrinkles? Plus more beauty questions Episode 318

Perry Romanowski (0:00)

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

Hello, and welcome to The Beauty Brains, a show where real cosmetic chemists answer your beauty product questions and give you an insider's look at the cosmetic industry. This is episode 318 I'm your host, Perry Romanowski, and with me today is Valerie George. Hello, Valerie.

Valerie George (0:30)

Hi, Perry.

Perry Romanowski (0:31)

Did that used to be a TV show, Hello Valerie?

Valerie George (0:35)

Oh, I don't know, way before my time.

Perry Romanowski (0:37)

Oh no, that was Hello Larry.

Valerie George (0:40)

It's very easy to conflate Valerie and Larry, I get it.

Perry Romanowski (0:44)

You know, there was a show called Valerie, though.

But then I think the actress, she left the show and then it became the family name or something. Anyway, but this isn't a show about old TV shows. This is a show about beauty questions. And today, we've got a lot of questions we're going to answer, at least a few. We're going to say, find out whether infrared light at home therapy actually works, whether the Beauty Brains have considered getting jobs in other types of chemistry, whether LED facial masks really work, how you can tell whether your product has liposomes in it or not, and whether stem cells are going to work better if you micro needle your face or other parts of your skin, I suppose. But before we get to all of that, Valerie, so good to see you. It looks like you're in the office today.

Valerie George (1:35)

I am. Usually I record at home, but today I have to be here to receive a package that I had my final delivery warning on. So I am doing the show from here. A little lower sound quality, but hopefully we'll be okay. I have very loud neighbors.

Perry Romanowski (1:53)

Well, hopefully they don't show up. I have very loud neighbors today too. They're cutting down a tree next to me. You know, remember the old mulberry tree that I talked about so many episodes ago?

Sadly, it's being taken down. I don't say sadly because I'm not gonna miss the leaves and all that fruit just laying in my yard. But I do say sadly because I have to say, when I saw them chopping off the limbs of the tree, I felt a little verklemped and a little bad for the tree. I mean, you think about that tree.

I know, it's not the tree's fault. But you think about the tree, he's just been growing. Or I don't know why I called him a he. I mean, maybe it's a she or it's a... They've just been growing all of this time, dozens of years, right? Maybe 20, 30 years, and it just gets chopped off in one day.

Valerie George (2:41)

Because somebody doesn't like the berries in their yard.

Perry Romanowski (2:43)

Yeah, well, it was breaking the fence, too.

Honestly, I won't be sad to see it go. It's just, I felt a little bad just seeing the tree there. Ah, well.

Valerie George (2:54)

Is it an opportunity to plant another tree, perhaps, or maybe do something else?

Perry Romanowski (3:00)

Yes, I think another tree could go there. But one that's a little more controlled in a pot, perhaps.

Yeah. All right, Valerie, we have a lot going on today, and we have a couple of news stories, so let's head on over to there.

Valerie George (3:21)

We saw that Avon is shutting down in the United States, and many of you may be fans of Avon. They certainly have, I think, been pioneers in the multi-level marketing sales design, we'll call it.

Perry Romanowski (3:35)

You know, Avon was one of my first exposures to the beauty industry. There was a woman who was my mom's Avon lady, and she came by, I don't know, once a month or whatever with Avon. I didn't even know why my mom got Avon.

Valerie George (3:50)

Yeah, I mean, I think it was just a thing, and you're supporting local women in the community. Typically, the sales representatives are women.

But Avon is not closing, so if you're Avon fan, don't worry. They're simply just shutting down their R&D facility in the United States, and they are relocating it or centralizing it in Brazil and Poland.

Perry Romanowski (4:15)

Wonder if they're gonna require their chemists to now learn how to speak Polish and Portuguese.

Valerie George (4:21)

Yeah. I mean, they'll still have some US employees, of course. I think the R&D facility is just shutting down. So unfortunately, you know, those jobs are mostly going away in the US but, you know, I know in Brazil, they do a lot of research in hair.