Can skin get addicted to glycerin and other beauty questions - episode 232

Valerie George (0:00)

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

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 cosmetics industry. This is episode 232 I'm your host, Valerie George, and with me today is Perry Romanowski. Hi Perry.

Perry Romanowski (0:27)

Hello Valerie, so good to see you again.

Valerie George (0:31)

It's so good to see you. We have a super big show today. We're gonna answer questions about, do tinted sunscreens work better? Do extra ingredients and hair color provide a benefit? Can skin get addicted to glycerin?

And what does it mean when a shampoo says percent natural origin? And of course we'll talk about some things that we left from the last podcast and of course cover beauty science news. I remember last week Perry, we talked a bit about flossing your teeth and we had a bit of a disagreement.

I thought you should floss after you brush your teeth. That's what I do. And you said, no, I floss before brushing my teeth. And you actually made a comment that, it's unlikely that someone did a study on this topic. Well, I wanted to let you know there actually was a study done on this topic.

Perry Romanowski (1:25)

Really? Who would have done a study on this topic? That's fascinating.

Valerie George (1:29)

Well, a scientist, Mazhari et al, published a paper in the Journal of Periodontology in 2018 and the title is The Effect of Toothbrushing and Flossing Sequence on Interdental Plack Reduction and Fluoride Retention, a randomized, controlled clinical trial.

Perry Romanowski (1:49)

Wow. That's amazing.

Yeah.

Valerie George (1:52)

So basically the study assessed 25 people and they were asked to brush their teeth first, then use floss, and then the same group was asked after a certain period of time to use floss, then brush their teeth.

And I'm actually pretty annoyed. Researchers found that the amount of plaque between the teeth and in the mouth overall was significantly reduced when participants used the floss brush approach.

Perry Romanowski (2:23)

Yes! Vindication.

Valerie George (2:26)

But however okay, basically they also said at the end of the day, like flossing is the most important thing.

So it's not like you're doing it wrong if you're doing it brush floss. The important thing is that you're flossing. And I actually went to the dentist Friday, which was perfect timing because I asked my dentist, who is great by the way, he is also a soda addict. So we have lots to talk about. While he's in there cleaning my teeth, he actually cleans my teeth. He doesn't have a hygienist do it.

Perry Romanowski (3:00)

Really?

Valerie George (3:01)

He says it's really relaxing to clean teeth.

Anyway, he said, yeah, the important thing is that you're just doing it. And he said, brush floss is fine for me.

Perry Romanowski (3:14)

Well, that is fascinating. I actually went to the dentist also.

Valerie George (3:19)

Oh, how was it?

Perry Romanowski (3:21)

It was good. I impressed them with my flossing streak in that I've gone over two years without missing a day.

Valerie George (3:29)

Oh, that's great.

Perry Romanowski (3:32)

But I asked them to say it. So I asked the hygienist, and of course she's a after brushing flosser, but she didn't really know.

Valerie George (3:41)

She's a brush floss.

Perry Romanowski (3:42)

Right, right, she's a brush floss. And then I asked the dentist, because my dentist does not actually come in and do teeth. It's just the clean up after, I guess, I don't know. But she said she does the flossing afterwards also.

Valerie George (4:00)

Interesting. Well, I bet you she didn't read that journal article.

Perry Romanowski (4:04)

Right, she did not read the journal, because she didn't really know. She's like, I'm sure either way is fine.

So I found it a little...

Valerie George (4:13)

Well, it was just one study, a group of 25 people.

And I will say that they did floss for like, I don't know, two consecutive times in different orders. So like, maybe it impacted when you were floss brushing in the second round. I don't know.

Perry Romanowski (4:33)

There really should have been two groups. One group did brush floss first, and then the other group does floss brush, you know?

Valerie George (4:41)

And then they switch.

Perry Romanowski (4:42)

And then they switch.

Valerie George (4:44)

Yeah, interesting.

Well, maybe we'll write the authors. I don't know.

Perry Romanowski (4:48)

We should. You don't know what else we should do.

Valerie George (4:51)

Beauty Science News! What did you see this week?