Can you use diaper rash cream as sunscreen? Episode 162

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

You're listening to The Beauty Brains Show, where real scientists answer your beauty questions. And now, here's Randy and Perry.

Perry Romanowski (0:21)

Hello, and welcome to The Beauty Brains. I'm cosmetic chemist and beauty brand mogul Perry Romanowski. And with me, as always, my brainy partner and member of the Association of Science Writers, Randy Schuller.

Randy Schuller (0:32)

The, the mogul part, is that a reference to Wee Feeq or Feeq Me or whatever your new brand is called?

Perry Romanowski (0:41)

Yeah, that beauty brand that I launched, Feeq, you know. Right now, it's just hair care, so.

Randy Schuller (0:46)

Oh, so stay tuned for the skincare launch. Good God, all right.

Perry Romanowski (0:53)

Yeah, we'll see. Incidentally, I just heard on my headphones that the battery's low, so I'm going to have to switch to regular.

Randy Schuller (1:02)

We're off to a fantastic start, ladies and gentlemen.

Perry Romanowski (1:07)

All right, so, this is episode number 162 And on today's showgram, you'll learn about whether diaper rash cream can be used as a sunscreen.

If facial massage is good for stopping wrinkles. And if there is a new plant extract that can boost your collagen production. Fascinating stuff you're not going to want to miss.

Randy Schuller (1:27)

And best of all, all the questions today are audio questions.

Perry Romanowski (1:30)

But first, how about some of that inane chit chat we're so famous for, Andy? You got anything interesting to talk about?

Randy Schuller (1:36)

Nope.

Perry Romanowski (1:38)

As per the huge. Well, I could tell you something that I did.

I just did a road trip from Chicago to the beaches of Delaware. Oh. Yeah, a place called Rehoboth.

Randy Schuller (1:53)

And this is beauty science related how?

Perry Romanowski (1:55)

I'm going to tell you how. So while I was at the beach, something happened to me that has never happened to me before.

I got a sunburn on the top of my head. Now when I go to the beach, I don't really like the sun much. So I'm that guy sitting with the shirt on, the towel over the legs, and then all the sunscreen.

Randy Schuller (2:20)

Yeah, I usually wear a shirt and tie at the beach, so I know exactly what you're saying.

Perry Romanowski (2:25)

But this time I went running on the beach, and I wore a visor.

And so while I was running, I ran like 40 minutes up and down the beach. And I came back and my head hurt. And so I got this sunburn on the top of my head, which I figured just my hair usually protects that, right?

Randy Schuller (2:47)

At a certain age, that becomes problematic.

Perry Romanowski (2:51)

Apparently, I'm getting to that age.

So I either have to spray that sunscreen in my hair. What do you think? Do you think that would work, the sprayable sunscreen, spraying it into your hair?

Randy Schuller (3:04)

If you put enough on where you coated your scalp, it would, sure.

Perry Romanowski (3:08)

Right. But you have to do enough.

Randy Schuller (3:09)

You could just wear a hat.

Perry Romanowski (3:11)

Yeah, that's my new strategy. No more visors. I'll start wearing a hat.

So just a little beauty tip out there. Be careful about getting the burn on the top of your head.

All right, Randy. We got a couple of science news stories to talk about before we get into those questions. Why don't you start with the first one?

Randy Schuller (3:34)

Yeah, I wanted to give a quick mention of an article that I saw in Global Cosmetic News about Johnson & Johnson speaking out on natural products.

First of all, I just loved the title of the article, which was, J&J Calls Parents Bluff Over Natural Baby Products. Did you see this one?

Perry Romanowski (3:52)

I did see this one, yeah. And it was good to see a company coming out and calling out bullshit.

Randy Schuller (3:56)

Yeah, exactly. So let me quote the article. This is from David Mays, who's the Senior Director, Senior Director at J&J, but he said, while many parents want all natural products for their baby, natural organic isn't always what's safest for babies.

The debate over naturals and chemicals has been oversimplified, where many consumers now believe that the more natural something is, the better and safer it is. It's just not that simple. And in fact, that oversimplification is doing a great disservice to consumers. So that is a refreshing point of view to see put forward, and it's not that much different than what we've been saying all along.

If I had to condense this down, the most important takeaway is this quote from the article, which is, being natural is never more important than being safe.