CBD in cosmetics – Waterless products – and hair dye cancer scare – episode 202

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 scientists answer your beauty questions and give you an insider's look at the beauty product industry. This is episode number 202 I'm your host, Valerie George, and with me today is my co-host, Perry Romanowski.

Perry Romanowski (0:26)

Hey, Valerie, 202, that's a palindrome. I love palindromes.

Valerie George (0:31)

Me too, I'm very excited for this show. As special as a palindrome is, we're gonna give a little bit of a special show to you guys today, with a bit of a different route than we usually do, where we cover a couple of beauty news topics, and then answer some questions.

We're actually just gonna use this time to let out our rage.

Perry Romanowski (0:51)

Yeah, it'll be like Beauty Brains after dark. So instead of answering your questions, we've taken three topics that have really generated some discussion between us, and chat about them.

Valerie George (1:04)

Generated discussion is polite. I actually think these three topics have really just generated a lot of discussion in the cosmetic space. So I think it's really good that we cover them, and then we talk about it from our perspective, just to really dispel and provide clarity for all.

Perry Romanowski (1:21)

Yeah, and really just to give the perspective of the people who actually make the products, not of the people who are selling the products, or marketing the products, or the NGOs that are trying to scare consumers. So that's what we're going with. All right, Valerie, what are our three topics today?

Valerie George (1:40)

Well, we're first going to talk about that hair dye associated with cancer story that pretty much splashed the news everywhere. My father sent me a text message and asked me if I was participating in some mass genocide. And I'm like, dad, it's too soon. That's not funny.

But he didn't respond, so I don't think he was joking. Then we're going to talk about waterless beauty.

I won't go into what we're going to say there. And then of course, CBD. CBD being a hot topic. We've mentioned it a couple times on the show, but there's just some stuff happening that's really upsetting me and not allowing the industry to advance forward. So let's get started.

Perry Romanowski (2:18)

So why don't we get started with that hair color one?

I know I saw this story. It was Newsweek, I think I saw it, but it was titled Breast Cancer Linked Permanent Hair Dye and Chemical Hair Straightener Study with almost 50,000 women. And of course, I had to think of the person who I know is most expert in hair colors and get her thoughts. So, Valerie, that person. That would be me.

Valerie George (2:41)

That's me, yep, yep.

Perry Romanowski (2:44)

What's your take on this story?

Valerie George (2:45)

Well, there were dozens and dozens of headlines. Fast Company, a harrowing study of 46,000 women shows hair dyes are heavily associated with cancer.

CBS, local news. Hair dye chemical straighteners may increase breast cancer risk. Good Morning America, what to know about a new study linking permanent hair dye, hair straighteners to breast cancer?

Market Watch, could coloring or chemically straightening your hair give you cancer? Medscape, hair dyes linked to elevated breast cancer risk. NPR, hair dyes and straighteners linked to higher cancer risk, especially for black women. So it goes on and on. You can see all these really sensational headlines, but the Fast Company one gets me the most. They call it a one-minute read, and I can tell you because you just click delete, because the article is utter trash.

So let's just go over the study. So a study was published to the Journal of Cancer on December 3rd by a research group called the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. A couple scientists who actually study epidemiology in this organization did some work, published a study where they followed 46,709 women ages 35 to 74 over eight years. These women all had something in common. They had a sister who had breast cancer or has breast cancer, but they themselves do not have breast cancer.

And over eight years, they routinely asked these women questions and tried to figure out if there are potential environmental factors that are increasing their risk to get cancer. And of course, in the study that they conducted, black women were 60% higher of a risk of developing cancer. And it wasn't just linked to hair dyes or hair colorants. They were also talking about chemical straighteners, and they didn't go into the detail of the chemistry because a chemical straightener could be a lie relaxer. And if you know anything about sodium hydroxide, alkali, they don't cause cancer.