Cleaner, Safer, Better? Sorting Fact from Fiction in Today’s Beauty Buzz - episode 414

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 414 I'm your host, Perry Romanowski, and with me today is Valerie George. Hello, Valerie.

Valerie George (0:29)

Hi, Perry.

Perry Romanowski (0:30)

Hey, Valerie, we got a big show today on today's show. We're going to cover lots of questions, including can you mix sunscreen to change the tint of a product? Is California Naturals a good haircare option? How do you talk to a clean beauty believer? And how do you control frizz? And finally, what's wrong with Decyl Glucoside in your haircare products? But first, some chit chat. Valerie, how are you this fine morning?

Valerie George (0:57)

I'm a little bit of a wreck, Perry. We're going to be in New York next week.

Perry Romanowski (1:03)

That's already next week? Wow.

Valerie George (1:06)

Yeah. I'm nervous about the weather. It's cold. We're traveling with Baby Sea. Mr. Cosmetic Chemist is coming with me. And I'm mostly excited for the show. In case you guys haven't heard, Perry and I are attending a seminar, scientific seminar called SCC 79 It's the 79th Society of Cosmetic Chemists Scientific Showcase where basically everyone comes together and there's research presentations, posters, social events, camaraderie, et cetera. Although I don't go to the social events because of flashing lights. But anyway, Perry and I go every year and I'm excited to see you.

Perry Romanowski (1:44)

Yeah, it should be very exciting. I'm looking forward to seeing you in person. Hopefully, the weather holds out. Here in Chicago, we just got like eight inches of snow or something.

Valerie George (1:55)

That's terrible.

Perry Romanowski (1:56)

You know what? Strange. I go in the back and I shovel. Why am I shoveling the back? Because I don't really use it. But I shovel it because I don't like to see all the cats get their paws all snowy. So I shovel a little bathroom.

Valerie George (2:10)

Oh, I bet you they appreciate it.

Perry Romanowski (2:13)

Yeah, I think they do. So it's a little bit of work. But what are these guys going to do? I see them just buried in the snow and it gets in their fur and it just makes me feel bad. So that's I do all this extra work for these little cats.

Valerie George (2:29)

Do you have a cat condo or some place they can stay warm on your porch?

Perry Romanowski (2:34)

I have about four shelters. So some of them are hay filled. Some of them have like a heating pad in it. So they have options.

Valerie George (2:43)

And they use them.

Perry Romanowski (2:45)

Oh, yeah, yeah, they do for sure.

Valerie George (2:47)

Oh, that's so cute. I love it.

Perry Romanowski (2:51)

Speaking of love, how about we head right into beauty news?

Well, here's a product that I used to work with a bit, and it's interesting, it's in the news. The new opinion is issued on tea tree oil in products. The EU has issued their final opinion on tea tree oil for the use in cosmetics. You know, some people believe that just because something's natural, it's good to use, but you know, there are limits to natural stuff. And apparently the SCCS, which is the regulatory body in Europe, they have determined that you can use tea tree oil up to 2% in shampoo or a rinse off product, 1% in a shower or body wash, and 1% in a face wash, which are all rinse off. And then in a leave on, you can only use it at 0.1%. So those are pretty low levels. But you know what? I'm not sure you'd want to use tea tree oil at any higher than those levels anyway, because it is quite an odor.

Valerie George (3:56)

Oh, yeah, it has a very unique odor. As you know, I worked at a brand that was famous for, is famous, I should say, for tea tree oil products. And I found it interesting that SCCS did actually lower some of these levels because, for example, I think the previous leave on restriction was half a percent. It looks like they lowered it to 0.1. And some of the rinse offs were higher. So that's very interesting. So basically Perry, what happened is the SCCS didn't arbitrarily say, hey, let's re-review tea tree oil. They were actually pushed to do it because the European Chemicals Agency is responsible for, you know, assessing basically the risk of chemicals in Europe regardless of their use case. So this restriction wasn't necessarily pushed for cosmetics, but for any use case anywhere pretty much. And Poland is the country that pushed the ECHA to classify tea tree oil as a reprotoxic substance, meaning it's potentially harmful to reproduction.