Cosmetic safety, at home hair color, Vegemite facials and more - Episode 307

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 cosmetic industry. This is episode 307 I'm your host, Valerie George, and with me today is Perry Romanowski. Hi, Perry.

Perry Romanowski (0:26)

Hello, Valerie.

Valerie George (0:28)

On today's show, we're gonna answer questions about could Vegemite be a dupe for the Biologique Recherche favorite mask, Vivante? Why does getting hair dyed in the salon take longer than when you do it at home?

What's a good treatment for melasma and have cosmetic ingredients been safety tested enough? But first, our inane chit chat. Perry, you have a lot going on tomorrow, right?

Perry Romanowski (0:51)

I do have a lot going on. Tomorrow, I am riding a bike ride for charity, a 100K.

Valerie George (0:58)

Very cool.

Perry Romanowski (0:59)

I drive from like South Side of Chicago all the way into Indiana. So it should be fun. And a lot of our fans had donated.

I raised a pretty good amount of money, I guess.

Valerie George (1:12)

Oh, that's so incredible. Oh, thanks, everyone.

Perry Romanowski (1:15)

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. But it occurs to me, I haven't actually ridden a bike in almost two years.

Valerie George (1:24)

Oh my gosh. And you're gonna go ride on this 100 kilometer bike ride tomorrow?

Perry Romanowski (1:30)

Well, I made sure I had air in my tires.

So the air in my tires. So the bike works and it's like riding a bike, right? How hard could it be?

Valerie George (1:41)

I would say that's impressive, but do you know what would be even more impressive?

Perry Romanowski (1:45)

What's that?

Valerie George (1:46)

If you juggled while you did the marathon. Is that in your plans?

Perry Romanowski (1:50)

You mean juggling while biking?

Valerie George (1:51)

Yes.

Perry Romanowski (1:53)

Yeah, yeah, I had thought of it, but it's probably a little too dangerous.

Valerie George (1:57)

I would guess.

Perry Romanowski (1:58)

Hey everybody, I just wanted to break in here and tell you that the 100K plus bike ride I did on Friday was a great success. And I made it through just fine, except for some sore legs, of course. And I want to thank everyone who donated. You personally helped us raise over $4,000 and contributed to an event that generated over $250,000 for research. Thank you so much.

Okay, now back to the show. You know what I'm gonna also do though?

Valerie George (2:26)

What?

Perry Romanowski (2:26)

I'm gonna remember to put on sunscreen.

Because, this is strange, I was at the beach last weekend with my sisters and mother, and you know, I put on sunscreen right when we got there, and then I kind of forgot to put it on. And now I have these blasted cold sores, because I get these sunburn, whenever I get a sunburn, I get these blisters. It is driving me nuts. It was the, that's probably the worst sunburn I've had in, I don't know, 10 years.

Valerie George (2:56)

Well, I hope you learned your lesson.

Perry Romanowski (2:58)

I did learn my lesson. I'm gonna put sunscreen on during the bike tomorrow.

Valerie George (3:02)

Oh, good. Well, speaking of learning lessons, this week, I got to volunteer at a science camp for eighth grade girls called Tech Trek.

I don't know if you remember a few years ago, I don't know if we talked about it, but basically it's a camp to keep young girls interested in sciences. And there's a lot of different programs that they have going on there.

Perry Romanowski (3:22)

That sounds cool.

Valerie George (3:23)

Yeah, like coding, a little paleontology section. And then I helped an industry colleague put on a cosmetic science segment where everyone got to make their own cold process lotions.

Perry Romanowski (3:39)

I love that. I love that cold process lotion. So it's just a super absorbent polymer. You mix together oil and water.

Valerie George (3:46)

Yeah.

Perry Romanowski (3:47)

It's pretty cool.

That's a good demonstration and emulsion technology. How fascinating.

Valerie George (3:53)

Yeah. Hopefully there's some future cosmetic chemists out of it.

Perry Romanowski (3:57)

Absolutely. And the kids just, they love to make lotions like that.

Valerie George (4:00)

They do, especially when they get to pick their own fragrance.

Perry Romanowski (4:03)

Did you guys put preservatives in them?

Valerie George (4:05)

We did. Actually one person refused the preservative.

And I said, well, you don't really have an option because the product isn't safe without it. It will grow bacteria, yeast and mold. You need a broad spectrum preservative. And they grumpily accepted my drops of phenoxyethanol and ethyl hexylglycerin.