Does Sweet N Low affect Hair color - and more beauty questions - episode 284

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 284 I'm your host, Valerie George, and with me today is Perry Romanofsky. Hi Perry.

Perry Romanofsky (0:27)

Hello Valerie, so good to have you back.

Valerie George (0:30)

I am back and healed and so excited to cover today's show. Is a two-step peel more effective than a self-neutralizing peel? Does Sweet and Low help desensitize the scalp?

What makes a product or ingredient more likely to clog your pores and how do you test commutogenicity in a lab? Does the acid from AHA deactivate retinol? And what's the deal about scientific skincare?

Perry Romanofsky (0:54)

Geez, that's a lot of questions we got going on today.

Valerie George (0:57)

We have a lot, and I know you have a big evening ahead of you. You're at the annual Scientific Technical Symposium in New York City.

Perry Romanofsky (1:03)

I am, every year the Society of Cosmetic Chemists have their annual meeting in New York City in December, and I am there. Actually, you know, Valerie, I'm winning an award.

Valerie George (1:15)

You are? I was gonna bring it up. I'm so excited for you. Yeah, and I'm so excited I can't be there. Usually I go every year. It's the first year I've not been able to go.

Perry Romanofsky (1:25)

Yeah, this is the, I've been going to this meeting since 2007, so it's been quite a long time. I've been involved in the Society for a long time, and they're giving me this merit award because you deserve it, hello. Working for free for a long time. No, I love it. I love the mission. The mission is all about educating scientists and the consumers about cosmetic science and the great technologies and the products that we have. And I'm happy to be a part of that. And, you know, for me, this is a labor of love, and it's fun to be recognized for that.

Valerie George (2:05)

That's so great. Is this your first award?

Perry Romanofsky (2:07)

This is my first award.

Valerie George (2:10)

Well, congratulations. You're joining me in the ranks as an award-winning cosmetic chemist.

Perry Romanofsky (2:15)

Oh, have you won it? What was the award that you won?

Valerie George (2:18)

I won the same award but on a chapter level.

Perry Romanofsky (2:21)

Oh, I gotcha. That's fabulous.

Valerie George (2:23)

But you're on a national level. That's big stuff. That's big time.

Perry Romanofsky (2:27)

I am international, Perry, almost.

Valerie George (2:31)

Well, that's so great. Congratulations.

Perry Romanofsky (2:40)

While you were away under the weatheredness, I'm sure you looked at some beauty news. Did you see anything that was interesting?

Valerie George (2:47)

You know, it's kind of like a slow, ugly month. I didn't see a whole lot.

Perry Romanofsky (2:51)

December, yeah.

Valerie George (2:52)

Yeah, except usually it's reminiscing for the year and predicting for the following year. But I did see an article about how plant-based skincare is going to surpass $683 million in 2021

And I just think that's surprising because plants have been a critical part of skincare for so long. And I'm just confused why all of a sudden now that, you know, all these brands are quote unquote offering plant-based skincare when we have used plant-based ingredients for decades.

Perry Romanofsky (3:23)

But like $683 million? I mean, it's like, it's a $400 billion industry that doesn't seem that high.

Valerie George (3:32)

Well, I wonder how much of that they're not counting when it's like, so much stuff is plant-based.

Perry Romanofsky (3:38)

Oh yeah.

Valerie George (3:38)

Do you use sedal alcohol? You're using plant-based ingredients.

Perry Romanofsky (3:43)

Exactly. So, well, you know, that was when the trend of vegan cosmetic products came out, I looked at it and I'm like, yeah, almost everything's vegan. Like, petroleum's vegan, plant-based is vegan. In fact, in the late 1990s, you remember, yeah, you probably don't because you were probably like in grade school or something, but there was a whole big mad cow disease sort of like rush in industries and people were afraid of mad cow disease.

The way that affected the cosmetic industry is that collagen and keratin proteins and things that normally would come from animals, lanolin, all of these things, companies just decided we're not gonna use animal products anymore. And because the mad cow disease really kind of spooked the industry. And it's kind of about the cosmetic industry, like, oh, they just want to put chemicals on you. But the cosmetic industry is actually quite reactive to what consumers are afraid of. And if there's an easy switch out of some chemical, we'll just ditch that chemical and use something else.