Episode 243 - What order should you apply sunscreen? And other beauty questions

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

Perry Romanowski (0:26)

Hello Valerie, so good to have you back.

Valerie George (0:29)

Good to be back myself. Great questions on today's show. We're gonna answer whether or not Covid-19 can impact hair loss.

Can Laamaru tell your hormones to give you healthy skin?

Perry Romanowski (0:43)

Wow.

Valerie George (0:45)

Yeah, I had to chuckle at that one. How can you tell if there is nickel in your color cosmetics?

Perry Romanowski (0:50)

Because you can't get dimes?

Valerie George (0:53)

Does the order of application affect sunscreen ratings and can an additive cut processing time for hair color? But first, tell me all about this porch kitty.

Perry Romanowski (1:05)

Okay, you know, I live in the city, in the city of Chicago, and we have wildlife, but I have this couch out on my front porch. It's a tiny porch, and it's a small couch. But during the summer, I had noticed that there was black hair all over the couch, and I didn't know where that hair was coming from.

And I peered out a couple of weeks ago, and I saw there's this black cat that comes to my couch at nighttime and just sleeps all night there.

Valerie George (1:34)

Like a homeless person.

Perry Romanowski (1:36)

Like a homeless person, and so now I've been putting little treats out for it. Now the cat is eating the treats. I just worry that porch kitty might get a little bit too cold. You know, Chicago's getting down to 30 degrees.

But I think it's a feral cat. He's got the ear clipped. You know, they clip the ears of the feral cats here in the city.

Valerie George (1:57)

They do. That's interesting.

Perry Romanowski (1:59)

Well, they catch them, they spay them, neuter them, give them their vaccines, and then let them go again. I guess apparently it helps get rid of the rats or something.

Valerie George (2:08)

And the clipping of the ear lets them know, oh hey, we've handled this cat before?

Perry Romanowski (2:14)

Exactly. Yeah, that's the whole notion there. So anyway, I'm trying to befriend this cat, because maybe an outdoor cat will replace my foster cat that has been gone for about a month.

Valerie George (2:25)

Yeah, and then your wife doesn't have to worry because the cat's not coming inside.

Perry Romanowski (2:30)

Exactly.

Valerie George (2:31)

Maybe you could put out a little blanket for it so it can burrow under it in the winter.

Perry Romanowski (2:36)

That's what I just did today. I put a little blanket out there.

Maybe I'll get a heating pad. I don't know.

Valerie George (2:45)

Oh gosh.

Perry Romanowski (2:48)

Well, why don't we move on to some beauty science news?

Valerie George (2:58)

Is men's nail polish taking off? The Wall Street Journal just posted an article this past week, and they've predicted that men's nail polish is taking off, and why now?

Perry Romanowski (3:13)

Really? You know, I've tried nail polish once, but I've never thought to myself saying, oh, you know, I really need to put nail polish on.

Valerie George (3:26)

Yeah, well, they say the trend is trickling down from celebrities that are wearing nail polish. Of course, men wearing nail polish is not new. In the 70s, many rock stars were wearing nail polish as well.

And I just, you know, I'm a little, well, I'm not skeptical. I'm sure more and more men are wearing nail polish. I'm sure of it. I actually used to work for a men's makeup brand, and we launched nail polish for men. Beautiful colors.

And people did wear them. People did buy them. But it's a very, very, very small niche market. And I think no matter what's happening to sales, I think it's a little strong to say men's nail polish is taking off.

Perry Romanowski (4:13)

Well, I did a little, I did do a bit of a snarky comment on Twitter about this, where I said, you know, if they sell 100 bottles this year, they're going to improve it by 1000% or something.

But I'm sure they sell more than that. And yeah, there's plenty of men who are going to like nail polish. I just don't personally think like it's really going to, like there's never going to be a time when men wear nail polish as much as women.