Episode 310 - Water resistant sunscreen, eczema shampoo, cool air hair dryers and more

Perry Romanowski (0:00)

Hi, I'm Perry 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 310 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)

It's good to see you. Burning up there in LA, I see.

Valerie George (0:35)

Yes, I think everywhere is scorched, though.

Perry Romanowski (0:38)

Well, while you've tuned in, we're going to answer a few questions on the show and do a little beauty science news. And the questions we're going to be answering, does the cool air function on hair dryers help set hairstyles?

Does it cool you off in the hot summers of LA, too?

Valerie George (0:56)

Probably not enough. I don't recommend it.

Perry Romanowski (0:59)

What makes a sunscreen water resistant? Is there a shampoo that can help with eczema? And what do we think of Dr. Sam Bunting's skincare products?

First, Valerie, some of our general chit chat. How are you today?

Valerie George (1:15)

You know, I'm doing okay. Today's the two year anniversary that my beloved Olive passed away.

So a little sad day in the cosmetic chemist household.

Perry Romanowski (1:25)

Yeah, that's too bad. It's always sad when a pet or really any family member or friend passes away.

Valerie George (1:35)

Yeah, so we're just gonna celebrate him today.

Perry Romanowski (1:38)

Well, that's fun. You know, that does remind me of a book I just finished reading called 4,000 Weeks.

Valerie George (1:45)

Okay, I'm trying to do the math, how much time that is.

Perry Romanowski (1:49)

It refers to the 4,000 Weeks as like of an approximate average of a person's lifespan.

It's a time management book, and they go through and essentially try to convince you that the best way to manage your time is to figure out the stuff you want to do and come to the realization that there's a lot you're not going to be able to do. So, once you embrace what you can't do, you'll be happy.

Valerie George (2:18)

Sounds interesting, you know, I'm going to be 40 in September and I'm just kind of crunching the numbers here on that. And I've consumed over half my 4,000 weeks.

Perry Romanowski (2:35)

Well, you know what's going to happen to me in 185 days?

Valerie George (2:38)

What?

Perry Romanowski (2:39)

That is going to be the official midpoint of my life.

Because, you see, I have decided that I'm living until November 11, 2076 So, which put me at 107, so.

Valerie George (2:54)

Yeah, we're doing the math there.

Perry Romanowski (2:55)

Yeah, so I have, like right now I have 19,836 days left to be on this planet and make Beauty Brains podcast episodes. But 185 days from now, my midpoint year, so I'm going to have a big, big celebratory moment then.

Valerie George (3:13)

Oh, good.

Good. Hopefully, I'll be there celebrating with you, living past 4,000 weeks.

Perry Romanowski (3:20)

Exactly. That'll get us to about 5,500 weeks or something.

Valerie George (3:23)

Yeah. Oh my gosh.

Perry Romanowski (3:25)

All right. Are we ready for some beauty science news?

Valerie George (3:28)

Yeah.

Perry Romanowski (3:34)

This first story I saw, it was kind of making the rounds among the cosmetic chemists enclave on the internet. And essentially J&J has launched a new baby brand. The baby brand is called Vivi & Bloom, and it's the first one that they've launched in the company's, you know, 128 years history. You know, of course, Johnson & Johnson has the famous J&J baby shampoo, which is still an iconic product, and hasn't really changed that much, although they did change the preservative a few years ago, but that one came out like in the 1960s. So it's a very popular brand. They're launching this new brand for the Gen Z and millennial parents.

And what is interesting about it is, you know, they're of course gonna be selling it through Walmart and Amazon and various drugstore chains, but what I find most interesting is that in their marketing, they contend in their marketing that all their products were formulated without parabens, sulfates and dyes, but even worse, they were verified by the environmental working group.

So essentially they're taking a clean beauty approach to products that have to be safe anyway, but somehow the toxicologists that work for J&J aren't good enough, but they get the environmental working group in there and get their seal of approval, and I guess that's gonna help with marketing.

Valerie George (5:09)