Episode 322 - Is low molecular weight Hyaluronic acid bad? and other beauty questions

Valerie George (0:00)

Hi, I'm Valerie and you're listening to The Beauty Brains.

The show where real cosmetic chemists answer your beauty product questions and give you an insider's look at the cosmetics industry. This is episode 322 Ooh, we're winding the year down. I'm your host, Valerie George, and with me today is Perry Romanowski. Hi Perry.

Perry Romanowski (0:29)

Hello Valerie, so good to see you again in such a short time.

Valerie George (0:32)

I know, we'll talk about that in a second. But first, that's right. We are going to recap or summarize what today's show is going to be about, and that is low molecular weight hyaluronic acid. Is it a problem?

What is different about products targeted to menopausal skin?

Is lavender oil a problem in lip balm? And is blow drying better than air drying? But first-

Perry Romanowski (0:56)

That's blow drying your hair or is that your hands?

Valerie George (0:59)

Mm, great question, we'll find out.

Perry Romanowski (1:02)

We will.

Valerie George (1:03)

Yeah, but first, I just saw you in Los Angeles in the city of angels, and you know what's so funny? We realized we hadn't seen each other in person in a few years, but it was hard to believe because it was like, no way, I see you all the time.

Perry Romanowski (1:20)

I know, digital is almost like, it's almost like I know you, but I barely, I just know a digital version of you. You could just be like an AI, it's possible you were an AI generated image here, but I saw you in person, so I know you're real.

Valerie George (1:37)

I'm real, I am not fake, but it was really good to see you, to socialize, and we were in town together, although I live here, so I guess I'm always in town, but we got a chance to be together because we had our annual Society of Cosmetic Chemists technical symposium that we were both attending.

Perry Romanowski (1:56)

That's right, and it was a great time, was had by all, we saw a lot of people there.

Valerie George (2:01)

A lot of chemists, yep.

Perry Romanowski (2:03)

Yeah, a lot of chemists in the industry, that was very cool.

I got to experience downtown Los Angeles, which I've never stayed downtown before, so that was a real treat. It's a little different.

Valerie George (2:15)

Very different. Perry was like, why is Skid Row in neighborhood on the map? And I'm like, well, it was temporary, and now it's permanent.

Perry Romanowski (2:23)

Well, see, I thought Skid Row was just some Hollywood made up thing, but there's actually a neighborhood called Skid Row. You think they'd want to rename that or something.

Valerie George (2:32)

You don't want to be down there. People live it on skids.

Perry Romanowski (2:36)

Well, I did get to ride on that little, the shortest train, functioning train in the world, apparently. It's a little train in LA that goes up a hill.

Valerie George (2:47)

Yeah.

Perry Romanowski (2:47)

And it's like a hundred yards or something. That was very cool.

Valerie George (2:51)

Very cool, yeah. Saves your stems from walking uphill or downhill, which can be equally as rough.

Perry Romanowski (2:56)

You know, before I was in LA, I was actually in Hawaii, and I got to see that big lava burst in that volcano.

Valerie George (3:05)

Oh my goodness. Which is very cool. Are you sure you got to see it? You saw lava exploding.

Perry Romanowski (3:10)

I saw little red lights. So it wasn't quite the side of the mountain on fire, but hey, it was glowing, and I think it was lava.

Valerie George (3:20)

Do you know, that reminds me, you should, you listen to the podcastologies, right?

Perry Romanowski (3:25)

On occasion, yeah.

Valerie George (3:26)

You should have re-listened before your trip to the first episode with The Volcanologist.

Perry Romanowski (3:32)

Oh, well, maybe I'll go back and listen.

Valerie George (3:35)

And then you'll have to go back to Hawaii, and she'll tell you the real way to see it is on a helicopter tour.

Perry Romanowski (3:41)

Oh, well, yeah. I'm not gonna get my wife on a helicopter. I barely get her on a plane.

Valerie George (3:46)

Oh my goodness. Could you imagine flying over it?

Perry Romanowski (3:50)

Yeah.

There was one interesting thing that I saw on the beaches though. On some of the beaches in Hawaii, they had a sign about sunscreen and all the sunscreens that were banned.

Valerie George (4:01)

Oh, interesting.

Perry Romanowski (4:02)

They were banning any chemical sunscreen, and only ones allowed were the zinc oxides and titanium oxide ones.