Episode 334 - Does retinol in body wash do anything?

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 give you an insider's look at the cosmetics industry. This is episode 334 I'm your host, Valerie George, and with me today is Perry Romanowski. Hi Perry.

Perry Romanowski (0:26)

Hi Valerie. Did you know that when you're out in Mexico and you're sitting by the pool and you're all shaded, that you can still get sunburn?

Valerie George (0:36)

Oh my goodness, I do. Well hopefully on today's show, we'll answer some questions that help you, such as ingredients that make body oils moisturize, does body wash with retinol do anything, how does the OPI nail technology work or does it, and what's the difference between cocoa betaine and cocometapropyl betaine?

But first, that inane chit chat, so you're in Mexico and you're sunburned? How am I not surprised? Because you don't really wear sunscreen.

Perry Romanowski (1:07)

Well, I have to say, I'm not against wearing sunscreen. And I will put it on, though my wife buys the spray kind, and I'm a little skeptical that spray kind actually works, but I put it on. But I guess you should probably reapply more frequently than I do. But mostly my sun strategy is this. I get by the pool and then I put towels over myself and I just sit completely covered.

But, you know, I'm not covering my face except for the hat and the shade, but I guess the light must be able to bounce off of stuff and still get me, huh?

Valerie George (1:44)

Yeah, it certainly does. I actually was in Greece one summer working at my church's camp, and I was in this white amphitheater that's present there for a very short amount of time.

And I couldn't believe that under my chin was burned. I was burned in all kinds of weird places.

And then I realized it's all the reflection that's coming off of all the environmental factors in the buildings and whatnot reflecting and coming up on me. And I got burned. So yeah, I totally get it. You said you probably don't reapply as often as you should. How often do you reapply?

Perry Romanowski (2:19)

I didn't reapply.

Valerie George (2:21)

I mean, I mean, I put some on like, you know, so really should have left out as often as I should have just said, I don't reapply.

Perry Romanowski (2:33)

Well, that's the same, isn't it? Well, while people can take my beauty chemistry advice, don't take my beauty use advice.

Valerie George (2:44)

That's what I always say about me when I'm talking about hair. I say, look, I can speak about it from a chemistry perspective.

Do not contact me with actual like color problems.

Perry Romanowski (3:00)

What have you been up to, Valerie?

Valerie George (3:02)

Well, as everyone knows, I was at a soap show, the Handcrafted Soap and Cosmetics Guild, a lovely show, lovely people, and had some car problems coming back. So I'm going to go back to the Rockies and pick my car up, the parts were on back order, of course.

Perry Romanowski (3:20)

Oh, no.

Valerie George (3:21)

So we're going to make a fun weekend out of it, I guess, and just road trip back to LA. But other than that, I've just been very busy at work. I've not been having a great time.

Murphy's Law, whatever can go wrong will go wrong. That's what it feels like. But you know, I will have I will say the last few weeks have been really hectic. And it's like, man, can I catch a break?

Perry Romanowski (3:45)

You know what I blame everything on?

Valerie George (3:47)

What?

Perry Romanowski (3:48)

The Big Bang.

You see, it's everything that happens in the universe is a result of the initial conditions of the Big Bang, and then all the particles just follow the laws of physics. And everything that happens was already written 13.87 billion years ago. That works for me anyway.

Valerie George (4:07)

Well, all I know is, you know, I'm looking forward to catching a little break one day. That would be nice.

Perry Romanowski (4:15)

Well, hopefully you do. And hopefully we get a chance to talk about some of these beauty science stories.

Valerie George (4:23)

Yeah, let's head over to Beauty Science News. What did you see this week on the sands of Cabo?

Perry Romanowski (4:35)

You know, I'm scanning my feeds as I sit on the beach, burning myself to a crisp, because apparently I don't reapply enough. But anyway, I saw that Washington state in the United States now has the nation's strongest laws against toxic cosmetics. The legislation targets harmful chemicals that are often found in products marketed to women of color. According to this new legislation, which doesn't seem like anything new, but starting in 2025, the toxic-free Cosmetic X is going to ban and manufacture, sale and distribution of cosmetic containing nine chemicals and chemical classes. They're looking to ban formaldehyde, lead, ortho-thalates, mercury, methylene glycol, trexacin and poly-fluoroalkyl substance, or PFAS. And of course, it says you can't intentionally add that. So this isn't like it's banning lead from lipstick. You can still have lead in your lipstick. You just can't intentionally add it.