Episode 342 - Are Beauty Apps Reliable Sources for Product Recommendations?

Perry Romanowski (0:00)

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

Hello, and welcome to The Beauty Brains, a show where real cosmetic chemists answer your beauty project questions and give you an insider's look at the cosmetic industry. This is episode 342 I'm your host, Perry Romanowski, and with me today is Valerie George. Hello, Valerie.

Valerie George (0:31)

Hi, Perry.

Perry Romanowski (0:32)

It's good to see you on this lovely evening.

Valerie George (0:38)

A lovely summer night.

Perry Romanowski (0:40)

Summer nights. All right, on today's summer night show, we've got a lot of great questions. First, should you throw away products because a beauty product app told you to? Are lip primers just chapstick or are they doing something more? Does sunscreen break down if it's heated too much?

What claims are true about ethnic haircare? And does that lamellar technology found in Wonder Water really work for hair?

But first, some of our famous chit chat. Valerie, how you been?

Valerie George (1:17)

I've been good, keeping busy. You know, I went to the dentist the other day and I've never had an adult cavity in my life, but the technician did tell me I need to floss first. She can tell I'm flossing and doing a good job, but she says I need to do it first. And I didn't want to challenge her on this, because you and I have been here quite a bit.

I didn't ask her for the peer-reviewed literature, for proof, but I just said, okay. And you know what? I said, I'll give it a try. So I've been flossing first for the last few days.

Perry Romanowski (1:53)

Now I have been on team philosophers, right?

Valerie George (1:57)

Yeah.

Perry Romanowski (1:58)

Although I probably concur with you. I don't think there's a study that's, I mean, this seems like a pretty easy study you could do, right?

Valerie George (2:06)

I actually think there was a study that said there was no difference.

Perry Romanowski (2:10)

Right. Well, it's hard to prove a negative, right?

I think if you're just flossing versus no flossing, it doesn't really matter when you do it. There's gonna be a huge difference. Trying to tease out a difference between whether you do it before brushing or after, that's a much harder ask.

Valerie George (2:28)

Well, you'd have to do half your mouth.

Perry Romanowski (2:31)

Right. Half your mouth, huh?

Valerie George (2:34)

Yeah.

Perry Romanowski (2:34)

You could do that.

Valerie George (2:35)

And the last time I got my teeth cleaned, which was six months ago, I go every six months, the technician, different one, said, it doesn't matter when you floss, as long as you do it any time of day. And in fact, she keeps floss in her car and she'll do it in the car. And the whole time she was cleaning my teeth, I was like, I wonder how much plaque is on the inside of her windshield?

Perry Romanowski (3:01)

That is a good question. It's probably just bits of food on the windshield.

Valerie George (3:05)

Yeah. Anyway, so that's what I've been up to.

Perry Romanowski (3:08)

Well, you know, about bits of food, I've been scraping them off the floor of the room where I had the porch kittens.

Valerie George (3:15)

Okay, how are they doing?

Perry Romanowski (3:16)

They are all adopted away.

Hillary (3:19)

Oh, wow.

Valerie George (3:20)

That's great to hear.

Perry Romanowski (3:21)

Yeah, my cousin took little Leonardo and then my neighbors took Donatello and Rafael. And then I took the little smidgey Michelangelo who didn't get picked because she used her claws a little bit more than the other ones.

But she was so sweet. She was like sitting in my lap and purring when it was just her for one day. You know, so friendly.

Valerie George (3:51)

And Michelangelo was always the cool one. I can't believe no one picked her.

Perry Romanowski (3:55)

Well, she was the one most likely to use her nails to climb up your legs.

Valerie George (4:00)

Yeah, yeah, that's true.

Perry Romanowski (4:02)

That's, you know, when you got three little black kittens, you know. But I'm sure she's gonna find a great home at the shelter that I took her to. She is so friendly. The people were gushing about her there. So I think Project Save Porch Kittens success this time.

Valerie George (4:21)

Oh, that's great. Four cats kept off the streets.

Perry Romanowski (4:25)

That's right. All right, just one other thing that we had last week.

We did a reef safe sunscreen debate.

Valerie George (4:33)

Really?

Perry Romanowski (4:34)

And we're gonna be talking about sunscreen in our upcoming segment. So yeah, let's talk about this. I'm part of the IFSEC, which is the International Federation of Society of Cosmetic Chemists. And we host these debates on topics, which I don't know. I guess I find them debate worthy, because what I worry is that in our industry, some of the newer chemists or people who are just getting into the industry, they're heavily influenced by the marketing of our industry.