Episode 350 - Boutique face masks, leave-in conditioners and more

Perry Romanowski (0:00)

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

Brain. Hello and welcome to The Beauty Brains, the show where real cosmetic chemists answer your beauty product questions and give you an insider's look at the cosmetic industry. This is episode 350 I'm your host, Perry Romanowski, and with me today is Valerie George. Hello, Valerie.

Valerie George (0:30)

Hi Perry, I'm live from New York.

Perry Romanowski (0:34)

Oh, New York City. Okay, we'll get to that in a moment. But first, let's say what we're gonna have on the show. Today's show, we're gonna cover a few questions.

Is there value in using treatments like Chi Silk Infusion in addition to leave-in conditioner?

Valerie George (0:47)

You mean Chi. Chi is T, Chi is the hair brand.

Perry Romanowski (0:52)

Oh, but it's spelled the same, right? No.

Oh, wait, how do you spell Chi T? Chi T?

Valerie George (0:59)

C-H-A-I.

Perry Romanowski (1:00)

Oh, okay, my bad. Well, another question we're gonna cover is are boutique face masks better than drugstore face masks?

Do some hair oil ingredients cause fewer breakouts than others? And are cosmetics manufactured in South Korea okay for US people to use? But first, some chit chat. You're in New York City. I thought you moved to Dallas or to Texas.

Valerie George (1:23)

I did, I did. But the Society of Cosmetic Chemists annual technical seminar is this week in New York City. This year, it's usually held in New York, except last year it was held in Los Angeles, but Christmas in New York. So I'm here for the show, but unfortunately I do have to leave early because I got called to manufacturing. Huge bummer. So I'll actually be in Maryland later this week.

Perry Romanowski (1:48)

Oh, so you're just out there for the board meetings. I remember I used to be part of that board, go to that meeting.

But so you're just getting the board meetings, which is always so fun. And then you're gonna miss the science piece.

Valerie George (1:58)

I'm actually gonna miss the science piece. Well, yeah, it's a huge bummer, but that's part of the job, right? As a cosmetic chemist is when manufacturing happens, it happens and you get called to it and you have to report for duty and you're steel toes in a hairnet.

Perry Romanowski (2:12)

Who knew? You're not just sitting around in the lab mixing stuff together.

Valerie George (2:19)

It's like I really haven't had a chance to get used to Dallas because, you know, I've really only been there about a week on site. So after this trip, though, we'll be there for a while. I'm not taking any trips in January. Well, I have to go back to LA, but that doesn't count. But yeah.

Perry Romanowski (2:36)

All right, well, excellent. Well, you know what happened with me?

Valerie George (2:39)

What happened?

Perry Romanowski (2:41)

The kittens are all gone.

Valerie George (2:45)

The one with the ugly face was so cute. Where'd he go?

Perry Romanowski (2:48)

Well, she, we named her Marbleu. She went with one of my sister's former bosses. She was, she had just lost her cat like a year ago and she was just finally ready to get a new one. So she took, she actually took two of them.

And then someone else took another one who was somebody related to friends of my other sister. So, you know, I got them placed, you know, this year, and I even got the mother placed. My sister took the mother, so.

Valerie George (3:21)

Wow, look at you doing good work on the streets of Chicago.

Perry Romanowski (3:24)

I know, I've like placed like 11 cats this year. Wow, wow.

Valerie George (3:30)

You know, I thought about capturing Stash and, of course, getting him neutered.

But I think we need him to be an outdoor cat. We actually need all the cats there because where my lab is, it's on the Trinity River. So this is, as my pest maintenance man put it, little house on the prairie meets Jurassic Park. And so we need the cats, maybe not to reproduce wildly, but we need them as part of the pest maintenance program.

Perry Romanowski (3:58)

Well, you could totally catch him, get him fixed, and then let him go again. That's the TNR, Trap, Neuter, Release program. We have that here in Chicago.

Valerie George (4:07)

Well, I look forward to, well, it wouldn't be too hard to trap him. He comes right up to us. He lets us pet him. He gets in my car. He tries to go in the building. He's just such a curious kitty.