Episode 385 - Air drying, growth factors and more

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 answer your beauty product questions and give you an insider's look at the cosmetics industry. This is episode 385 I'm your host, Valerie George, and with me today is Perry Romanowski. Hi, Perry.

Perry Romanowski (0:26)

Hola, Valerie.

Valerie George (0:27)

Hola, Perry.

Perry Romanowski (0:28)

Yes, hola, Valerie. Yes, I'm just back from Mexico.

Valerie George (0:32)

Welcome back. On today's show, we're gonna cover a lot of questions, including how effective are growth factors in topical products? Can low-dose minoxidil pills treat hair loss in women? Does air-drying cause more damage than blow-drying? What shampoo and conditioner won't weigh down fine hair? And can a dark spot serum work to reduce pigmentation? But first, our inane chit chat. How was Mexico?

Perry Romanowski (0:56)

Valerie, Mexico was not relaxing. You know, you go on vacation.

Valerie George (1:02)

What? I thought you were supposed to go relax.

Perry Romanowski (1:05)

Right. But you know what? When I go on trips with my wife, those are relaxing. You know, we hang out. Oh, yeah. You go out to trips with your buddies, that's not relaxing, because you're going out all the time, and then it's a competition to see who can stay out the latest. It was just...

Valerie George (1:22)

And I bet there was some imbibing involved.

Perry Romanowski (1:24)

There was a little too much imbibing. In fact, I weighed myself before and after, and I came home with seven more pounds than I left.

Valerie George (1:34)

Well, I don't think that was all from food, was it?

Perry Romanowski (1:37)

Like food and drink and you know... It was a fun place, Playa del Carmen, which is near... It's near Golf of Mexico, near Cancun.

Valerie George (1:49)

Okay. I mean, did you guys do any like guy activities?

Perry Romanowski (1:53)

We watched football.

Valerie George (1:55)

Oh, okay.

Perry Romanowski (1:56)

We found a karaoke place. That was fun.

Valerie George (1:59)

All right.

Perry Romanowski (2:00)

It was fun for me anyway.

Valerie George (2:02)

But you guys didn't do like golfing or anything like that? Any paper, scissors, rock tournaments?

Perry Romanowski (2:07)

No, no tournaments. Although the guy who won the tournament was there. So he was there.

Valerie George (2:14)

Was it his like prize for winning the tournament? You took him to Mexico.

Perry Romanowski (2:18)

I told him it was that. Yeah, but no, it wasn't that. You know, there's lots of treatments and wacky stuff you can get in Mexico, but I saw those fish baths. You know, the ones where you sit in the spa and, well, put your feet in with it. It seems kind of cruel to me, to the fish, although I guess not any crueler than like a fish tank, but it seems kind of a strange treatment.

Valerie George (2:42)

Well, I don't know if the fish know any better, and perhaps they are happy sucking the dead skin off your body.

Perry Romanowski (2:50)

I mean, they do it naturally, so I guess they're good with it.

Valerie George (2:56)

Happy fish. They're happy fish.

Perry Romanowski (2:58)

I mean, they're better than starving fish, right? That's true.

Valerie George (3:01)

I don't know if I would ever do one. I don't even like being in the ocean with fish swimming around me, so I don't think I would put my body or feet or hands into a fish bath and have the fish go at it. Seems kind of fetishy.

Perry Romanowski (3:15)

Well, there seems to be a lot of people do it because there's a lot of these shops. Wow. So it's an interesting place, but you know, I got back from vacation, and my cat just will not stop being near me.

Valerie George (3:29)

Oh, Ted misses you.

Perry Romanowski (3:31)

I guess that's it. I don't know. I feed him. I do this stuff. I feed him. I pet him. He slept next to me yesterday, which is strange because he usually just sleeps in a chair near me or he sleeps on my wife's side, but somehow he's on my side. So it's surprising to me that a cat can miss you like that.

Valerie George (3:49)

Oh, that's really sweet. I wish I had a cat that missed me like that, but they're all gone.

Perry Romanowski (3:55)

Yeah. Oh no. That's right. Well, except when you're trying to put together the script for the upcoming Beauty Brains show. Yeah.

Valerie George (4:04)

Then it's like, Ted, get out. I don't care that you love me. Well, I know how it feels with Butch and Frank because they literally would climb inside me if they could. They can't be close enough to me. And it's 24-7, and they just hyperventilate if I'm moving around.