Episode 393 - Jojoba Oil, Retinol, and Other Unexpected Power Couples

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 393 I'm your host, Valerie George, and with me today is Perry Romanowski. Hi Perry.

Perry Romanowski (0:27)

Hello Valerie, great to see you as always.

Valerie George (0:30)

Welcome back. On today's show, we're gonna cover lots of questions and beauty news, including, are cosmetic products filled with microplastics? What do you do about facial hair? Is jojoba oil good to use with retinol? How can a formula with hypochlorous acid and azelaic acid be stable? And finally, how do you handle acne at the hairline? But first, inane chit chat.

Perry Romanowski (0:54)

Yes, Valerie, I'm just back from China. You know, that's a long flight.

Valerie George (0:59)

It is pretty far away, that's for sure.

Perry Romanowski (1:02)

So I'm in coach and I'm next to some guy and his wife, and you know, it gets the middle of the night, and I don't really sleep on planes. I watched like 15 movies there and back. Yeah. But so then the guy goes to sleep and he leans on my shoulder.

Valerie George (1:18)

Okay, for how long?

Perry Romanowski (1:20)

Well, I started doing this, I sort of moved my arm and he kind of moved a little, but then he went back. And then eventually I was just like, oh, I'm just watching the movie. So I just let him stay there.

Valerie George (1:30)

Oh, that's very kind of you.

Perry Romanowski (1:32)

You know, would you just push him off or what do you do?

Valerie George (1:37)

Well, I don't know. I can sleep on planes for sure. Now, if I were doing an international flight, you know, I would hate to fly in coach. I mean, I do it, but I'll tell you what, when I was an executive at a leading salon brand, I was spoiled getting to fly business class international. It's like flying first class.

Perry Romanowski (1:59)

Yeah, yeah, I mean, I've done like premium. I've never done like first class for a long flight. I've done first class like once.

Valerie George (2:09)

It's so hard to go back. And there's a really great meme on Instagram where Michael Jackson is like pointing to all the places, like how his shoulder hurts and his wrist hurts and all this kind of stuff. And it's like me having to go back to economy after flying business class.

Perry Romanowski (2:26)

Well, I will say, when I get on the plane, I kind of scorn at those people all in the first class who got to get on first, and then they got the big seats.

Valerie George (2:34)

Free drink.

Perry Romanowski (2:35)

You know, the worst is, when you see a kid who's like seven or eight years old, they're like, they don't appreciate these things. And then they're knocking back the champagne. No, no, no, they are.

Valerie George (2:48)

Oh, goodness. Well, I have a pretty big announcement to make.

Perry Romanowski (2:53)

Yeah, what's that?

Valerie George (2:54)

Something happened while you were gone, and somebody's pregnant.

Perry Romanowski (2:59)

Really? Who's pregnant?

Valerie George (3:03)

Pretty Kitty.

Perry Romanowski (3:04)

Oh, my God. Pretty Kitty.

Valerie George (3:07)

I thought, wow, she's looking a little pudgy. And then, boom, she just was bulbous in the midsection.

Perry Romanowski (3:15)

Oh, wow. Wow. So you're going to have some pretty kitty kitties.

Valerie George (3:19)

Yeah. We're going to have to figure out how to get her in. I mean, she's tried to come in a couple times, but I just want her cats to be safe. She only has one kitten left out of her litter from last year.

Perry Romanowski (3:31)

Yeah.

Valerie George (3:32)

And I just feel like we need her.

Perry Romanowski (3:36)

I think you want to trap her.

Valerie George (3:38)

Yeah.

Perry Romanowski (3:39)

Get a nice trap. And actually, if there's a shelter near you, they usually will rent the traps for cheap. And then you can put the food in there. They go in there, you get them. You can take her, you get TNR'd, or you can take her in and put her in a room and let her have her kittens. Weeks later, adopt out the kittens and then you have your cat.

Valerie George (4:01)

Yeah. I think we want to try to get her in.

Perry Romanowski (4:04)

Yeah.

Valerie George (4:04)

Have the kittens, get them in a good spot, take them to the shelter, have pretty kitty hate me for the rest of her life, you know, that kind of stuff.