How do cosmetics impact the environment? episode 206

Valerie George (0:00)

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

Real cosmetic chemists, answer your beauty product questions and give you an insider's look at the cosmetics industry. I'm your host, Valerie George, and with me today is my co-host and founder of the show, Perry Romanowski. Hi Perry.

Perry Romanowski (0:27)

Hey Valerie, good to have you back.

Valerie George (0:29)

Happy New Year.

Perry Romanowski (0:31)

Indeed.

Valerie George (0:32)

Well, we have an exciting program today, as usual. We'll cover, of course, beauty science news, and then we will answer your questions about aluminum hydroxide and topical products.

Perry Romanowski (0:43)

Ooh.

Valerie George (0:43)

Whether lip scrubs are worthwhile or not.

Perry Romanowski (0:46)

My lips are already dry.

Valerie George (0:47)

It is winter in Chicago. The environmental impact of cosmetics. And what are the differences between bentonite and charcoal in a facial mask?

However, we haven't had a chance to catch up yet this year. How's it been going?

Perry Romanowski (1:02)

Oh, things are going good. The weather has been really screwy here in Chicago. It's finally winter time, but I had a great New Year. I'm off on track with all of my goals.

I've already read five books this year, so.

Valerie George (1:16)

Wow, that's incredibly impressive. I have a goal of one per week. How many do you have?

Perry Romanowski (1:22)

I was going to go one per week, but last year I read 70 books, so that's sort of my goal, I guess.

Valerie George (1:29)

Oh, very cool.

Perry Romanowski (1:30)

So you were off at the Consumer Electronics Show. Do you see any good beauty stuff there?

Valerie George (1:36)

Yeah, I was actually last week, being the first work week of the New Year, I already hit up two states for work. A lot of business travel already. I was supposed to have another trip next week, but I canceled it just because that's a bit much. But at the Consumer Electronics Show, it is a crazy show. If you ever have a chance to go, maybe we'll cover live with The Beauty Brains next year. It's pretty cool.

Basically, if it's digital software electronics, it's covered. The show is ginormous, and it does take a little bit of pre-planning to make sure that you're in the correct areas that you want to go because, quite frankly, it is exhausting, even if you have the energy, just being in that environment with the lights of the show, and everything's flashing in digital.

It's pretty crazy. But yeah, I had a good time.

Perry Romanowski (2:26)

Well, were there any beauty devices there? That's where P&G rolls out some stuff there, and the big guys.

Valerie George (2:35)

Yeah, a lot of people put out press releases, typically, to make sure that you're aware of it before you go to the show.

Some of the big players, like L'Oreal and Neutrogena, don't want to really show it to the public. They have these private suites for their devices. But other companies are out on the show floor, which is pretty cool. What's interesting about these shows is, as I'm looking at all the, we'll call them inventions or technologies that are available, I wondered how many actually get to the market and how many of these are just like concepts. I mean, I've been going for a few years now, and there is a couple beauty devices I've seen over the years that never really made it to market, but it just kind of created a buzz at the show.

Perry Romanowski (3:15)

I did see a recent article about electronics and how in China, they're doing really well with the electronic devices for beauty, but in the United States, they just haven't seemed to take off. And I don't know, I guess people have decided that there isn't enough benefit to spend a couple hundred dollars on some device for beauty products where they could actually get a cream or lotion, where they might spend that.

Valerie George (3:40)

Yeah, I mean, my challenge is technology just changes so fast. It's hard to keep up with alone with just cell phones and computers. Adding beauty devices to is just another complexity I don't need personally.

Perry Romanowski (3:52)

I remember early on in the Beauty Brains, we were given one of these Clairsonic brushes. And, you know, it seemed good enough, but I barely washed my face anyway.

Valerie George (4:04)

Oh, I love one.

Perry Romanowski (4:05)

Oh, my wife loved it.

Valerie George (4:07)

Oh, good. Well, let's get on to our Beauty Science news.

Perry Romanowski (4:10)

Sounds good.

Valerie George (4:16)

What did you see this week?