Is retinyl propionate the best retinoid? - Episode 234

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

Perry Romanowski (0:28)

Hello, Valerie. So good to be here.

Valerie George (0:30)

Good to see you. On today's show, we're going to answer questions about is retinol propionate the most effective non-prescription form of retinol? Can you blend products together from the ordinary?

Is it a good idea to make your own hand sanitizer?

What can people who are losing their hair do to make wigs and hairpieces last longer? And what are your thoughts on Stratia's new retinol cream? Wow, big, big show. But first, we're going to talk about what's been going on in our lives this week, get to some beauty science news, and then hit up those questions.

Perry Romanowski (1:06)

Well, Valerie, I've been looking in the news, and it looks like your state is on fire right now.

Valerie George (1:13)

Literally and figuratively and emotionally on fire for sure. Guess how hot it was here this weekend.

Perry Romanowski (1:22)

I heard you broke some kind of record. It must be in the hundreds, right?

Valerie George (1:26)

Oh my gosh, it was 120 degrees Fahrenheit at my house this weekend. Not inside, I'm talking outside. It was very hot. Basically, it was like being in an oven and you were a cookie getting baked.

It was awful.

Perry Romanowski (1:43)

They say it's a dry heat though, right?

Valerie George (1:49)

But you know what? Do you know what I just kept thinking as it was so unbearably hot? I'm so A, very lucky to have air conditioning. Lots of people in LA do not have air conditioning. In fact, when I first moved to LA and I was very not on my feet, I did not have air conditioning and my apartment would regularly be 110 or 105 at night. Yeah. So I've been there, but also I try to think of our troops who have fought so hard for us overseas in the Middle East. This was like an average daily temperature for them, and they're wearing like lots of pounds of combat gear and all that kind of stuff. And here I am being a wimp about like three days of a record heat wave.

So if you are a military member, thank you for supporting our country. My father is a retired military, so I totally get it. And thank you for serving. And I will no longer complain about everything being so hot. You just kind of soak yourself with sweat.

What have you been up to?

Perry Romanowski (2:49)

No, you raise some good points, and it's not nearly as hot as where I am. I'm on the East Coast right now.

And you know, I got the chance to go by the ocean today, and I saw what looked like a plastic bag just rolling in the wind. And so I went to go pick that up, because you know, you don't want to have litter on the beach. And it turned out it wasn't a plastic bag. It was this piece of foam that had come off of the surf. And I was looking at this foam, and I was just like...

Valerie George (3:22)

Not like Styrofoam foam, like foam from the water.

Perry Romanowski (3:25)

Yeah, yeah, foam from the water. It just turned up and made this foam.

And I was just amazed at how stable that foam was. That was like a mixture of water and sand, and I don't know what else it could be. But I did not know...

Valerie George (3:41)

Probably all of our sunscreens floating in the water, helping emulsify everything together.

Perry Romanowski (3:46)

It really... It must be that because...

Valerie George (3:49)

You should get some, and we'll get it analyzed.

Perry Romanowski (3:52)

That is... I think... Okay, tomorrow I'm going to go to the beach. I will get that, and we can analyze the seafoam.

I was just amazed. I mean, if it's just water and making it... It should not be that stable, but it's just rolling along the sand, looking like a plastic bag.

Valerie George (4:05)

The meringue of the ocean.

Perry Romanowski (4:07)

Indeed, it was ocean meringue.

Valerie George (4:12)

Well, that sounds fun that you're vacationing.

Lots has been going on in the cosmetics industry. Let's head to some beauty science news.

Perry Romanowski (4:20)

Yeah, that sounds good.

Valerie George (4:26)

Well, I think there was one big piece of news this week. Would you like to break it to everybody?