Olaplex infertility, the accuracy of Skinskool dupe finder and more - episode 295

Perry Romanowski (0:00)

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

Hello and 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 cosmetic industry. This is episode 295 I'm your host, Perry Romanowski, and with me today is the lovely Valerie George. Hello, Valerie.

Valerie George (0:31)

Hi, Perry.

Perry Romanowski (0:32)

You know, Valerie, I was thinking of changing our intro and saying, you know, listen to us to make you a smarter consumer about buying beauty products. I just couldn't think of a snappy way to say that.

Valerie George (0:43)

You know, I just don't know if it rolls off the tongue. You're right. We need a snappy way to word that together.

Perry Romanowski (0:50)

But that's the whole idea. You listen to this show, not only do you get answers to your questions, but it sort of makes you able to answer your own questions. And that's kind of what we're trying to do here.

Well, the way we're going to do that on today's show is by answering questions, including what is our opinion about ghost oil for damaged hair? Is the Epilfree a good alternative to laser hair removal? Can any hair oil really make your hair grow?

Are there any skincare brands that live up to their promises? And finally, we're going to talk about that Skinskool dupe finder technology. Is it really finding you good products?

Valerie George (1:28)

Maybe we'll get schooled.

Perry Romanowski (1:30)

Maybe we'll get schooled. Well, they are certainly schooling us on how to do an Instagram account, because it's pretty good.

Oh, nice. But first, how about some of the inane chit chat that we have? You know, Valerie, I was looking at your Instagram account, speaking of, and I saw that you've read, what, four books this year already?

Valerie George (1:50)

Well, I've posted about four books this year. So far, I think I'm up to nine books. It helped that I had a bit of downtime on the couch for most of January.

So I was able to read a bunch, but I like to get in a rhythm and post them so that they all appear in one column. But I'm on nine.

Perry Romanowski (2:07)

Do you read paper books or electronic books or audiobooks?

Valerie George (2:12)

These are paper books. These are not counting the audiobooks I'm listening to.

Perry Romanowski (2:15)

Well, I do count audiobooks, and I'm up to 17 for the year.

Valerie George (2:19)

Wow, that's pretty good. That's what, like two a week?

Perry Romanowski (2:22)

Yeah. Well, I'm trying to get ahead. I'm trying to read this Russian novel, The Gulag Archipelago, which-

Well, I'm listening to it, but it's 110 hours long. 110 hours long.

Valerie George (2:35)

Oh my gosh. How long was The Odyssey?

Perry Romanowski (2:38)

Oh, well, Ulysses, you mean?

Valerie George (2:40)

Ulysses, sorry, yeah.

Perry Romanowski (2:41)

Ulysses was approximately 28 hours or so.

Valerie George (2:44)

And this one's 110

Perry Romanowski (2:47)

Yeah.

Valerie George (2:47)

Is it fiction or nonfiction?

Perry Romanowski (2:50)

It's kind of nonfictiony. It's about the gulags of the Soviet Union.

Valerie George (2:55)

Oh, wow.

Perry Romanowski (2:56)

So it's very timely, you know? It's very timely.

Valerie George (2:58)

Oh my gosh. Well, I like to read nonfiction as well, but I have a couple.

We'll call them, they're still in the nonfiction category, but you know, a little trashy books coming up. Yeah.

Perry Romanowski (3:12)

Well, I've peppered in some science fiction books and things. You know, I was thinking, do you do good reads?

Valerie George (3:18)

I don't. I thought about doing it and tracking them, but I just, I use Instagram to track, you know, what I've read, I guess.

Perry Romanowski (3:26)

Well, I do my stuff all on good reads. So if any of you out there in Beauty Brains land wanna follow what I'm reading or what I have read, check out good reads.

I guess I'm the juggler probably, right?

Valerie George (3:38)

I should consider tracking my books on there.

Perry Romanowski (3:41)

Yeah, you should join and then we can be friends.

Valerie George (3:44)

Oh.

Perry Romanowski (3:45)

Are we ready for some beauty science news?

Valerie George (3:47)

Let's head there.

Well, something that's been on the news this week, Perry, that I think both of us have been interested in is all this kerfluffle that Olaplex is going through, where people are alleging that their Olaplex number three is banned because of an ingredient that will cause infertility. And first of all, let's keep everything straight here. Olaplex is not banned. They are going through, or have gone through a reformulation, just like many other brands. Probably almost every brand you know has had to reformulate this ingredient out. The trade name is Liliol, and the actual ingredient name that you would find on a bottle is butylphenolmethylpropionol. And this is a common fragrance allergen, and it's been used in fragrance for decades and decades, safely.