Should you be worried about aluminum in deodorants? Episode 134

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

You're listening to The Beauty Brains, where real scientists answer your beauty questions. And now, here's Randi and Perry.

Perry Romanowski (0:19)

Hello, and welcome to episode 134 of The Beauty Brains. We are two guys, and when we're not talking about superhero movies, we're enlightening people about cosmetic products.

I am cosmetic chemist Perry Romanowski, and with me, as always, partner, Randy Shuler.

Randy Shuler (0:36)

Yes, and I'm still trying to draw up that Venn diagram that shows the overlap between comic book fans and beauty science fans, because that's the niche we're appealing to.

Perry Romanowski (0:46)

I still tell you, the Joker is a cosmetic chemist, for Christ's sake. Hey, Randy, before we get into this show, which we have this amazing show, we're going to talk about some beauty science news, some hair repair technology. We're going to answer your beauty questions about the cosmetic industry and whether aluminum is really bad for you in deodorants.

Before I get to that, I want to ask you a question about something that happened to me on the way to a restaurant last night.

Randy Shuler (1:18)

Oh, a personal anecdote regarding you. That's unusual, but let's try it out.

Perry Romanowski (1:23)

I know we haven't had one in a while, but I was walking to this restaurant. I live in the city of Chicago, and going to this fine establishment with my wife, and I saw these two cute little animals that were right next to the fence. One was this little tiny guy, and one was this little slightly bigger.

And I stopped, and I point these out to my wife, and I go, hey, look at that cute little kitties there. I should say, as an aside, I call all animals kitties. It could be a pigeon, a squirrel, a raccoon. I say, hey, look at that kitty.

Randy Shuler (2:01)

And you have a biochemistry degree.

Perry Romanowski (2:04)

It's just a shorthand for animal. So anyway, these two kitties just happened to be rats.

So it was like 5 o'clock. It was light out, and I thought they looked rather cute, but my wife was horrified by these rats. She just gets completely grossed out. And I got to be honest with you, I don't understand the disdain that people have for rats. I kind of think they have a cuteness to them.

Randy Shuler (2:32)

I got two words for you. A bubonic plague.

Perry Romanowski (2:36)

Well, yeah, if you get bit by them. To me, a rat and like a squirrel, they're very similar, right?

Yeah, so there you go. So anyway, I'm still, if anybody could explain to me the disdain that people have for rats, I'd love to hear it.

Randy Shuler (2:56)

Perhaps the most disturbing rendition of your fondness for urban animals to date.

I remember when it just used to be bunnies and spiders. It's taking a turn for the worse.

Perry Romanowski (3:08)

Well, you know, springtime, the rats are coming up.

Randy Shuler (3:11)

All right, should we get on to some beauty science news?

SPEAKER_4 (3:14)

Yeah, let's do that.

Randy Shuler (3:21)

You know, we always get your personal anecdotes, and we always get to talk about where in the world is Perry Romanowski this week.

Perry Romanowski (3:27)

Yeah, yeah, sure.

Randy Shuler (3:28)

I want to talk about something I did.

Perry Romanowski (3:32)

You went... Wait, first you got out of the house?

Randy Shuler (3:35)

Well, I attended a seminar on new hair repair technology.

Perry Romanowski (3:39)

Really?

Randy Shuler (3:40)

Yeah, so I'm kind of a...

Perry Romanowski (3:42)

So where did you go?

Randy Shuler (3:43)

Well, location doesn't matter. It's really the quality of the information that's important. And, you know, I thought this one was fairly...

Perry Romanowski (3:51)

It's not important, but you went somewhere. Where did you go?

Randy Shuler (3:54)

Look, why do you care?

Okay, fine. I was in my living room. It was a webinar.

SPEAKER_4 (3:59)

Ah, that makes sense.

Randy Shuler (4:02)

But the information was really good, so I wanted to share that with our readers, or listeners, or viewers, or whatever we're doing here.

Perry Romanowski (4:08)

The beauty brainiacs of the world.

Randy Shuler (4:10)

There you go. So, you know, over the years, we've written a number of articles about split-end mending.

And for the most part, conditioners and other hair care treatments really do very little to repair a split-end.

Perry Romanowski (4:23)

Actually, a lot of people don't know, but Randy Schuller is one of the premier researchers in split-end technology in the cosmetic industry.

Randy Shuler (4:31)

I hadn't thought of it that way, but I suppose you could say that.