Snail mucin for your skin - is it worthy using? episode 282

Perry Romanowski (0:00)

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

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

Valerie George (0:30)

Hi Perry.

Perry Romanowski (0:31)

282, that's a palindrome, Valerie. I'm very excited about palindromes.

Valerie George (0:35)

Oh, of course, you would notice that.

Perry Romanowski (0:38)

Yeah.

You know, back in 2002, I call it the year of the palindrome, I spent a lot of time trying to come up with my own palindrome, and I came up with poop time. I emit poop.

Valerie George (0:51)

I don't want to know the where and how of how you did that. That's a story for never.

Perry Romanowski (0:57)

To go out of thinking. Well, you know, Valerie, on today's show, we're going to have a little shorter show today, since it's the holidays, you're traveling. I'm glad you and I could make time just before the holidays to get at least a show in. And we're going to cover, is snail mucilin a worthwhile ingredient?

Do blackhead suction devices work? And will a humidifier actually help skin?

But before we get to that, some of that inane chit chat we're famous for. Valerie, it doesn't look like you're in your usual place.

Valerie George (1:26)

I am not. I am in Ohio. It's Thanksgiving week. And we usually like to try to put out a little episode or at least a thank you to our listeners for listening to the show and supporting us. So I'm in Ohio and I am on my way to Boston.

Perry Romanowski (1:41)

Yes. Now, do you make like a pie or something for Thanksgiving or do you end up cooking yourself? Or are you just more of an eater?

Valerie George (1:48)

You know, I'm an eater. I could eat or not eat. Some people live to eat, I eat to live, you know?

Perry Romanowski (1:56)

Yeah. Of course, of course.

Valerie George (1:58)

Yeah, what about you?

Perry Romanowski (1:59)

I usually try to make something, often a pie, but usually it's a pie. I make it, nobody else wants it, and I eat the whole thing. And then, but, you know, at least I like it.

Valerie George (2:11)

Yeah, what kind of pie is your favorite?

Perry Romanowski (2:14)

Well, I do like a pumpkin pie, but nothing beats the coconut cream pie. You know, I went through my life one time where I decided I was gonna pick a favorite of everything, and my favorite dessert, bar none, is coconut cream pie.

Valerie George (2:29)

Oh, wow. Yeah, that's a good one.

Perry Romanowski (2:30)

Yeah, indeed it is. And you know what else is a good one? The rest of the show that we've got coming up.

Let's start with some Beauty Science News.

Valerie George (2:44)

Well, this week, Perry, I saw an article, and you know, I haven't been, since COVID, I haven't been too high on beauty science news, but I saw an article, we've talked a little bit about this before in one of the episodes about Clinique being sued because they have made an oil-free claim, and someone believes they're not oil-free. Do you remember this?

Perry Romanowski (3:06)

I recall this lawsuit, I think it was, probably earlier in the summer, I think that lawsuit happened.

Valerie George (3:12)

Yeah, so it's back in the news, because a federal judge didn't free the company of the suit, although it did dismiss some of the plaintiff's claims against the company. And Clinique is the only one that, is not the only one that's on the hook. There's also Walgreens, Boots, L'Oreal, Maybelline. And for me, I have a couple problems with this lawsuit.

The first is the plaintiff actually has not purchased and used the products according to what I've seen in the news. They are just going after these companies, and suing them because they don't define oils in the same way that the brands do. And to the plaintiff, they're saying an oil to me is something that's partially fat, if not fully, it's at least partially fat soluble. And to me, an oil has a very specific definition as a chemist, just because something is intrinsically oily feeling or is oil soluble doesn't make it an oil.

They're suing over dimethicone, tocopherol acetate, which can feel oily, but I don't necessarily consider it an oil, including some other esters in there that help with slip, tocopherol, which is vitamin E. It's just absolutely ridiculous.