Tree nut allergies and cosmetics – episode 183

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 scientists, like us, answer your beauty questions and give you an insider's look at the beauty product industry. This is episode number 183 I'm your host, Valerie George, and with me today is my favorite co-host, Perry Romanowski. Hey, Perry.

Perry Romanowski (0:28)

Hey, Valerie. Oh, that was so nice.

Valerie George (0:30)

Aw.

Perry Romanowski (0:30)

Wait, you have other co-hosts?

Valerie George (0:32)

On today's episode, we're going to be answering your beauty questions about should one be worried about tree nuts and cosmetic products? What's the difference between a toner and a stringent? How does one spot a bad dupe versus an affordable product that works? Why do some nail polishes last longer on some people than others?

Notice I didn't answer your question, Perry. But no, I don't have any co-hosts other than you.

Perry Romanowski (0:56)

Nice.

Valerie George (0:57)

Well, how was Suppliers Day in New York?

Perry Romanowski (0:59)

New York was fun.

The Suppliers Day is a huge show. There was not, I wasn't there long enough to see everything, but what I did notice is that natural seems to be out, and clean beauty is in. Like, all the suppliers of new raw materials are talking about how clean everything was.

Valerie George (1:17)

Yeah, I've seen that a lot myself. And it's all language, it's a subtle distinction.

Perry Romanowski (1:24)

Absolutely. The other thing that people talked a lot about was sustainability.

But the worst thing that I saw there, I mean, there were some interesting things, of course, but the technology doesn't change that much, but the worst thing that I did see there was there was a company that was was pitching one of their emulsifiers as a chemical-free emulsifier.

Valerie George (1:47)

Oh, gosh. Did you tell them to submit the emulsifier for the Royal Chemistry Society's award, where they'll award $1 million to the first person to invent something chemical-free?

Perry Romanowski (1:59)

I did not, you know, they had, unfortunately, they had a big line, so I didn't get over there to talk to them.

Valerie George (2:04)

Oh, brother. Well, I always tell my chemists that ingredient suppliers have marketing teams, too.

Perry Romanowski (2:11)

Exactly. So that's what happens at these supplier shows, is that it's mostly the marketing and the salespeople, not really the scientists.

And it's an interesting strategy to try to sell cosmetic chemicals to chemists by saying there's no chemicals in it.

Valerie George (2:29)

Oh, man. Well, I myself had an industry event this weekend, the California Society of Cosmetic Chemists Dinner Dance, also known as our annual prom.

Not as informative as the supplier's day, I wish I could have gone to that, but equally as fun and an excellent time to network and see other people in the industry without it being about work. It was about fun.

Perry Romanowski (2:51)

So do you wear like a prom dress?

Valerie George (2:54)

Usually, yeah, it's interesting. There's typically a theme, and you don't have to wear one, but it's-

Perry Romanowski (3:00)

Yeah, because they don't look good on me, so.

Valerie George (3:03)

Well, people do wear tuxedos and suits for the men. But again, you don't have to. It's kind of whatever you want to wear. It is a formal dinner setting. So jeans and a t-shirt may not be appropriate, but when else am I going to get to in my life dress up in a ball gown? So yeah, I usually wear one.

Perry Romanowski (3:22)

Who knew cosmetic chemists were so fun?

Valerie George (3:24)

We are, yeah. Well, before we dive into the episode, I want to thank a loyal listener for reaching out to us after we aired an episode where we were addressing the safety of self-tanning ingredients.

Perry Romanowski (3:37)

Yes, you went through a deep dive into DHA.

Valerie George (3:40)

I love the smell, oh man.

But anyway, in that episode, we mentioned that consuming self-tanning pills and relying on the metabolism of those ingredients to create a tan wasn't the most efficient way to get tan. And the listener had been listening to our podcast about whether or not eating carrots could change the color of skin. And she or he remembered an article they once read titled, You Are What You Eat, Within Subject Increases in Fruit and Vegetable Consumption Confer Beneficial Skin Color Changes.

Perry Romanowski (4:11)

I tell you what, that was quite a page turner, that article, wasn't it? Well, I went through, since this was kind of addressed to the story of me eating carrots, I went through and I was curious about it. So I read the article, and indeed, they found that eating vegetables like carrots could change the color of your skin in a measurable way.