Much is written about beauty products and lots of advice is given. But having been a chemist in the industry I'm quite amazed by some of the simple, fundamental questions that haven't really been answered. Certainly, you can find marketers and influencers who have answers but those are often only based on feelings and personal observations. Since it costs money to run studies, it's not surprising that some of these don't have answers.
Here are some questions I think have not been satisfactorily answered.
1. Do you really need to wash your hair? How often?
2. Do heat protectant sprays really make a noticeable difference for your hair?
3. Do you really need to wear sunscreen every day? or indoors?
What are some basic questions you wonder about?
Comments
The simple answers that every one would give is good marketing or good quality or affordable price. But this is not the right answer. If you do good job at these parts your sells will not increase or increase for a short time and then decrease again to the level before.
So what are they doing or have done that they have succeeded this much?
What may not be evident is the "effective" element both for product development and advertising/marketing. Knowing consumers - what they want and what appeals to them - as well a investing in the technology so products are (and perceived as) more effective. There are peripheral elements shelf placement , response to consumer complaints, active patent defense, etc.
Can we use products with ingredient A and ingredient B together.
For example: can we use products with AHA / BHA / LAA together with Niacinamide?
And then, another famous question:
How frequent can we use exfoliating products per week?
Every beauty influencer has their own opinion and sometimes they fight on social media because they are always right.
It gets even funnier when dermatologists join in the conversation.
And then, only chemists know they are fighting over a product with 0.02% salicylic acid in it.😁
Let's say for example if they used a saponified / soap cleanser, then want to use a Ascorbic Acid serum. Do people need to use a pH balance toner before using the serum?
I've seen some people asking if they can find a low pH toner for that "purpose".
Another basic question i guess will include: How long should people wait after low pH products (example chemical exfoliants, Ascorbic Acid) before moving on to the next product for them to be effective.
Why would anyone want to use a saponified oil or soap cleanser on their face ... the high pH disrupts the acid mantle/skin barrier in a negative way. Better to use a pH-balanced Cleanser.
But, if you do, then nothing wrong with using a Toner to bring the pH back to balance before applying a low pH serum.
Perhaps someone who is marketing Toners is trolling your Reddit
See website for details www.desertinbloomcosmeticslab.com
I tend to approach these types of questions from this perspective: Wide availability of consumer personal care products is actually relatively new in the context of the existence of humans on the planet.
So, the basic question is: What did nature intend or provide for humans to care for hygeine and "beauty" prior to the development of personal care products ... Water, Common Sense and an understanding of nature. Your skin secretes sebum for a reason, as does your hair get oily. Everything has a natural purpose and oftentimes, cosmetic products work at cross-purposes to natural biological processes.
Granted, I would not want to live in a world without personal care products. But, the marketers have convinced consumers to use more products than they actually need and more often than is needed.
In that context, my question is: Do Microbiome products actually work?
See website for details www.desertinbloomcosmeticslab.com
some skincare brands / beauty influencers say, you should use these products 30 minutes apart for both of them to effectively work in their ideal pH range.
i'm interested to know what chemists think about this
Antony R. Young
-Risks versus benefits of population UVR exposure
Vincent A DeLeo
-SUNSCREEN RECOMMENDATIONS
Habif, Thomas P.
-FREQUENCY OF USE. The majority of lifetime sun exposure
Hope I'm not violating the copyright.
I'm on frequent use side if you are at risk of skin cancer, especially Aussies basically you are white living in hot sun.
Indoors? - I have not found anything on this yet.
1. To give them our money continually by purchasing and applying there sunscreens.
2. To give them more money continually by purchasing vitamin D and calcium supplements because we no longer get vit D from sun.
3. To give them more and more money continually by purchasing blood pressure drugs because we are preventing sun which is very effective in controlling blood pressure to apply to our skin.
4. To give them more and more and more money by purchasing there tanning products.
5. To give them even more money by purchasing their Products for other skin problems because black people and those who's skins are more exposed to sun have better skin than white people and those who always hide themselves from sun.
What would be the best reason for them to say that sun is good for skin?
They don't have any reason to say so because they would lose Bellions of money if they do so.
And one more question; how many cases of skin cancer because of sun exposure are there?
My answer was serious. You should not use high pH products on your skin such as Saponified Oil Cleansers. Better to use products that are a bit more acidic than the natural acid mantle barrier.
Generally, the acid mantle will return to normal within an hour if the disruption is acid and 2-3 hours if the disruption is basic. So, simply waiting 30 mintues to an hour between the application of a product with a pH of 3.5 before applying a product with a pH of 6.0 is reasonable, provided that it is practical.
But, keep in mind that you do not apply neat Niacinamide onto the skin ... the releavant pH is that of the product containing the Niacinamide. Actually, Niacinamide is most effective if formulated in a product at a pH of 4.5 or so.
Might a Toner help return the acid mantle to normal pH following application? Perhaps ... it would have to be tested to confirm if that makes any difference in restoring the acid mantle to normal pH more rapidly than it would normally without external intervention.
See website for details www.desertinbloomcosmeticslab.com
Comments on the sunscreen question... @Pattsi
I'm not anti-sunscreen or anything like that. And I do believe that sunscreens work to protect people from damage of UV radiation (both from a skin aging standpoint and a skin cancer standpoint). However, I just wonder how much does it really help. Skin will age whether you use sunscreen or not. People get skin cancer on parts of their body that don't get sun exposure. So, how much is it really helping.
Imagine two different scenarios.
1. Person A religiously puts sunscreen on every day.
2. Person B puts sunscreen on when they go to the beach or when they may be out in the sun a long time. But they often just skip it.
After 50 years of each person following this behavior, what will be the difference?
And on the cleaners question... @MarkBroussard
Why not use high pH cleansers on the face? Before the invention of synthetic detergents, soap was the only thing available for cleaning the face. What would be the end result of decades of washing your face with saponified soap and water?
See website for details www.desertinbloomcosmeticslab.com
What would be the end result of decades of washing your face with saponified soap and water?
See website for details www.desertinbloomcosmeticslab.com
On that we agree.
I honestly still can't find the answer to this question, it's in the area out of my expertise. Medical/Clinical dermatology textbooks they focus on pathophysiology and management, in Cosmeto-Dermatology books they tend to focus on beauty approach.
So I wonder we will have the answer to this question or not, the only one that came to my mind who have the ability/fund to conduct this scale of study is probably l'oreal.
Melanin and Shade have been nature's sunscreens throughout human history.
In the 30's, it was desirable to have white skin since it conveyed a status of being educated and working indoors as opposed to laboring in the sun. Then you get to the 60's and 70's, and it was socially desirable to have a tan, since it conveyed that you made enough money to travel for a beach vacation. So people slathered themselves with tanning oils and laid out for hours on end.
I suspect that you would find there is little to no difference, perhaps some slight improvement over the past 40 years or so.
See website for details www.desertinbloomcosmeticslab.com
This study is supposed to be the "proof" that daily sunscreen use is effective. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21135266/
Green et al. 2011
https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/data/UQ_229021/UQ229021_OA.pdf?dsi_version=e7e70935752118bf95cdbf48682f7ac0&Expires=1623211334&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJKNBJ4MJBJNC6NLQ&Signature=YMfCXZUI5YtW0ByFbWE7fjqucvhoanYSmwur9NXscNfcTHkuQXCs1fINK~33SsuMPxEdmJm~yDG-HHhwmSeeieHAYezxoxEVEZ8ERfvVDuf6LF5rpS2JLdnNDZo4XSFxTcV4j~q2lith5QHrXqFfxzP4KWpHFEwBJJh32iZU-CdcLmPnAI5ohJj-VXf1i6d~~WfmXr9ED5wTBNsHp~APWhND89wqrwTZOuG8Ks9xDjbuglHVly0v4B6-6sQD8KZDG2AU0QojThtYjX~ZZPGgs5KQIkBaY6Y-k2w00eQNjsdU1Bma3C88~ICvMWZpv0y9TGGhwkAjYqp6-8jrmT9Ydg__
AIHW publication
https://www.aihw.gov.au/getmedia/0368fb8b-10ef-4631-aa14-cb6d55043e4b/18197.pdf.aspx?inline=true
© Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2016
I'm skeptical most consumers would actually notice too much more improvement vs a daily moisturizer. I've seen how bad consumers really are at noticing subtle improvements, especially over time.
- Whether applying antioxidant serums before applying sunscreen actually slows down skin aging/sun damage.
- Whether adding antioxidants in sunscreens helps slow down skin aging/sun damage.
- Whether applying antioxidants twice a day is even sufficient. It's entirely possible the antioxidant "network" could get exhausted. It may be 3-4x a day (or more) for maximum benefits.
- Whether applying antioxidants even "works" at all, and if so, would the formulation be too difficult/time-consuming to use or apply?
- Whether ceramides in micro- or nanoemulsions (with or without other sufficient penetration enhancers) would actually help those with atopic dermatitis and other skin conditions... and whether they are still inferior to petrolatum and other well-established ingredients.
Okay... maybe they're not basic questions, but this is something that's been bugging me for a while. Particularly since Skinceuticals released their Vitamin C serum.Is it the packaging?
closing time
Does an emulsion help active ingredients penetrate any better into the skin than, say, an aqueous gel? In other words, if you had 3% niacinamide in your typical emulsion vs the same 3% niacinamide in a lipid-free gel.
Are cosmetic tubes only fillable using special fill in machines or pumps?
I've always been curious how manufacturers clean their cosmetic tubes and packaging as it's probably impossible to wash them first (e.g tubes). Then how do they ensure no dirt, or dust inside that might possibly contamination your product?
Also, regarding Geogard 221,I tryed using it in probably more then 10 different products, but after microbiological testing always found it inadequate to effectively preserve formulation on it's own. What would the best natural preservative be in your own accord?