Choosing The Best Baby Wipe and The Chemistry Behind Sensitive Skin Solutions w/ Chemist Confessions

Summary

Raising Good Humans Podcast Summary
Episode: Choosing The Best Baby Wipe and The Chemistry Behind Sensitive Skin Solutions w/ Chemist Confessions
Release Date: June 11, 2025
Host: Dr. Aliza Pressman
Guests: Victoria Fu and Gloria Luke (Chemist Confessions, authors of Skincare Decoded)

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Introduction to the Episode

Dr. Aliza Pressman welcomes listeners to a special episode focused on baby wipes and their impact on sensitive skin. Sponsored by Water Wipes, the episode features skincare chemists Victoria Fu and Gloria Luke from Chemist Confessions, who delve into the science behind baby wipes and provide valuable insights for parents navigating skincare products for their children.

Meet the Experts: Chemist Confessions

[00:10] Victoria Fu introduces herself and Gloria Luke as formulation chemists specializing in skincare with over a decade of experience. Both recent mothers, they bring firsthand understanding of the challenges new parents face when selecting skincare products for their babies.

Gloria Luke: “It’s very simple. It’s just water and a little bit and a dash of citrus extract. But what makes it work? There’s a lot of science to it.”

The Simplicity of Water Wipes

The discussion begins with Water Wipes, emphasizing their minimalistic ingredient list—99.9% water and a dash of citrus extract. This simplicity is highlighted as a key factor in reducing potential skin irritation, making them ideal for babies with sensitive skin.

Dr. Liza Pressman: “In skincare, anything that goes in the jar is where we figure out how to combine these ingredients in a way that it's safe and will last in terms of shelf life.”

Navigating Ingredient Complexity

Victoria and Gloria discuss the overwhelming array of ingredients in skincare products and the importance of understanding them to make informed choices.

Gloria Luke: “Every ingredient has a place. Whether or not you know the name or not, whether or not it’s natural oranges, a lot of times it’s put in with intent.”

They stress that more ingredients mean more opportunities for irritation, advocating for simpler formulations like Water Wipes to minimize risks.

Preservation and Shelf Life

A significant portion of the conversation focuses on how Water Wipes maintain their integrity without excessive preservatives. The proprietary purification process of water used in Water Wipes ensures minimal contamination and extends shelf life.

Gloria Luke: “Wipes and sheet masks are really difficult products to preserve... Water Wipes is 99.9% water because it has the 0.1% citric extract that helps with preservation a little bit.”

Dr. Pressman adds that Water Wipes have a conservative shelf life of four to six weeks after opening, which is shorter than some competitors but manageable for regular use.

Practical Tips on Product Expiration

The experts provide guidance on respecting expiration dates, emphasizing that exceeding these dates can compromise product safety and effectiveness.

Dr. Liza Pressman: “You should pay attention to the shelf life... It’s not a problem. Let’s be honest, you’re gonna run through like a week at a time.”

They advise parents to be vigilant about product storage, especially in high-temperature environments like cars, which can accelerate degradation.

Special Considerations for Sunscreen

The conversation shifts to sunscreen, where both experts highlight the challenges in formulating effective and safe products for children. They recommend relying more on UPF-protective clothing and mineral-based sunscreens, noting that some formulations may separate before expiration, indicating compromised efficacy.

Gloria Luke: “Mineral filters are pretty heavy and they tend to settle. When you have that separation, the level of protection you’re getting is very likely to be compromised.”

Live Demonstrations: Understanding Wipe Formulations

The episode features three live demonstrations to illustrate the differences between Water Wipes and other formulations:

1. Squeeze Test:
   Demonstrates the surfactant content in regular wipes versus the simplicity of Water Wipes.

   • Gloria Luke: “Non-water wipe wipes are almost half bubble and have that murkiness... Water Wipes is pure.”

2. pH Test:
   Highlights the neutral pH of Water Wipes compared to more acidic or basic wipes, showing minimal impact on skin's natural pH.

   • Gloria Luke: “Water Wipes is simply just pure water and neutral pH, it has very little impact on skin’s natural pH.”

3. Added Ingredients Test:
   Visualizes the potential residue from multiple ingredients in standard wipes versus the clean formula of Water Wipes.

   • Dr. Liza Pressman: “This would be like saying the formula is 100%, this formula... it just kind of builds up over time.”

These demonstrations effectively showcase why Water Wipes are preferred for their minimal residue and gentle formulation.

Final Insights and Recommendations

Victoria Fu and Gloria Luke conclude by reinforcing the benefits of Water Wipes for parents seeking safe, effective, and simple baby wipes. They encourage parents to reconsider their current skincare products and opt for formulations that prioritize their child's delicate skin.

Victoria Fu: “Thank you for explaining all of this. I feel like I got an extra science lesson.”

Dr. Liza Pressman: “Absolutely, we love to talk about anything related to making parenting less overwhelming.”

Conclusion

The episode wraps up with a strong endorsement of Water Wipes, highlighting their suitability for sensitive skin and the scientific rationale behind their formulation. Parents are encouraged to choose products with fewer ingredients to ensure their babies’ skin remains healthy and irritation-free.

Gloria Luke: “Water Wipes is perfectly fine. Less is more when it comes to what's left on your baby's skin.”

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Notable Quotes:

• Gloria Luke [02:39]: “Every ingredient has a place... Whether or not you know the name or not, whether or not it’s natural oranges, a lot of times it’s put in with intent.”
• Dr. Liza Pressman [11:52]: “For wipes, you’re using at least 10 wipes a session on your toddler. And that stuff just kind of builds up over time.”
• Gloria Luke [25:07]: “Surfactants are ingredients that have a hydrophilic or water loving head versus a fatty tail... it helps take everything off.”

Additional Resources

For hands-on demonstrations and experiments mentioned in the episode, visit the Raising Good Humans YouTube page.

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Note: This summary excludes advertisements, introductions, and outros to focus solely on the valuable content discussed during the episode.

Transcript

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

The following podcast is a Dear Media production.

[Victoria Fu]

Welcome to Raising Good humans podcast. I'm Dr. Liza Pressman and this episode is brought to you by Water Wipes. My guests are the skincare chemist duo known as Chemist Confessions and authors of the book Skincare Decoded, Victoria Fu and Gloria Luke. We had such a fun conversation as they shared their expertise in the skincare industry and it was like a fun high school chemistry class. In our skincare obsessed world, we're constantly hearing about new products for ourselves and for our children. And it's important to remember that more ingredients in those products means more potential to irritate the skin. So Water Wipes is inviting parents to investigate and explore all of the ingredients and other wipes that may be leaving stuff behind on your baby's skin. So if you have babies with sensitive skin, it's particularly helpful. This is the first time that Raising Good Humans has done live demonstrations during a recording, so be sure to head to the YouTube page to check out the hands on demos and experiments we did. It's very fun. It really does feel like a fun high school chemistry class and it gives you a better understanding of what we're doing when we put things on our skin. So I wanted to ask you both, first of all, how did you come to translate the chemistry of ingredients and kind of all of that? Because this is going to help us figure out how to understand what we're talking about today, which are wipes. And we're talking about these awesome water wipes, but also why we would even be interested in them.

[Gloria Luke]

Okay. Multistar. Both of us are formulation chemists and spending specializing in skincare and we've been doing this for more than a decade, but we only recently became moms. And you would think that knowing what we know about ingredient science, going to it, we are like armored with all knowledge we need. But it's not until we get into the marketing side of everything that hits you as a new mom that you're like, this is really overwhelming, even with insider knowledge. Yeah. So with water wipes, I think a lot of that there's, it's very simple. It's just water and a little bit and a dash of, a dash of citrus extract. It's simple. But what makes it work? There's a lot science to it. And that to me is the perfect segue of everything we know already and why this type of ingredient list is so kind on the psyche of new moms.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

And I was going to add just so that people kind of have an insight of like our background and what we do as formulators. So basically, anything, you know, in, let's say, a wipe product or in the skincare, anything that goes in the jar, that's where we come in to figure out how to combine these ingredients in a way that it's safe and is going to last in terms of its shelf life and during the use of the consumer when they're opening the product and using it. So that's actually a pretty long journey. And so we kind of have to not only oversee the formula itself, but we also have to make sure that it's happy with the packaging that it's in. It's gonna, you know, hold up in terms of being transported to the final destination, and then it's gonna hold up despite how a consumer uses it or travels with it or, you know, carries it in life. So.

[Victoria Fu]

So fascinating.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

Yeah. So it was a. It was our first jobs out of college, and that's how we met. We were cubicle buddies. And then I think Gloria and I, as chemists, we kind of were like, you know, at the end of the day, especially in skincare and beauty, a lot of the decision making can be driven by marketing instead of, you know, actual science. So through that time, when we thought about leaving, we were like, well, why not just share our industry insider knowledge with the consumer and see if that's helpful in them making a more educated consumer purchase? So that's kind of the journey of us wanting to help decode ingredients. I think the other part of it is also helping people understand not to kind of fall into the fear that is around using ingredients that they might not be familiar with. Because we try to remind people, hey, water's actually considered a chemical too.

[Victoria Fu]

No. I'm so glad you said that. Especially as new moms, like, you know, that scaring the daylights out of parents is a really good marketing strategy.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

And we talk about it all the time. Like, when, you know, even being industry insiders, we're like, we know all this stuff, and yet when we get the marketing as, like, when we were both pregnant, and we're just like, man, it is just so easy to, like, fall into that and feel like if you don't fall in line, like, you are not.

[Gloria Luke]

You're doing something wrong.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

You're not gonna be a good parent. You're not gonna be a good mom. So. So, yeah, then it opened up a whole nother world.

[Victoria Fu]

No, and I think it's great because you have access to sort of knowing what is made in the way that you would want for your Own children.

[Gloria Luke]

Yes.

[Victoria Fu]

And so, okay, so that brings me to water wipes. And I think this is a fine balance because we're talking about something where parents listening to this might be like, wait, but I didn't use these ingredients. Like what have I done? And I don't want us to go down that road. Cause I think this is more additive. Like this is a great product. Actually used water. Like we have water wipes at home and had them before I was working with water wipes. So I think that's cool. Just because, I mean, I wonder if that is information. Nobody needs to know that we have water wipes when we are fully formed humans at our house. There are no babies at our house or toddlers. But I really like them. But can you tell us kind of what's so awesome about them and also kind of where the need was without again suggesting that parents who made other choices or didn't have this option did something wrong? I just kind of want to do it in that way because that is so refreshing.

[Gloria Luke]

And we, we should definitely mention that as chemists, we're very much anti fear mongering. Yeah. So we totally, totally appreciate that angle. The reality is when you formulate, every ingredient has a place. Whether or not you know the name or not, whether or not it's natural oranges, a lot of times it's put in with intent. Now when it comes to wipes, it can be pretty complex. There, there's your base, which most wipes all have water in it. You have your surfactant and they're there to lower the surface tension of water to make it a good cleansing agent. So it can pick up whatever your kid's throwing around or you as a human adult is throwing around. And then you have preservatives like Victoria mentioned. Part of your job, part of our jobs is catching 10 minutes is to make sure that it lasts. It doesn't grow dangerous microbes in your product before you use it up. And then there's other support ingredients, skin conditioners, humectants, there's other ingredients that just enhance the your use experience. All of these are necessarily come together as a product that you might enjoy. But then if you are in a situation where you have highly compromised skin, or if your kid is, as a newborn is more susceptible to whatever is left on skin, then simple might be the way to go. The reality is when you talk, when you talk about ingredients, you can't always say using terms of 100%. Right. It's all probability ingredients, gentle because it's highly unlikely to irritate your skin, but that doesn't mean there's zero chance. And say an ingredient list has 20 ingredients, then that's 20 opportunities that something on that list may not work out for your particular skin type. And this is a situation where something super, super simple like water wipes come into play, where there's literally only two ingredients. So there's a lot less you have to think about and have to screen.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

A lot of times, even in skincare, a lot of people will come to us and they've just been, you know, struggling with, you know, trying to troubleshoot their skin, whether it's skin irritation or, you know, any situation like that. And our strategy will often be to minimize. It's just the easiest way for. To even have a starting point of figuring out what is the problem. And so that's kind of why we also, when we kind of were looking into water wipes and, you know, kind of doing our own, I guess, like, decode of the product, it's really in line with that, you know, strategy. It's just makes it a lot easier on everyone just trying to figure out, okay, as a basic starting point, what's something that's reliable, like, start here. So, yeah, very helpful.

[Victoria Fu]

Okay. And water wipes can be used for, like, everywhere.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

Full body, small surfaces. Yeah. 99.9% water.

[Victoria Fu]

And what makes it so that, like, icky things don't grow in air, it doesn't get moldy or all that stuff? By the way, that is such a nerdy question, but I'm so curious. I know it's not relevant to everybody because some people don't want to know that stuff, but I think it's so fascinating.

[Gloria Luke]

It's actually a big part of our jobs as chemists that people don't talk about is it starts from top down. So ingredient sourcing. Right. Water wipes is 99.9% water. And it's not just simple purified water. It's its own proprietary way of purifying through multiple steps. So it. The starting point is very, very neutral and very, very simple. It's 99.9% water because it has the 0.1% citric extract that's therefore, you know, it smells a little nicer, but also helps with preservation a little bit. So that all plays into it. And then it's the manufacturing practice, too. Being. Having them being manufactured in very stringent standards helps prevent that initial contamination. It comes out, comes to you in a very clean pack that's ready to go once you open, because it's so clean and doesn't have high levels, as high of a level of preservatives as other brand. The shelf life is something that you do pay attention. You should pay attention to.

[Victoria Fu]

Okay.

[Gloria Luke]

Like any other product, though, everything does have a shelf life and you should definitely mark it. But for wipes, fun insider knowledge. Wipes and sheet masks, those are actually really difficult products to preserve from a chemist perspective.

[Victoria Fu]

Okay. I have so many questions.

[Gloria Luke]

Sorry, I feel like open again of worms.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

So I was gonna just follow up with that. Is we actually, in our due diligence looking into it, had the same question.

[Victoria Fu]

Really.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

And so because yes, preservative, especially around baby care, gets a little more conservative and a lot something to like, really look into. So for water wipes, it actually. And every product should have an open label, open jar label. And what that means is it will tell you how long you can use it for once it's been open, right? Yep. And so for water wipes, it's actually four to six weeks. So it's shorter timeline for us. It's not a problem. Let's be honest. Like.

[Victoria Fu]

Cause you're gonna be so many wipes.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

You'Re gonna run it through like a week at a time.

[Victoria Fu]

Right.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

So if you look at other products, I think you'll see some of them will be like three months. So that's kind of where, you know, I think it also plays to. Yeah. The purity of water wipes and, you know, the challenges of honestly just preserving products like wipes and sheet masks and things like that.

[Victoria Fu]

And so is it like, you should be a little bit curious about how long the shelf life is once you've opened something like that? Because maybe the longer it is, the more 100%.

[Gloria Luke]

100%. And we should say that it's a time that's usually given very conservatively. So it's not like, oh, it's good for. It's stated good for six weeks. By week five, I should be worried. Definitely not. But it's still a time to.

[Victoria Fu]

It's built in. Careful.

[Gloria Luke]

Yes, correct.

[Victoria Fu]

I am so curious about that too, because I just went through my makeup drawer and all of my skincare and everything, and I was like, oh, my.

[Gloria Luke]

God, there's some from pre Covid.

[Victoria Fu]

There's a lot of expired stuff. So I am curious, just as a side note, how, like, how do you respect those dates? How much. How conservative are they? Is there any wiggle room?

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

We'll speak from personal anecdote and then we'll talk about products to pay more attention to. Maybe.

[Gloria Luke]

I think for me a good rule of thumb is buying the more water something has, the more stringent you should be with the preservatives. And it's entitled packaging too. So if you have an open jar of lotion, the jar itself, there's a lot of air exposure and a cream has a high water content. So something like that, you definitely don't want it lying around for like three to six months after expiration.

[Victoria Fu]

Okay.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

Think about, and then think about each time you touch it. Open hand and try introducing it. Now, the product itself, it's been strategically, you know, formulated to withstand that kind of use experience.

[Victoria Fu]

Right.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

But you just kind of have to imagine like because of that kind of nature. Yes. Then something like that, you would want to be like, okay, yeah, maybe consider throwing it out if it's a little overdue.

[Gloria Luke]

Yeah.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

And I think the other product we really tried to remind people of is sunscreen. Just because of the nature of.

[Victoria Fu]

I was going to ask about that.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

Really stick to the expiration date. It's just not really worth the risk.

[Victoria Fu]

Because it's not effective anymore.

[Gloria Luke]

Right.

[Victoria Fu]

Or cause.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

Okay, you're putting that in jeopardy is the effectiveness.

[Victoria Fu]

So one of the things about the expiration date is effectiveness and one is.

[Gloria Luke]

About safety and microbes.

[Victoria Fu]

Got it. So in the case of like water wipes, you don't want to use it past the conservative six week mark. More because of safety issues.

[Gloria Luke]

Microbes.

[Victoria Fu]

Yeah, microbes. And if it were like a jar or cream or something like sunscreen, now you've put yourself in a position of maybe it's not effective and you're putting yourself out there.

[Gloria Luke]

Yes, exactly.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

You're not getting the level of protection that is labeled on the bottle.

[Victoria Fu]

What about sunscreen and all of those things on your little ones? Have you kind of. Do you have extra thoughts about that? I'm sure because you're not really supposed to put anything on them for a little while, but they can't get sunburn.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

So I can. I'll speak to the fact that my daughter has eczema, which I'm told Gloria this many times. Like she sometimes makes me feel like I'm very bad at my job. The job.

[Victoria Fu]

How did your child end up with eczema?

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

Like she has eczema and, you know, it's a chronic management, you know, eczema for a child. A lot of it's diet based. So, you know, decoding all of that on top of the skin, you know, and then I've tried them all, despite even knowing everything that's like in these products. So, you know, with sunscreen is a scenario that I'm like very hesitant about just because it's. Yeah, there's, it's, you know, creating a stable, well formulated sunscreen is very challenging. So I will say I've used the minerals, my child will look like Casper. And then on top of that, I will use the UV protected clothing. I actually rely on that much more than even the filter, the sunscreens themselves. Just because it's just a lot going to be a lot more dependable than a formula that she's sweaty, she's rubbing, she hates it, she's rolling. You know, friction also can really affect it.

[Gloria Luke]

So I was going to say that I also rely on UPF clothing more. My daughter skin is weirdly resilient, so I don't really have as much issue. But my problem comes in sunscreen as a product. You yourself is most likely under applying. I know I'm under applying on my daughter. She is fast, she is wiggly. I don't have time to let that film really set. So it's just like you kind of get whatever you can on her and she's out of there, you know. So for me, it's without that clothing. I know the sunscreen application habit is not great. And reapplication, forget it. Once she's in the park, she's out.

[Victoria Fu]

There, you're done, your work is done. Or she's just not.

[Gloria Luke]

She's not qualified for it. Oh, yeah. Okay. One last thing I want to add is mineral formulas are really hard to formulate. And we have come across some formulations that's positioned for kids and babies as mineral. That's not super well done. So when you squeeze it out even before the product is marked to be expired, sometimes there's separation. You see oil seepage and this and that. And a lot of times parents will be like, well, it's not expired. They'll shake well and use as a formulator. To me, that's a huge red flag because mineral filters are pretty heavy and they tend to settle. When you have that separation. That means the level of protection you're getting is very likely to be compromised. The filters have gone places where it shouldn't go.

[Victoria Fu]

That's really good to know because I cannot tell you how many times.

[Gloria Luke]

Yes.

[Victoria Fu]

In formulations, I'm like, mm. I mean, half the reason I do throw things out is when there's a separation.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

So great.

[Victoria Fu]

But does that get exacerbated when you leave these products in cars or like in the heat?

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

Yes, very much so. So, yeah, we say unless the label says shake. Well, then if there, there's separation, throw it out. Also, you know, certain formulas, you know, if you leave in a car, you know, once, you know, at the end of the day, it's probably gonna be fine. But if you're just cooking it, you're going to be. You're a beachgoer, you're going in the summertime, and that's just baking in the car the entire time. We'd say, like, just take it with you because, yeah, I can't tell you how finicky these formulas are. And you know, the PTSD we might have around them trying to make sunscreen. So.

[Victoria Fu]

Okay, that's really good to know. And I can think of like, when I think about water wipes, if you. That's the same kind of thing. Like, if you leave them, would that be like, if you leave them in the car? If you're thinking about like high temperatures, then do you wonder about the formulation for wipes in general or.

[Gloria Luke]

We would say temperature. So as chemists, part of our test when you're trying to validate something for their shelf life is the elevated temperature test. Okay. Mostly when it's hotter, things do go south faster. So we would say the same kind of rule of thumb apply. A day in the car is not gonna kill something, but don't leave it there for the summer.

[Victoria Fu]

So what's the tell for wipes versus, like sunscreen? Because I think that the is there like the equivalent of if the formulation separated.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

So, okay, I'm coming at this from the, the research side of it. So separation is only one indicator if an SPF has gone bad. So there's going to be expired sunscreens that won't separate and you should still throw those out.

[Victoria Fu]

Okay.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

So I would say that's not like a universal rule. I'm going to be honest, a water I baked in a car is not going to be all that worrisome to me because of the general ingredients it's used. So personally, this is my personal anecdote because Gory and I are not the true chemists behind the water wipe. You know, in terms of the material of the cloth water, it's probably gonna evaporate from the cloth. And really, you know, so, yeah, it could probably change the general nature of the use experience, but I'm not gonna be like, this is suddenly very dangerous to used after. So I think it can be very formulation dependent. I think sunscreen is something that is a lot. I prefer to be A lot more, much, much more conservative. But if I have water wipes within the shelf life and it's been heated in a car, I don't have a problem.

[Victoria Fu]

Okay, this is my last question and then I want to see these demos because they're cool, but can you, if you have a dried out wipe, can you rehydrate it? Can you rehydrate it or does that sort of. I mean, I don't know why I'm thinking of all the little hacks that I think we all do accidentally just in a bind. But I do wonder about that. Like if it's dried out and it's saying I'm no longer available for use, can you just run it underwater?

[Gloria Luke]

You can technically, but I think it's the end result that you're hoping for that will be a little different. For water wipes in particular, their water is processed in a special way to, to reduce water's natural surface tension, to help it be the effective cleansing agent without the surfactant. So if you just douse it under tap water or even regular filter water, it's not gonna have the same effect.

[Victoria Fu]

Okay, very good to know.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

I'm also gonna say I've tried the gamut of wipes and the ones that are, that come out with right out of the gate dehydrated. I'm like very disappointed. Yeah, I find that to be very like not great formulation. Like they did not think of practical scenarios. So yeah, just if you left the.

[Victoria Fu]

Top open, I mean, water wipes are very moist. And the reason why I like them is when you think about like little baby tushies, you don't want those, the.

[Gloria Luke]

Friction, the fiber to be like scrubbing.

[Victoria Fu]

And yeah, these are details that only when you're thinking about little baby butts does that really feel so real. But okay, so can you. What is all this good stuff right here?

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

So, yeah, today we're going to run through three demos. The goal is to kind of showcase how we can think about wipe formulation and kind of scenarios for, you know, highlighting the ingredients that go into these wipes. And also to imagine, I think, how, although none of these ingredients are necessarily bad for skin, the general residue that might be on skin after you wipe, even though you can't really see it. So we're gonna just kind of showcase and compare some of these wipes and see what we learn.

[Victoria Fu]

Okay, now we're gonna get into our investigation. We've got three different demos, the squeeze test, the PH test and the added ingredients test to uncover what's Left behind on wipes that you might not even realize.

[Gloria Luke]

You won't talk through it. I'll just. Because it might be easier to understand a little bit.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

Yeah. Okay. So this, we're going to call it squeeze test. So this is just to visualize each formulation. We just ultimately want to see if we can.

[Victoria Fu]

Oh wow.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

What the liquid formulation in a wipe would look like. So you can see that this one is. Has its surfactants that you know, you'll.

[Gloria Luke]

See the soapiness and the suds that come out and it's very obvious. You see almost half of it is made of soap bubbles. And this is because surfactant is one of the key components of a wipe that helps it clean. Basically, surfactants are ingredients that have a hydrophilic or water loving head versus a fatty tail. So it interacts with the dirt and grime and water to help take everything off. So it's like it's baked in there. And another aspect of it is that it reduces surface tension. Whereas water wipe squeeze.

[Victoria Fu]

Ah, this is like an old school ad.

[Gloria Luke]

You know, I also, I also want to say that the juiciness and the ease. And when she's able to squeeze it out. Bueno. You'll see the non water wipe wipes is almost half bubble and has that murkiness.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

Cool.

[Gloria Luke]

Whereas the water wipes is. There's some bubbles on top just from the motion of it. But you can see that it's pure.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

And I was going to. So, you know, we should obviously say, you know, this is for sensitive skin. I think believe this one is also meant for sensitive skin. You know, surfactants are not inherently bad, but it's a good way of imagining, you know, the difference in formulation and why. For example, we learned this stat that it's actually the preferred wipe and in a lot of nicus. And this makes a lot of sense because you just need something that is incredibly minimalistic.

[Victoria Fu]

Yeah.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

To clean. So yeah, I think it's. Yeah.

[Gloria Luke]

That's demo number one. This is a side story as a chemist, but cleansers in general is one of the hardest realm to formulate for because the surfactant balance is so delicate. Just how sudsy do you want it? Not sudsy enough.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

Even how foamy. Which is kind of wild. It's like foamy cleansing. Actually two separate concepts.

[Victoria Fu]

I believe it because I'm too old to ever have any foam anywhere near me. It's too drying.

[Gloria Luke]

Yeah. And then still needs to cleanse.

[Victoria Fu]

But I need to clean.

[Gloria Luke]

Yeah. It's a balance act. Right. Like if it's too cleansing, it might be irritating, so on, so forth.

[Victoria Fu]

Gosh, is that true? You know? Cause when you think about, I'm just thinking about like soap, body soap on kids, you kind of think foam probably is better for cleaning kids.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

Yeah. It's a visual indicator.

[Victoria Fu]

But I don't like foam again, ever now on my 51 year old skin, I'm like, please stay away from me foam. But I wonder if that's something that I should have. I never paid attention to that with younger people.

[Gloria Luke]

You know what's funny is that, yeah, foam has this connotation that it's more stripping and can be more harsh on skin. But that's also, that's just one characteristic. You can make a really foamy cleanser that's still pretty gentle on skin and.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

Can also be terrible at cleansing. Like.

[Gloria Luke]

Yeah.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

So those properties are not.

[Victoria Fu]

So we're looking sometimes at the wrong thing.

[Gloria Luke]

Yeah, correct.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

Yeah, it's confusing, but I mean, as a consumer. Yeah. Like that's why, you know, there are certain, like, you know, dishwashing detergents, they have to have foam. It's not even that the proper, the cleansing agent is foamy. It's that because consumers need that indication that it's going to clean.

[Victoria Fu]

Oh, that's so wild. Okay, what other fun stuff are we looking at here?

[Gloria Luke]

Let's do it. Next one is a good old PH strip test.

[Victoria Fu]

You guys are going to be great coming in and doing science projects at.

[Gloria Luke]

School for my daughter.

[Victoria Fu]

I think so. My dad is a scientist and he used to come starting in preschool and do really cool experiments and demonstrations. And I was like, this is so cool.

[Gloria Luke]

Yeah. I did a demo for my nieces once upon a time for making emulsions. So just making it, going for, oh, water, oil doesn't mix. But if you add a surfactant, you can whip it up into a cream. They didn't care. I was like, isn't that cool, guys? And they're like, see, that's why if.

[Victoria Fu]

You go into a classroom, you're going to get some kids that really are fascinated and you've inspired them and others are going to be asleep.

[Gloria Luke]

Yeah. Quick high school science reminder. PH is on a scale of 0 up to 14, 7 is neutral and under 7 is acidic. Above 7 is basic. Your skin or adult skin is naturally acidic. In fact, a lot of our formulations, a lot of skin care that you have to work with kind of run in that lightly acidic range of between five and six babies when they're first born, they actually come out more neutral and their skin goes through the acidification process as they develop in the first month. And the thing is, the ph of skin care is such an important measurement of whether or not it's. I will say it's important, but it's one aspect of it, of whether or not it's compatible with skin. How gentle it is, is you should mention that pure water has very little lasting impact on skin, whereas a lot of cleansers and a lot of leave on products. There's actually a lot of studies to show that when you leave it on skin, it will has a direct impact on your skin's PH over time. Some as short as 30 minutes to a couple hours, some as long as a couple days.

[Victoria Fu]

I have one last question regarding ph before this very cool demonstration. When you think about like particularly little girls with wipes, baths, all of that stuff, I was just thinking that probably is just something to take into account because you're wiping little baby girls and it can be a little irritating. Just like now I'm thinking what is the foaming surmectin? What's it called?

[Gloria Luke]

Surfactant.

[Victoria Fu]

Surfactant. Surfactant. I have to remember that. Okay, so like is surfactant because you're not, you know, girls aren't supposed to take bubble baths all the time.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

Hot water is not great for skin.

[Victoria Fu]

So is that surfactant?

[Gloria Luke]

That's part of it.

[Victoria Fu]

Okay.

[Gloria Luke]

And what's interesting, traditional soap and water is very alkaline. So this is just for reference. This is lemon juice. See that? It's very, very red, very, very acidic. This is a baking soda concoction. Not gonna be super deep green blue because it's very basic. Soap can play in this range all the way up in the 8 and 9 space. Surfactants can be formulated in a range. Some of them are lightly acidic, some of them can be basic. So you see these two wipes in particular are formulated with a lightly acidic surfactant load. And the ph can be balanced and adjusted with other ingredients. Well, like citric acid and other ingredients like that. And water wipe, because it's just water, slowly turn color as I sit here.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

Get more in the green.

[Gloria Luke]

In the yellow green, so it's in that neutral range. Oh, the liquid you can see is seeping out. It's like the water green.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

So we should say in skincare we always formulate for more like 5 to 6 age range. So that's very common that you know that it makes sense that these wipes ended up being in that range. I Think you know, in terms of ph of 7, this is obvious. It for us is, makes a lot of sense. It's the PH of water. It's the main component. And so, you know, being a ph of 7, we just want to let everyone know that that's something that you want to be mindful of. You don't have to worry because if that is something that ultimately then that would mean our showers every day would be problematic for skin. So hopefully that kind of gives you a good visual of where all of these pHs.

[Victoria Fu]

It sure does, yeah.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

Yeah.

[Gloria Luke]

So this has. Because water wipes is simply just pure water and neutral pH, it has very little impact on skin's natural pH. So your newborn might come out with a basic pH. That pH will drop over time, but regardless of where their skin's PH is at the moment, water wise will have very little impact and less it doesn't sway it one way or another, which just leaves it the way it should be.

[Victoria Fu]

Just fewer potential irritations. Correct.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

And I was going to add like we in our realm, we get a lot of PH skin debates.

[Gloria Luke]

Yes.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

People will to the 10th will argue like with will just want to make a point that, you know, lower is better. But we also want to remind people it's like ultimately especially you know, with water being that neutral ingredient, like it's very common. This is perfectly fine. A lot of people try to push for acidity, you know. Oh yeah, there's issues with that as well too when you get too low. So, you know, that's kind of a reminder for anyone out there worried about, you know, general ph.

[Victoria Fu]

So is that what PH balance is usually?

[Gloria Luke]

Yes.

[Victoria Fu]

Is it meant to be neutral PH or it's just supposed to be balanced according to your skin to skin.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

So they're usually, if it's PH balanced, they're going to be probably playing in the five to six range. And usually that range can be kind of. I don't know if wide is the right word, but that's the general range it'll play in.

[Gloria Luke]

And I think there's also two aspects of it. There is the product's PH and its impact on your skin's pH. You can formulate two products that have the exact same pH. One might only tweak your skin PH for half an hour. One might have lasting impact on your skin's PH over the next two hours. Something very simple like water wipes, just water. It won't really change your skin's PH very much. Whereas if you use a vitamin C serum, that's a pH of 3 or a glycolic acid product. That's a pH of 2.5. Then you're looking at a more acidified skin ph for the next two, three hours.

[Victoria Fu]

That is fascinating. I want to bring all my skin care to you and have you tell me what is going on.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

Oh, we would love to carve out a big window because we'll talk about it all day.

[Victoria Fu]

Do we have one more?

[Gloria Luke]

Yes, we do.

[Victoria Fu]

Okay.

[Gloria Luke]

All right. So now we're formulating.

[Victoria Fu]

I feel like I'm back in science.

[Gloria Luke]

Yes, we are.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

So we have a bunch of, we should say ingredient representatives. So Honey is going to be our humectant representative. And people don't know what a humectant is as perfectly fine. It's just ingredient that likes to hold on to water.

[Gloria Luke]

It's going to be your hydrator, hyaluronic acid, glycerin. Glycols are ones that you might have heard of or seen on the labels.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

Then we have our vinegar. So that is going to be essentially our ph adjuster just so that everything meets the ph that the desired pH. We also have hand sanitizer. So this is going to be our preservative representative.

[Gloria Luke]

The antimicrobial type things.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

I'm going to tell you right now, we would never, this ingredient itself would never be in any like personal care outside of sanitizer. But it's going to, you know, serve its visual demonstration function here. And then we have our detergent, which is going to be our surfactants, our cleansing agents here. Then finally, our olive oils is another just, we call it emollient or just a oil that's going to, it's going to help soften the surface of skin, give that skin nourishment a little bit of glow hydration.

[Gloria Luke]

So these all represent the ingredients that you might find in a wipe. So we're gonna make our proxy demo formula. We do not do this in the labs in case people at home think this is our job.

[Victoria Fu]

I love all of these true science caveats.

[Gloria Luke]

Yeah.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

But hopefully the idea with this experiment is for us to be able to kind of visualize what kind of residue a white may leave on skin. And a lot of times it's very difficult to see it with naked eye. So I think I'm just dumping. I'm just dumping. Cool. 2 and then I've got ham and the spatula. Okay, great. So we're gonna just.

[Gloria Luke]

Woo. Welcome to science class.

[Victoria Fu]

It really does feel like that. It's fun.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

All right, let me just clear some.

[Gloria Luke]

Space, A dash of humectin.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

All right, so we're just gonna dump the humectant.

[Gloria Luke]

Do you wanna like lick off the side? Not that one. The vinegar.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

This is your surfactant. Oh, preservative. Oh, preservative is going to be your surfactant representative.

[Gloria Luke]

Do not smell that jug too closely.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

Yeah. And then it's going to be your oils. So again, none of these are inherently bad, are very commonly used in skincare. But let's do a concussion and essentially make our own wipe. So a bit of a mix. We are. This is not a home remedy to Karen.

[Gloria Luke]

Oh, don't. Don't do this at home, anybody. We're not saying use this.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

So it's not a cleansing remaining. Yeah. So then we're gonna just use jam as our. Our dirty swatch. We're gonna try to clean.

[Gloria Luke]

Does our daughter get into toddlerhood? This is what we often find on our tables, our countertops, under her chair. I don't know how she does it. Over the couch. On the cat.

[Victoria Fu]

On the cat.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

Jar. This jar. All right, all right. So I'm going to make our demo wipe. We're going to take our little slurry, make our hydrator wipe. One, two. All right.

[Gloria Luke]

Smells soul clinging.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

So I'm just going to take this, wipe one of the swatches up.

[Gloria Luke]

I feel like I over jammed it. I'm sorry.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

No. Ah.

[Gloria Luke]

This is very representative of what happens at home. Ah.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

All right, let's try it. Okay. So we're going to investigate if there is a residue.

[Gloria Luke]

Ah.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

So hopefully, you know, kind of showcases little mystery. Like this is totally me just doing a very poor job.

[Gloria Luke]

And then you track your prints everywhere afterwards too.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

So with that then we're going to take actually a water wipe from our. What's the one we cut?

[Victoria Fu]

Is it here?

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

All right, so we're gonna just take a water wipe and we're gonna take. Gonna rewipe it. We're gonna do two scenarios wipe again. I'm actually going to just do kind of like a control scenario where clean off the jam.

[Gloria Luke]

You can do a life look. Goodbye.

[Victoria Fu]

Oh my God. That is actually really cool.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

Cool. Yeah. So hopefully that gives everyone kind of an idea of the potential residue that can be left on skin with a wipe. Now this is a concentrated solution. This would be like saying the formula is 100%, this formula, where most of the time it's going to be at significantly less. But the idea is to imagine the kinds of residue that would be on skin and formulation so that, you know A lot of times what's not seen by the naked eye, you don't even consider.

[Victoria Fu]

So, yeah, no, that was a really good demonstration. And also, you just don't think about that. But now you just skipped a. You could just skip the step and have the water wipe. Yes, essentially.

[Gloria Luke]

And now if you think about it too, is even though each wipe is not as concentrated as our demo, you're using at least 10 wipes a session on your toddler. And that stuff just kind of builds up over time. Whereas this is just simple and clean. And even if your kid doesn't have compromised skin, the stuff that builds up over time may lead to issues. Your. Your baby's kid. Your baby's kid. Your baby's skin is thinner and a little bit more susceptible to elements in your skin. And on top of that, when you are cleaning, the last thing you want is to only clean halfway. And there's actually residue and suds and stuff.

[Victoria Fu]

No, I think that's why it's cool is that you think. You might think that the one with all of the extra ingredients is going to do more cleaning. And that was a really good demonstration.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

Yeah. Yeah. I think the other thing too is being a mom that has to change diapers is there are certain wipes in this realm that when you wipe leaves like suds, and I can say from personal, I don't know, that is like, not my favorite. I think that that is also something that is part of the user experience that should be considered when Gloria and I formulate products. And so sometimes you don't want to deal, you know, it's. Yeah. So that's why it really makes a case for water wipes in that sense. Yeah.

[Victoria Fu]

I mean, I feel like that really wrapped that up in a bow when you said it really makes a case for water wipes. Thank you for explaining all of this. I feel like I got an extra science lesson.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

We love to talk about anything. Yes, seriously, it's our favorite part.

[Gloria Luke]

I'm glad your listeners might want to nerd out with us, too.

[Victoria Fu]

I hope so. I think it's really cool. And now I'm going to go look through all of my drawers and rethink everything. Big thanks to Chemist Confessions for helping us lead this investigation. And thank you to Water Wipes for sponsoring this episode. For a deeper and more effective clean that leaves nothing behind, pick up a pack of water wipes at Walmart, Target, or wherever you get your wipes and head to WaterWipes.com for more info.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

Please note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services.

[Victoria Fu]

Individuals on the show may have a.

[Dr. Liza Pressman]

Direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode.