Episode 392 - Protein overload, Witch hazel, and Razor burns

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Beauty Brains – Episode 392: Protein Overload, Witch Hazel, and Razor Burns

Release Date: April 3, 2025

Hosts: Perry Romanowski and Valerie George

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Introduction: A Peek into Perry's Life

The episode kicks off with Perry Romanowski sharing a light-hearted story about his cats, Puffers and Heat Miser, highlighting their playful yet contentious relationship. Perry recounts an amusing incident where his cat Teddy intervened in a tussle between Puffers and Heat Miser, resulting in scratches to his legs (00:31). This charming anecdote sets a friendly and relatable tone for the episode, showcasing the hosts' personalities beyond their professional expertise.

Beauty News: Surge in Skincare Sales on Amazon

Transitioning from personal stories to industry insights, Perry and Valerie discuss a report from Cosmetics Design indicating a significant increase in skincare sales on Amazon. The hosts debate the underlying reasons, with Valerie suggesting that Amazon's vast influencer programs and easy accessibility may contribute to consumer trust and ingredient awareness (05:24 - 07:53). Perry counters by attributing the surge to the inherent convenience of online shopping, emphasizing that the growth is more about consumer behavior adapting to online purchasing rather than solely increased trust in Amazon as a platform (06:05 - 09:03).

Notable Quote:

Valerie George [06:05]: "Amazon being the trust-building source."

Listener Questions: Expert Insights from the Beauty Brains

The core of the episode revolves around answering listener-submitted questions. Let's delve into each topic addressed:

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1. Can You Highlight Hair After Kenalog Injections?

Listener: Donna
Timestamp: 12:37

Donna inquires whether it's safe to highlight her hair following kenalog injections for alopecia areata, given that most of the hair coloring affects the strands rather than the scalp.

Valerie's Response: Valerie explains that kenalog injections help mitigate autoimmune responses causing hair loss. She advises caution, noting that while coloring the strands is generally safe, the scalp might be more sensitive post-injection. She recommends discussing the plan with a doctor and instructing the colorist to avoid the scalp, possibly opting for techniques like balayage to minimize contact (13:03 - 14:32).

Notable Quote:

Valerie George [14:32]: "Use caution and consider balayage to avoid the scalp."

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2. Is Protein Overload a Real Concern?

Listener: Charlotte
Timestamp: 15:09

Charlotte asks whether protein overload can cause hair brittleness and seeks advice for managing her fine, frizzy, and dry hair.

Valerie's Response: Valerie acknowledges that while proteins can adhere to hair, leading to potential buildup if not used appropriately, she emphasizes the importance of selecting the right type of protein for one's hair type. She distinguishes between stiff proteins like wheat protein, which strengthen but can cause rigidity, and more flexible proteins like soy or pea protein that are less likely to cause breakage (16:37 - 20:53).

Perry's Perspective: Perry remains skeptical about protein overload, arguing that the quantities of protein in typical hair products are insufficient to cause significant buildup. He suggests that concerns about protein overload are often exaggerated and not supported by substantial evidence (15:18 - 20:12).

Notable Quote:

Perry Romanowski [16:37]: "There's no way there's enough protein in a regular shampoo to impact your hair as people think."

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3. Can Witch Hazel Prevent or Get Rid of Acne?

Listener: Rachel
Timestamp: 20:56

Rachel poses an audio question about the efficacy of witch hazel in preventing or treating acne.

Valerie's Explanation: Valerie clarifies that the astringent feeling from witch hazel is due to condensed tannins creating a temporary tightening effect on the skin. While witch hazel possesses antibacterial properties, studies show mixed results regarding its effectiveness against C. acnes, the bacteria involved in acne. She concludes that witch hazel may offer some anti-inflammatory benefits but is not a proven solution for acne elimination (21:09 - 25:58).

Notable Quote:

Valerie George [21:58]: "Witch hazel does have some antibacterial activity, but it doesn't show inhibitory activity on C. acnes."

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4. Is Elastin Skin Nectar Worth the Investment?

Listener: Carrie
Timestamp: 29:27

Carrie questions the value of Elastin Skin Nectar, a high-priced product purported to accelerate skin healing and assist in adjusting to Tretinoin.

Valerie's Critique: Valerie scrutinizes the product's claims and price point, noting that while Elastin is backed by a pharmaceutical company, the lack of published studies supporting its efficacy at such a high cost raises skepticism. She points out that the formulation contains common moisturizing agents like dimethicone but lacks potent ingredients that would justify the $236 per ounce price tag. She advises considering more affordable alternatives that offer similar moisturizing benefits without breaking the bank (29:27 - 35:04).

Notable Quote:

Valerie George [30:20]: "I can't think of any product that I would think is worth $200 for one ounce."

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5. How to Prevent Razor Burn While Shaving?

Listener: Lane from Boston
Timestamp: 35:57

Lane seeks advice for her husband, who experiences severe beard rash after shaving himself clean.

Valerie's Recommendations: Valerie suggests several strategies to mitigate razor burn:

• Exfoliation: Regularly removing dead skin cells to prevent ingrown hairs using gentle exfoliants or salicylic acid.
• Moisturizing: Keeping the skin hydrated both before and after shaving to reduce dryness and irritation.
• Shaving Techniques: Using a sharp, clean razor and preparing the skin with a hot towel or quality shaving cream to soften hair and open pores (37:42 - 40:28).

Perry's Input: Perry emphasizes the importance of using a fresh razor and proper shaving prep, such as hot water or a hot towel, to reduce the likelihood of razor burn (36:34 - 40:03).

Notable Quote:

Valerie George [38:28]: "Use something with some acids in it to get the dead skin off."

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Conclusion: Engaging with the Beauty Brains Community

As the episode wraps up, Perry and Valerie encourage listeners to leave reviews on platforms like Apple Podcasts and Spotify, submit their own beauty questions, and engage with the podcast through various social media channels. They highlight the benefits of supporting the show via Patreon, including access to exclusive content like the "Porch Kitty" album (41:29 - 43:13).

Notable Quote:

Valerie George [41:47]: "We really love other people's voices on the show. Real humans, not this AI stuff. So please, please, please send in your questions."

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Key Takeaways:

• Protein Overload: Generally not a concern with regular hair products; focus on using appropriate protein types for your hair.
• Witch Hazel: Offers anti-inflammatory benefits but lacks strong evidence for acne treatment.
• High-Priced Skincare Products: Scrutinize claims and research before investing in expensive skincare items.
• Preventing Razor Burn: Adopt proper shaving techniques and skincare routines to minimize irritation.

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For more expert advice and to stay updated with the latest in beauty science, subscribe to The Beauty Brains on your favorite podcast platform and join their community on Patreon for exclusive content.

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This summary was generated based on the transcript provided for Episode 392 of "The Beauty Brains." For detailed discussions and insights, listening to the full episode is recommended.

Transcript

[Perry Romanowski]

Hi, I'm Perry and you're listening to the Beauty 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 392. I'm your host, Perry Romanowski and with me today is Valerie George. Hello, Valerie.

[Valerie George]

Hi, Perry.

[Perry Romanowski]

Valerie, we got a big show today. On the show today we're gonna be answering questions including can you highlight your hair after getting a kenalog injection? Is protein overload a real thing? Can witch hazel prevent or get rid of acne? Is elastin skin nectar beneficial? And how do you deal with razor burn? But first, a little chit chat. Valerie, I was just before I left on my trip, I forgot to mention that there was an event with my cats.

[Valerie George]

What happened?

[Perry Romanowski]

Well, Puffers was in the house and the Heat Miser were in the house. And those two don't really get along that well.

[Valerie George]

Which is funny because I've seen them sitting next to each other staring in your door saying, meow, let me in.

[Perry Romanowski]

They do that and it's so weird. Like they don't get along, but they're always together, like near each other outside.

[Valerie George]

You know, it's a love hate relationship.

[Perry Romanowski]

Exactly. They're like frenemies. And you know who's the big, the big peacemaker is Benitu, the cat who was stuck in the wall. Oh yeah, he like, he'll rub against the heat Miser, he rubs against Puffers. They're like, they're all pass. So he's like the glue. Anyway, so the two of them in my house and they start getting into a bit of a cat fossil, you know, and then they start going at it. Then Teddy sees this and Teddy was having none of that in his house. And then he runs after and then it was Puffers was running away. So Teddy goes after Puffers and they get into this big scrape. And then I don't know if you can see this, but my, my hand got scratched up my legs.

[Valerie George]

Oh my gosh.

[Perry Romanowski]

I had to break them up. And you know, my Teddy, he was the guy going after like Puffers are just trying to run away and get out of the house. But Teddy was like, he was going after him so.

[Valerie George]

Well, Teddy has to let them know where they stand. It's his home. They don't act like that.

[Perry Romanowski]

Well, I have to tell you, Puffers doesn't really come in the house anymore. He's like stick his head in and I look around. But then he just Leaves again. I know Puffers.

[Valerie George]

He should have gone after Heat Miser because Heat Miser is not very nice.

[Perry Romanowski]

Heat Miser is. Yeah, Nobody likes a Heat Miser. Although Heat Miser is very people friendly. He loves to hop on my lap and. And purrs while I pet him.

[Valerie George]

Wow.

[Perry Romanowski]

Yeah. And I'm looking forward to getting back there because, you know, I'm in China.

[Valerie George]

Yeah. Well, that's great. So you're doing a talk there. We talked about you prepping for the talk last time. Yeah, you know, it'd be neat to go there one day, you know, one day. I'm not ready. I don't really like, you know, Asian food, just as in general, with.

[Perry Romanowski]

Sure, sure.

[Valerie George]

I'm not a big meat eater at all. And just a lot of the spices I can' do because they, you know, give me headaches and stuff. But maybe one day I'll get there with my protein bars.

[Perry Romanowski]

It's a very cool place. You know, the first thing, when I went there, I landed in China. And, you know, you have this notion in your head growing up in America what places are like. And I got there and I looked around. I'm like, where's all this communism that people talk about? Because there was Starbucks, there were Seven Elevens, there was McDonald's. I mean, like this. So it's. It was all very much what I'm used to, to tell you the truth. It was. So it was very enlighten. Enlightening to me to see that the kinds of things, the reputations that different countries have that you grow up with and you just think about. They're really a lot different than when you actually get there.

[Valerie George]

Yeah, it'll be very exciting. The closest I got was actually a Delta flight. It was a China Air Connection flight, but I had no idea.

[Perry Romanowski]

Oh, yeah.

[Valerie George]

I was literally the only non Asian person on the plane. And I actually had to ask around if I was on the correct flight because this was. As we were boarding, I was just like, okay, cool. And then I got a little worried because the flight attendants were even speaking in Chinese to some of the passengers. And I was like, did somehow I get on the wrong plane? It was a red eye. It was midnight. I'm not a night person, I'm a morning person. I was very worried, but that's the closest I got. But maybe one day Mr. Cosmetic Chemist really wants to go. And you know what? I'm just really into touring America right now.

[Perry Romanowski]

Yeah, well, America's cool. You know, I'm in Guangzhou, which is the Southern Part of China. Okay, so I've never made it to the Great Wall, which is way in the north.

[Valerie George]

See, I, I feel like I would like the north only because I feel like the south would be humid. Is it humid there?

[Perry Romanowski]

Yeah, yeah.

[Valerie George]

That's not for me also, but it's.

[Perry Romanowski]

A very, very cool place. All right, are we ready to head on to some beauty news?

[Valerie George]

Let's do it.

[Perry Romanowski]

Valerie, you know, last time I had mentioned about consumers being more educated in our last episode.

[Valerie George]

Well, yes you did. And I think that is a, a very wide statement.

[Perry Romanowski]

Well, I saw this article in Cosmetics Design. It says skin sale, skincare sales surge on Amazon as consumers trust and ingredient awareness grows.

[Valerie George]

Amazon being the trust building source.

[Perry Romanowski]

I know how many of the products listed on Amazon were all written by AI or.

[Valerie George]

Honestly, the people on Amazon just write as many things as they can so it pulls up the search quote, query faster.

[Perry Romanowski]

You end up in the search. Yeah, so I, I thought that was, you know, it's very interesting that this, this is the conclusion that they came to. But to me, I just think it's a, a function more of the way that the Internet works. And I would say online sales are, people are certainly more ready to buy skincare and personal care products online than they ever were before. I remember when I was at, in the industry, you know, the Internet and Internet sales were just kind of picking up and our marketing people and our salespeople kind of were ignoring it because they're like, nobody's gonna buy online very much. And our focus was always on Target and Walmart and Walgreens and that kind of thing. But I think people have just found that buying online is so much more convenient and people are sort of used to stuff getting delivered to your house.

[Valerie George]

Now that especially within a day or two on Amazon, right?

[Perry Romanowski]

Yes. So I could see that. To me, that explains more of the growth than this. Consumers being more aware, I don't know.

[Valerie George]

Well, yeah, that's very interesting. I just don't know if I consider Amazon a trustworthy source. The other thing, you know, I use caution with on Amazon is they have a huge influencer program. Anyone can build a little online Amazon store where they add all their products to it and they can promote it and get commissions. And so sometimes I'm like, yeah, this is a really cool item that someone said go buy, you know, their Instagram link or whatever. And you know, I've gotten a couple of the things and I'm like, oh, that would be really handy. And then you get it and it's like, I don't know. I just, I just. I'm very cautious with Amazon.

[Perry Romanowski]

Right. We are the Skeptical Beauty podcast. Well, yeah, I think I bought something from Amazon once and see Amazon works. A lot of things listed on Amazon are independent people that are not really associated with Amazon. Amazon is just kind of the middleman there.

[Valerie George]

Yeah.

[Perry Romanowski]

And so when you think you're buying something that's assured by Amazon, but you're really buying through someone else's website and you may or may not get the product.

[Valerie George]

Exactly.

[Perry Romanowski]

And especially buying beauty products, like I'd worry that they're tampered with or something.

[Valerie George]

Amazon also doesn't fact check. Or maybe they do, but it's so massive the marketplace they can't really verify what everyone is saying. And so people can say what they want as well. And there's no. No verification or validation to it. So eh, I'm not impressed if people are. I mean I'm not surprised. I guess I should say if people are trusting Amazon, just like people trust TikTok, but I wouldn't do it.

[Perry Romanowski]

Or they trust. What's that? New AI Deepseek.

[Valerie George]

Oh my gosh.

[Perry Romanowski]

Oh. Which is. It is good. It's fun. But I. Man, you know, all of the AI companies are just whatever you put in there they're gonna use. So don't put anything secret in there. I mean, I like using them and all, but I don't trust them.

[Valerie George]

No, I try not to use them. Well, we do have some listener feedback. I heard.

[Perry Romanowski]

We do now. You know, it's funny, last episode you had mentioned like, oh, we mentioned the New York Times thing way at the end. And maybe people were not listening. And then ironically enough we get this feedback from Mimi.

[Valerie George]

Mimi says hello. I heard a snippet of Whipped Cream Dreams, which. Oh my gosh, by the way, is that the name of the song Perry? Because that sounds very adult driven.

[Perry Romanowski]

Oh no, that is the name of.

[Valerie George]

The song at the end of episode 390 via Spotify. And I would like to hear more. Where can I find this soundtrack? Congratulations on making the New York Times Best Beauty Podcast. Best Mimi. So someone did listen.

[Perry Romanowski]

She did, yes. Well, I. Maybe Valerie didn't listen. But the song, remember we were talking in that episode about how I had made songs for all the porch kitties, the alley cats.

[Valerie George]

Yeah. And wait, I remember. One of them does like whipped cream, right?

[Perry Romanowski]

PK Clone. She loves whipped cream.

[Valerie George]

That's so sweet.

[Perry Romanowski]

And she loves salmon skins. Oh yeah, because I. I'll like, I'll feed her in the morning, and she eats with all the other cats. And then she'll come up to my deck and stare in the window, waiting for her little whipped cream finish.

[Valerie George]

Oh, that is the cutest. But she's so skittish. She won't come in.

[Perry Romanowski]

She won't come. And somehow her hair got all messed. Like, her hair is, like, flying around today. I don't know. I'll have to post a picture.

[Valerie George]

Maybe she got into a scuffle or.

[Perry Romanowski]

Stuck under a bush or something. Yeah, but I kind of want to pet her to smooth down her hair, but I can never touch her. She's.

[Valerie George]

Oh, I bet you she would let me touch her because she reminds me of Pretty Kitty. And Pretty Kitty's every day staring in the window. She doesn't want Mr. Cosmetic Chemist. She doesn't want our other chemists. They say, valerie, Pretty's here to see you. And I say, okay. And then I go out. But she. She'll let me get within a foot or so of her, but I can't touch her.

[Perry Romanowski]

Ah, well, not yet. Well, so anyway, Whipped Cream Dreams was the name of PK Clone's song, and I put that at the end of the show. I. A few people have asked me about where they can get on Spotify, but I don't have. The song is just, you know, my song. You know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna put together all of the porch kitty songs and put it up on Patreon. So if you're a patron, that's great. You can get all of the porch kitty songs, which is like 10 or 11 songs.

[Valerie George]

Oh, my goodness. Thank goodness I don't have that many lab kitties. And also, I just. I'm not musically apt, so I don't know if I could make songs for them.

[Perry Romanowski]

Well, honestly, I use AI to help me form the lyrics, and then I edit them myself. Well, like, what I do is I, like, type a story about the cat, and I put it in chatgpt or something like that, and I say, turn this into a song. And so it will. It's very good at doing stuff like that. And then that's the lyrics. And then I put the lyrics in this other one called suno, which is AI Song Makers, and it turns it into a song.

[Valerie George]

Can we make a song about pretty kitty?

[Perry Romanowski]

Sure, I could make a song about Pretty Kitty. You just gotta send me.

[Valerie George]

I'll send you the story.

[Perry Romanowski]

You do that. Speaking of stories, are we ready to answer some questions?

[Valerie George]

We are.

[Perry Romanowski]

Our first question comes to us from Donna, she says hello. I have alopecia errata that had responded well to kenalog injections. I've had good hair regrowth in most areas. Is it okay to highlight my hair since very little of the hair coloring would end up on the scalp and is mostly just on the hair strands? Thank you, Donna.

[Valerie George]

Well, that's really great. I'm glad the kenalog injections have worked for you, Donna. Do you know what those are, Perry?

[Perry Romanowski]

No, I don't. What? What. What is kenalog injections?

[Valerie George]

It's basically an allergy injection that's used to as, like, a. An alternative use used to treat alopecia areata. Not everyone responds to it, but basically, alopecia areata can be caused because your immune system is attacking, like, different patches of hair follicles on your skin. And these kenalog injections help mitigate your immune responses. So some people respond very successfully. Now, the only thing I hesitate to say, it would be fine, only because sometimes people do get hair coloring or hair color or hair lightener on the scalp.

[Perry Romanowski]

Right.

[Valerie George]

So even though the injections are an internal process, you can have thinner skin, more sensitivity with this. And so, one, I would talk to your doctor about it, and two, I would tell your hair colorist absolutely, like, try to avoid the scalp. And then maybe they could also do a coloring technique or a lightening technique called balayage, where they don't actually put the color on by the roots where your skin is. They actually do it a little bit down away from the scalp to create a more blended look. It actually grows out more easily as well, so you don't have to go get it touched up every four to six weeks or whatever. So I would consider that. But, yeah, just use caution.

[Perry Romanowski]

Yeah, I think as far as the strands of hair, those will be fine. But, yes, the way it's done. And can you do it safely or not? I think Valerie gave some good suggestions.

[Valerie George]

Well, our next question comes to us from Charlotte. Hi there, Perry and Valerie. Big fan of the show, reaching out to submit a question. I'm not sure whether you guys have already covered this, but is protein overload a real thing? Supposedly, too much protein in the hair can cause brittleness. Also, a cheeky extra one, if that's okay. I have very fine hair that suffers from frizziness and dryness, and I'm at a loss on how to deal with it. Any particular ingredients or recommendations? Thanks, Charlotte.

[Perry Romanowski]

Oh, a twofer. All right. Shall we tackle a protein overload? I think we've talked about this previously, I have to go look in the.

[Valerie George]

Many years ago, I think.

[Perry Romanowski]

Yeah, yeah.

[Valerie George]

Because we've been together for years, Perry.

[Perry Romanowski]

We have since 2018, I think. Yeah. Wow. There you go. Well, so you love this question about protein overload, don't you? Battery.

[Valerie George]

You also love this question, and this is another example where Perry and I just. We disagree on things. We agree to agree and agree to disagree.

[Perry Romanowski]

Yeah, exactly. So my thought on this protein overload thing is it's not really a thing because I don't think the proteins in your hair care products will do much because they're just getting rinsed out. Now, a lot of people disagree with me on that, but. And I come. I come to my conclusion based on that, just based on my own experiments and stuff that I've done, working with hydrolyzed proteins and such, and also the idea that they are water soluble. And so unless you're leaving the product on, it's a lot harder to get these proteins to, to stay behind and do anything, let alone do the protein overload thing. So I guess protein overload would be that there's going to be a buildup of a protein film on your. On your hair or it gets into the hair fiber and that's going to make it brittle and such. I don't think there's a lot of evidence to support that existing.

[Valerie George]

I feel like we're in a high school debate because now I'm going to get the counter argument.

[Perry Romanowski]

All right, counter argument.

[Valerie George]

I think that proteins can adhere to the hair. They do have substantive properties. Hair, when it's damaged, is negatively charged, and some portions of proteins bear a positive charge. Now, not all of it does. Certainly a lot of it does rinse away. But the reason I don't think protein overload is an issue is because as a, a hair chemist, you're not adding a crazy amount of protein to products. And if you use one or two or three products, they're not additive so much that you're going to get all this protein on your hair because there's only so many negative sites that protein could even stick to. So at some point they do just wash away. Now, what I think can happen is you can be using a protein that is not right for your hair type. So, for example, wheat protein. You use wheat protein when you want a lot of strength to the hair. So if you have really damaged, brittle hair, wheat protein is an excellent choice for you, and it usually doesn't have detectable gluten in it. However, if you have really curly hair, hair with a lot of coils and turns to it, and you over overload it. And I'm putting that in air quotes. You put wheat protein on the hair. You know, you already have a stress strain issue with your hair. It's actually a physics issue. The thing you want to do least is to make the hair stiffer. However, other proteins like soy protein, pea protein, they're a little bit more of a flexible protein film. And so you're less likely to get this perception of protein overload with breakage because they're not forming a stiffer film like wheat. Protein is for strength. And so therefore, I think you can successfully use proteins. You just need to be smart about the proteins you choose. Additionally, sometimes brands do make treatment products that are literally just like water with a ton of protein. And this is a lot more protein than a chemist would ordinarily use in a formulation.

[Perry Romanowski]

Right.

[Valerie George]

I would stay away from those because proteins are film formers. And again, when used at reasonable amounts, they're awesome for your hair. You don't want to put a 5% protein solution on your hair if you're concerned about brittle.

[Perry Romanowski]

If it is staying behind, that can cause a film, and then that film sets up and that's that cracking of that film.

[Valerie George]

Especially if it's a stiff film. Yeah. So I think most hair types are fine. But again, if you're a hair type where you're concerned about protein overload, I would avoid protein treatments because, again, they contain a lot of protein. I would just use products that have proteins in them, and I would look for softening proteins, like maybe pea or soy.

[Perry Romanowski]

Well, you know, I see this question come up a lot on the. I follow this subreddit called Hair Science on Reddit, and people ask about this all the time. And some people are just so paranoid about there being any protein in their product because they're convinced that just even a tiny bit is gonna overload their hair. And I just feel bad because there's no way there's enough protein in, like, you know, a regular shampoo that just puts in hydrolyzed keratin protein just so they can sell something on the bottle. It's just a claims ingredient for a lot of these products, and there's no way it's going to impact your hair in the way that these people think it does. So that's why I'm also. I'm a bit skeptical.

[Valerie George]

Yeah, you're just. And you don't really need to use a lot. I mean, like, you can tell a difference if there's a Half a percent or even, for sure, 1%. But even a half a percent of protein can make a performance difference in a product. And so you just. You don't even need to do it. But, yeah, most people are just saying, oh, just put a little dash of protein in and say it's in there. So, yeah, don't worry about it. But again, if you are worried, just avoid really intensive protein treatments. You don't need them.

[Perry Romanowski]

We had VO5 extra body shampoo that had hydrolyzed keratin in it. We had it in there 0.1%.

[Valerie George]

Yeah, that's usually a marketing company would do that.

[Perry Romanowski]

Yeah.

[Valerie George]

If you're looking for marketing material and it's not gonna be really efficacious at that level.

[Perry Romanowski]

Hey, look at that. We have an audio question.

[Valerie George]

Oh, my gosh.

[Perry Romanowski]

This comes to us from Rachel.

[Valerie George]

Hi, Beauty Brains. I read online that witch hazel can help prevent or get rid of acne. And I was wondering if that's true and if so, how it works. Thanks.

[Perry Romanowski]

Witch hazel and acne. You know, I think when I was a kid in high school, I had this thought that witch hazel could get rid of because you put it on and it, like, is very drying or astringent, like stinging or something. So it feels like it's doing something, you know?

[Valerie George]

Yeah. The drying effect is actually because. Not because it's drying out your skin.

[Perry Romanowski]

Right.

[Valerie George]

The astringency that you're feeling is actually because it has a ton of condensed tannins in it. And the tannins create that. That effect on skin where you're like, whoa, my skin's so tight and dry. But really it's like these tannins on top of your skin.

[Perry Romanowski]

That's the stuff in. In wine.

[Valerie George]

Yeah. You know, I've never tried to put wine on my skin.

[Perry Romanowski]

Wow.

[Valerie George]

I mean, I wouldn't put a Cabernet, but it'd be interesting. Does Chardonnay have a lot of tannins?

[Perry Romanowski]

I think the red ones have mostly the tannins.

[Valerie George]

Well, I'd be worried about staining my skin.

[Perry Romanowski]

I don't think Chardonnay is the tannins. Maybe a good Pinot noir or something.

[Valerie George]

Yeah, a lighter colored one.

[Perry Romanowski]

Maybe a Ziff and D. A Cab. A Cabernet Sauvignon.

[Valerie George]

It's too red. My skin would be stained anyway. Yeah. So it has these tannins in it that give you that drying feeling. And it's interesting because even when I grew up, which was after you, quite.

[Perry Romanowski]

We weren't even born in the same decade.

[Valerie George]

I know. Well, to be fair. Well, we were born close.

[Perry Romanowski]

Well, no, you were Ohio, I was Illinois.

[Valerie George]

No, I meant like close in time. Well, I mean, not super close because you're, I'd say actually you're pretty older than me.

[Perry Romanowski]

I think I was born in the 60s.

[Valerie George]

Okay. So we're two decades apart. Okay.

[Perry Romanowski]

I mean it was 69, so.

[Valerie George]

And I was born in the early part of the 80s. So we're. See, not too far. But even in the, you know, 80s, early 90s, like. Yeah, it was known you put witch hazel on your face if you're super oily or you get a lot of acne. And it's interesting because as an adult looking at the literature, I would say it's pretty mixed.

[Perry Romanowski]

Yeah. It certainly isn't a cure for acne.

[Valerie George]

No, I mean, there's many causes of acne, first of all. I mean it is a disease of inflammation, but there's many, many causes for it.

[Perry Romanowski]

The thing is, acne is an over the counter drug or anti. Acne products are. And so there are drugs that have been gone through the process of being proven to be effective at treating acne. So things like benzoyl peroxide, sulfur is another one. The salicylic acid, I think is on the OTC monograph. So when the FDA puts out a monograph, they list the ingredients that are effective at treating something and the percent use levels that you can make. Witch hazel is not on there. In fact, witch hazel is mentioned as something that was thought about, but there's not enough evidence to demonstrate that it is effective.

[Valerie George]

Yeah, there's some in vitro data that shows that witch hazel has a lot of antibacterial activity. And so maybe brands or consumers have just said, whoa. Well, acne can be caused by a bacteria called. Used to be called P Acnes. Now it's called C Acnes, they renamed it, but there's actually not really any.

[Perry Romanowski]

Because P is the better letter, don't you think?

[Valerie George]

Yeah, I actually agree. I do like the letter P. I don't really like the letter C. Sorry, Mr. Cosmetic Chemist.

[Perry Romanowski]

C is so, like, it's so open. It's like there, there and it just stops and it's just open. Like push is nice rounded and it's closed and it's, it's just a complete letter. C is an incomplete letter.

[Valerie George]

Maybe they had to change it to cutie bacterium with the letter C because we don't really know. We think we know a lot about acne, but we don't.

[Perry Romanowski]

I mean, really, is it, is it really that cute? I don't know.

[Valerie George]

No, no. So witch hazel does have some antibacterial activity, but it actually doesn't show inhibitory activity on C acnes. There's just not a really a lot of strong data. But witch hazel does act as an anti inflammatory, so it does have strong anti inflammation activity, but it doesn't stop the acne bacteria from causing acne.

[Perry Romanowski]

Right.

[Valerie George]

So I think that's why it's hard to say witch hazel helps or it doesn't help because could it help one aspect of acne and help make an improvement? Maybe, but it's not going to be applied to your face and your zits all of a sudden are going to go away or not form.

[Perry Romanowski]

Right. It's not going to get rid of it. Could it prevent it? I suppose if it was antibacterial you could think of. Theoretically there's some rationale that it could, but there's no evidence that it does.

[Valerie George]

But if you like it, it's a great addition to your routine. If you like the smell of it, good for you.

[Perry Romanowski]

Wait, that mean you don't like the smell of it?

[Valerie George]

It's just.

[Perry Romanowski]

It's a bit much.

[Valerie George]

It's. It's a lot. Medicinal's a word. Musty's a word.

[Perry Romanowski]

Sure.

[Valerie George]

Drying is a word.

[Perry Romanowski]

Do you prefer it over tea tree oil?

[Valerie George]

You know, I used to think tea tree oil had like a more refreshing peppermint smell. Thanks to Tea Tree Special Shampoo by Paul Mitchell.

[Perry Romanowski]

Sure, sure.

[Valerie George]

And I was like, wow, I love tea tree. But then actually working at Paul Mitchell and working with tea tree like this is awful. It's terrible. Smelling terrible.

[Perry Romanowski]

I remember I made like a foot lotion or something with tea tree oil. It smelled terrible.

[Valerie George]

Yeah, that's a tough pick.

[Perry Romanowski]

And it stays around. Like you try to wash that off and you can still smell it for a few washings.

[Valerie George]

Oh, gosh. Well, hey, we almost forgot. Charlotte had a second question. She has very fine hair that suffers from frizziness and dryness. She's at a loss of how to deal with it.

[Perry Romanowski]

Oh, well, I hope she's using a conditioner.

[Valerie George]

Yeah. You know, in the last episode we talked about VO5 and how terrible it is. I'm just kidding. How it, you know, it's an economic choice and it certainly has a lot of great benefits in the wet stage.

[Perry Romanowski]

I actually think that to be fair, it's not. It's not the greatest conditioner, but it's a good conditioner, I would say.

[Valerie George]

I would recommend that conditioner actually for Somebody with finer hair. Because cetrimonium chloride is not a conditioning agent, you feel, but it does help reduce frizz. It does help with combing. Stearalkonium chloride is not a great feeling conditioner.

[Perry Romanowski]

Sure.

[Valerie George]

It's not super substantive for my hair. I, you know, I have, again, I have the male leg hair of human head hair. But it actually could be a nice choice also. It could be a nice choice because you don't want to deposit too many things on the hair that are going to weigh it down, and you want just like a little light topical feel.

[Perry Romanowski]

So wait, am I getting that you are recommending to Charlotte to get VO5 conditioner?

[Valerie George]

I'm recommending to get a conditioner that has maybe a lightweight agent like sterconium chloride, cetrimonium chloride. And if VO5 happens to align with that, it could be a good starting choice. And then if it's not enough, you could put like, a little spray afterwards. Yeah, but Charlotte, you would want to avoid conditioning agents that are behem. Trimonium chloride, olealconium chloride. These are very heavy and are probably going to be too much for your fine hair. Now, you could look for stearometopropyl dimethylamine. The Chaz Dean when by Chaz Dean Cleansing Conditioner is actually just a conditioner, but it's based on stera, metopropyl dimethylamine, and I think being trimonium methyl sulfate, those are two really lightweight conditioning agents that aren't going to weigh your hair down and help it with the perception of dryness and frizziness that you have. But I'm not endorsing VO5. I'm just saying it could be a good starting point, depending how fine the hair is.

[Perry Romanowski]

You know, I always love the strawberries and cream version. It's like a little.

[Valerie George]

People do like that one.

[Perry Romanowski]

It's a little dessert in your shower. So.

[Valerie George]

Yeah, I think they had a coconut one I used to get. Was there like a coconutty one?

[Perry Romanowski]

There was coconut. Coconut one, yeah. And there was a. There was a kiwi lime one.

[Valerie George]

I didn't like that one. My mom.

[Perry Romanowski]

Oh, yeah, No, I. I wasn't as big a fan of that one, but I love the strawberries and cream.

[Valerie George]

Yeah, pop that. That's really an iconic scent of the 90s. Early 90s.

[Perry Romanowski]

Yeah, it really was. All right, we've got another one question. This comes to us from Carrie.

[Valerie George]

Hi. I'm curious about elastin products, specifically the elastin skin nectar. I'm undergoing broadband light sessions and I'm curious if there's actually anything about this product that can speed up skin healing. I'm also curious if this product would be beneficial while adjusting to Tretinoin. It's very expensive. Well, Carrie, let's take a look. How expensive?

[Perry Romanowski]

Very expensive.

[Valerie George]

Well, let's see here.

[Perry Romanowski]

All right, well, one ounce, one flute ounce, 29.6 milliliters. You can get this for the. The one time purchase price. $236.

[Valerie George]

But it's only $224.20 if you auto replenish.

[Perry Romanowski]

So if you sign up for a subscription and then you forget about it. Wow. Okay.

[Valerie George]

Oh my gosh.

[Perry Romanowski]

I can't think of any product that I would think is worth $200 for one ounce.

[Valerie George]

Mr. Cosmetic Chemist would kill me if I bought something like this, right? I couldn't even pretend to buy it for work. He would just say, don't even take the project.

[Perry Romanowski]

Right. What is, I mean, what is this even doing? Like.

[Valerie George]

Well, let me tell you a little bit about Elastin. So I know the people who formulate the products, they are very knowledgeable. Like, okay, if I had somebody who wanted a really high end, technically executed skin care formulation.

[Perry Romanowski]

Yeah.

[Valerie George]

I would say the people who do the Elastin products are really incredible. Super knowledgeable. Yeah, top notch. So from that perspective, I feel pretty good. I think Elastin is also owned by pharmaceutical company called Galderma.

[Perry Romanowski]

Galderma. Yeah.

[Valerie George]

So I feel like they also have a lot of. A lot of rigor.

[Perry Romanowski]

Okay, sure, sure.

[Valerie George]

So it's a similar model where there's a pharmaceutical skin care brand called Skin Medica, and they're owned by a pharmaceutical giant, Allergan. And so from this perspective, I feel like, okay, out of a lot of the brands out there, they're probably doing a lot of great work. There's a lot of great minds behind it.

[Perry Romanowski]

Oh, wait, you know, Allergan. They are the people that do the. The eyelash stuff.

[Valerie George]

Oh, yeah. Is that the one? Oh, yes, Latisse. Okay, so we're talking. These are pretty, pretty legit organizations. But when I see $236 for one ounce, I'm like, even if I won the lottery, I just don't know if I could do it.

[Perry Romanowski]

Well, you know, if it actually gave you great benefits, I could see that. And so her question was about, is it going to speed up skin healing?

[Valerie George]

Well, that's what the brand claims. So they say to use it before a skin procedure to help strengthen the skin ahead of time. Then they say use it After a procedure to help reduce recovery time. Thanks to arnica phytoine phytofluid narragenin with panthenyl triacetate.

[Perry Romanowski]

I mean I'm looking at their website, they have like a before and after. Like the lighting is obviously different and like what, what. Why do they do that? It's. And the differences are not that big. But. Come on. But you before and after, can't you set up so that. I never believed before and after pictures on the online. Anyway, you can fake them, but these aren't even good fakes. I mean not that they're fake, they're probably real. It's just they don't adjust the lighting so you can't really tell like what great outcome you get there.

[Valerie George]

Yeah. And the base is actually a lightweight silicone base. It has a little silicone cross polymer in there to help it adhere to the skin.

[Perry Romanowski]

Right.

[Valerie George]

Hopefully that improves penetration. I don't know, I didn't formulate it. I don't work there. But I mean I'm sure it feels very nice.

[Perry Romanowski]

But I just think this is going to penetrate. This is. You got dimethicone. I don't see. I guess they got the, the hexapeptide in there. I just don't see anything in here that's going to help it to penetrate too deeply.

[Valerie George]

And it is a water free formulation. So they advertise it's preservative free and bacteriostatic. Of course it's water free.

[Perry Romanowski]

Right. Well, I'm sure it feels good and such. Those are decent ingredients. But I can't imagine that it's going to help much with the recovery time. Although they probably have some study they've done. Right. There's nothing published, so.

[Valerie George]

Yeah. I don't know.

[Perry Romanowski]

It's also one of those claims that you can make which would be hard to say. Oh, it did not speed up my recovery. Right.

[Valerie George]

Yeah. And it, it honestly doesn't even say it. I mean it says it helps reduce recovery time. Hard to prove. But then the real claim they make is it's designed to complement these procedures.

[Perry Romanowski]

Ah, right.

[Valerie George]

So I don't know. I mean the real way to test would be to only do it on half your face.

[Perry Romanowski]

Right.

[Valerie George]

And then get the procedure right.

[Perry Romanowski]

And it is telling that they don't have that done because they could have done before and after where they treated half face and did it, but they don't have that. So why. Yeah.

[Valerie George]

So maybe the procedure actually improved the skin.

[Perry Romanowski]

Yeah.

[Valerie George]

And it's not the cream. Yeah. I would say I would pass.

[Perry Romanowski]

Yeah.

[Valerie George]

Yeah. And as far as. Is it beneficial while adjusting to tretinoin? I don't know if there's any benefit to using it while adjusting to tretinoin. I think there's probably a lot of other great lightweight moisturizers out there that would help.

[Perry Romanowski]

And you can look for a. A similar product base where it's got cyclomethicone, dimethicone, and that silicone polymer. And I think those are going to be the main benefits you get from anything a serum like this. So find something that doesn't cost 250 bucks an ounce.

[Valerie George]

Yeah, it's just very expensive. And, you know, you're already spending a lot on these sessions.

[Perry Romanowski]

Yeah.

[Valerie George]

So I would. Yeah, I would probably say a lot of other creams would help you, even though the Alaskan people are really great, as I mentioned.

[Perry Romanowski]

All right, looks like we have time for one more question. Lane from Boston.

[Valerie George]

My husband has been watching my beauty routine for years and shyly asked for my help last year. Oh, my gosh. That would be my dream if Mr. Cosmetic Chemist did that. Well, we've gotten him a great routine of cleanse and moisturize with spf, but where he struggles is shaving his face. He gets a terrible beard rash after he shaves his himself clean, which is what he prefers to be. How can he stay clean shaven but not have to deal with razor burn? Is there anything that can soothe the burn?

[Perry Romanowski]

Wow. You know, I stay clean shaven. I'm probably just lucky. I never get, like, razor burn.

[Valerie George]

It's very common for people with, like, super. You have fine hair. I think it's very common if you have, like, a thicker fiber diameter and especially curly, coily, kinky hair. Men with African descent, they have a challenge because of the way the hair curves as it's growing out of the follicle. So you're probably genetically lucky.

[Perry Romanowski]

I am. I mean, it's not for want of trying. I mean, when I shave, I just use an old razor and I use the hot water from the shower. I got one right now. Like, when do you know when you switch? The razor is like, oh, it takes me. Instead of one pass, it takes me, like five passes to do the same spots.

[Valerie George]

Yeah. What if the razor has rust on it? Do you keep going?

[Perry Romanowski]

I don't. I don't know. I'll get rid of something. If it has rust on it, I get rid of something. But, you know, I mean, those things that have four blades, you can use them four times as much. Right? Isn't that how that's work?

[Valerie George]

I think so.

[Perry Romanowski]

I know I'm a terrible beauty product user.

[Valerie George]

Oh, goodness.

[Perry Romanowski]

Well, all right, let's thank goodness for me.

[Valerie George]

There's a couple things that I think that Lane's husband can do. So one thing I think is helpful is if he's exfoliating. So I know he's cleansing and moisturizing, but what can happen and contribute to razor burn is when the hair follicles get ingrown. Ingrown, yes. Slightly ingrown. Right. And so that can happen because there's a lot of dead skin accumulating on the face. And so maybe he could consider once a week exfoliating the dead skin off of his face. And I'm not talking with St. Ives Apricot Scrub, because there's barely any walnut shells in that thing.

[Perry Romanowski]

Is that another dig at one of my old products?

[Valerie George]

A product you didn't formulate? You totally inherited it.

[Perry Romanowski]

Product I inherited. I take no credit for Apricot Scrub, although it was very popular at the time.

[Valerie George]

It's a great product. The scent is amazing. It feels really creamy on skin. It's just not really. I'm not knocking it as a cleanser. It's a great cleansing cream.

[Perry Romanowski]

Sure.

[Valerie George]

It's just not an exfoliant. Right. I'm talking something with maybe some acids in it. He's wearing salicylic acid. Yeah, yeah. Something to get the dead skin off. So that may help a little bit. Also, the salicylic acid is an anti inflammatory and so it will help reduce some of the negative inflammation that comes with razor burn. So I would start with the exfoliation salicylic acid. Then I would say he should, I mean, just continue to moisturize. I think by keeping the skin from getting dry and building up, that will also be helpful. And that might even mean moisturizing with like a regular moisturizer after shaving. So not one with spf, because that's like daytime. But, you know, maybe he'll shave in the morning and put the moisturizer with SPF on, but then he should be moisturizing at nighttime as well.

[Perry Romanowski]

And some of it, of course, too, is what shaving cream or what's which pre treatment product you're using while you're shaving. Now someone like me just uses hot water. That's probably not the best. Yeah.

[Valerie George]

You want to soften the skin.

[Perry Romanowski]

Yeah, for sure. And so, you know, presumably he's using a good shaving cream. And then of course, use. Don't use an Old razor. Don't be like Perry. Don't use an old razor for weeks on end. You have to change the razor, you know, fairly frequently, I guess.

[Valerie George]

Yeah, I would give that a start, too. You could also to soften the skin if you don't want to use a product. I know what they do in shave shops is they take a hot towel. So, yeah, essentially they just wet a little hand towel you could throw in your microwave, shake it out so he doesn't burn himself, and then he could put that on his face before he gets in. That's going to soften and open everything up to make the shaving easier.

[Perry Romanowski]

Yeah. Yeah. Well, those are good ideas. And I think that's the music I hear.

[Valerie George]

That is the music China is calling you.

[Perry Romanowski]

It is. I got to get back. You know, there's a lot of tea drinking going on here, and they use loose leaf tea. It tastes a little different than the tea like the Lipton tea that I usually drink.

[Valerie George]

Oh, of course it does.

[Perry Romanowski]

It's good. It takes a little get. You know, you get used to stuff, and when it changes a little bit, even if it's better, it's just different. It takes a little getting used to.

[Valerie George]

I do love tea, so maybe that's something I would enjoy over there.

[Perry Romanowski]

Yes, well, there's lots of tea here in China.

[Valerie George]

Well, speaking of tea, thanks for listening. Even though that's a thus.

[Perry Romanowski]

Sure. You know, we're gonna work on our transitions. Yes. Hey, if you get a chance, can you head on over to the Apple podcast and leave us a review? Or also Spotify? We get comments there, so we always love to see what people have to say. That's also gonna help other people find the show. And sure, we have a full docket of beauty questions to answer.

[Valerie George]

And if you have a question, just record it on your smartphone and email it to thebeautybrainsmail.com or you could just use the form in the show notes of this episode. We really love other people's voices on the show. Real humans, not this AI stuff. So please, please, please send in your questions. We love your voice.

[Perry Romanowski]

That's right. I once did AI experimenting in voices and was resoundingly criticized for that.

[Valerie George]

So not by me, but by the. By the listeners of the podcast.

[Perry Romanowski]

Yeah, well, you weren't a friend to a good fan. That's okay. Hey, you know, the Beauty brains are on Patreon, if you appreciate that. We don't have a slew of commercials, and we can say whatever we want about any brands because we're not taking money from them. Well, then that's only because of our patrons who support us. It takes a little bit of money to run this show and a lot about of our time, but we do love doing it, so we'll keep doing it. And if you want to support what we do, head over to patreon.com the BeautyBrains and subscribe at any level. You get a transcript of the show. Now you're gonna get access to the Porch Kitty album.

[Valerie George]

Wow. Soon to be featuring Pretty Kitty Stache and maybe Mother Patches.

[Perry Romanowski]

That's right. Oh, Mother Patches. That's new. And you also get a higher priority to your question. So if you send us a question through Patreon, we're gonna answer it.

[Valerie George]

Also, don't forget to follow us on our various social media accounts on Instagram or at the Beautybrain 2018 on X worth of Beauty brains on Blue sky worth the beauty brains, we have a Facebook page and a TikTok.

[Perry Romanowski]

Wow, that sounds like a lot of social media. And we are out there. You know, sometimes we're more active than others.

[Valerie George]

Sometimes. Well, thanks again for listening, everyone. And remember, be brainy about your beauty.

[Perry Romanowski]

Thanks, everyone. Kittens.