Critical Thinking – Lab Muffin Beauty Science

Are plastics and petrochemical products bad for the environment?

Michelle Wong — Fri, 02 Jun 2023 20:00:05 +0000

More beauty brands are talking about sustainability, but there’s a lot of greenwashing. In the last installment we talked about the impact of producing natural ingredients and after they go into the environment, as well as organic versus conventional farming. In this part, Jen of The Eco Well and I are breaking down myths about synthetic ingredients made from petroleum ...

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Natural ingredients aren’t actually better for the environment

Michelle Wong — Fri, 02 Jun 2023 13:00:35 +0000

Beauty brands are talking a lot more about sustainability and the environment, and it makes sense. Climate change is a huge problem, and most of us don’t want to make things worse. But beauty marketing is full of false promises and meaningless buzzwords. What’s actually better for the environment, and what’s just feelgood fluff? Well… a lot of it is ...

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Sunscreen absorption and receptor binding: Debunking TikTok Misinformation

Michelle Wong — Wed, 22 Feb 2023 11:00:25 +0000

There’s tons of misinformation on the dangers of sunscreen on social media, and it seems like all of the myths make the rounds each time a new platform emerges. Currently the trending platform is TikTok. Even though sunscreen safety is a topic I’ve covered many times, it repeatedly comes up in many different flavours. I’ll break down the misinformation in ...

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Parabens, Fragrance, Colorants, Talc: Debunking Bobby Parrish’s TikTok misinformation

Michelle Wong — Fri, 17 Feb 2023 12:37:23 +0000

Bobby Parrish, a home cook and food influencer who goes by the name FlavCity, has made a number of viral TikTok videos recently about dangerous personal care ingredients. As you might expect, there’s quite a lot of misinformation in them. I debunked a couple of them in a recent YouTube video, along with some other TikTok videos – you can ...

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Propylparaben in CeraVe: Debunking TikTok misinformation

Michelle Wong — Mon, 13 Feb 2023 23:30:41 +0000

There’s been a recent viral TikTok video from Santa Cruz Medicinals, a CBD brand that sells skincare. In it, their founder claims CeraVe is “trash” because it contains propylparaben. Here’s what he says in the video: “Do you use this? This contains propylparaben. Propylparaben is an estrogen-like compound that is under the class of what we call parabens. Women who ...

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US Sunscreens Aren’t Safe in the EU? The Science

Michelle Wong — Mon, 14 Nov 2022 11:30:36 +0000

There’s been a lot of fearmongering about chemical sunscreens. There were scary-sounding new stories – sunscreen absorbing into blood, killing coral reefs, zinc oxide being toxic, benzene in sunscreens… Related Post: Top 7 Sunscreen and SPF Myths I’ve covered most of these before, and they’re largely just the media taking things out of context and sensationalising them, partly for views, ...

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You don’t need to freak out about benzene in dry shampoo

Michelle Wong — Wed, 26 Oct 2022 12:00:59 +0000

There’s been another beauty product recall because of benzene. This time it’s dry shampoos produced by Unilever, including products from; Dove TRESemmé TIGI Suave I’ve talked about benzene contamination in products before, specifically sunscreen. It’s a very similar situation this time. The key points: Benzene is not intentionally added to products. Rather, it’s a trace contaminant that’s accidentally found its ...

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Nail Polish, Miscarriages, Cancer? Not So Pretty Episode 2

Michelle Wong — Wed, 13 Jul 2022 13:52:39 +0000

Not So Pretty is a HBO documentary series about supposedly dangerous beauty products. It’s a very persuasive, slick-looking documentary. A lot of people chucked out their products after watching it, and as someone who breaks open bottles to use the last three drops at the bottom, this cut me deep. As a scientist who uses a lot of beauty products ...

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Talc and Asbestos in Makeup: Not So Pretty Episode 1

Michelle Wong — Mon, 06 Jun 2022 13:30:00 +0000

HBO has a new 4 part documentary Not So Pretty which talks about supposedly dangerous beauty products. This kind of documentary comes out every 6 months or so, and everyone panics and throws out their products. Like pretty much everyone I think, I’m concerned about my health, but not so into people trying to exploit this concern for attention, or ...

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New York 1,4-Dioxane Ban In Beauty Products?

Michelle Wong — Tue, 03 May 2022 13:33:00 +0000

If you’ve ever looked up sodium laureth sulfate (SLES) and sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) in a clean beauty app, like me, you might be surprised to find that SLES is dirtier than SLS. These apps are terrible and based on pseudoscience: SLS and SLES are both safe in your products. But if you’re a skincare nerd, you’ll know that SLS ...

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