I wish beauty brands would offer more trial or travel sized products, because as most of the cosmetic chemists said, it’s almost impossible to know how a product is going to work for you unless you actually try it. I think a lot of the insistence of laypeople trying to decipher ingredients lists comes from the desire to avoid wasting their money or product. It’s a big gamble on buying full sized products, and it’s frustrating that consumers often have to take that gamble. I imagine a lot of waste from beauty products could be minimized too if there were more trial sized products available.
To add to this, existing trial size versions like what you find at Sephora are eye-wateringly expensive. It pretty much eliminates the purpose of trying something before buying the full size if the cost of the "mini" is cost-prohibitive. Like b!7¢h, you want me to pay $25 cad for a mini mascara that is $35 cad for the full version? Get ✨bent✨.
I support the minis. If they make more, by economy of scale, it could be cheaper per bottle. It makes trying easier. For a person who has every bit of things in a makeup case, a mini saves space and less heavy to carry around. Big casing of mascaras, eye shadows etc take a long time to finish, they expire first.
I wish I can block most of the inhouse Fragrantica shills and essayists except for Matvey Yudov. His chemistry in perfumes articles are very interesting.
@ariannepine3157 awww. With the rate my country's currency has fallen, I can't even afford a decent perfume so, I just go there to see the ingredients list😁
Michelle, this topic might be too niche, but can you make a video or short about the technology of encapsulating ingredients? We hear it all the time nowadays, even in this video, so I am curious how in the world they can put this miniscule ingredient inside another “ingredient”.
I'd love to see a video on this too! Geek & Gorgeous have a Peptide serum with encapsulated copper peptides that I've seen a few cosmetic chemists and formulators love, so I'd be very interested in hearing Michelle's thoughts on this. Encapsulation is so cool and I wish more brands did it.
Im an esthetician and try to educate people not to be scared of preservatives alongside the other “chemical nasties”. She has educated me so much I pass it along on the ground level to hundreds. She really makes an impact no matter how niche a topic!!
@@Siberius- LOL Exactly! I used to compound sterile products in pharmacy & methylparabens & propylparabens was used as the preservative in certain topical products. They’re effective bactericidal & fungicidal preservatives with low risk of irritation. 100+ years of data to support safety & efficacy.
@@GoBlueGirl78 - I wonder what the play is in the future to get consumers informed enough about the reality of these ingredients... at some point companies would have enough of an interest in pushing back, in order to have a more effective product. Companies make it worse for themselves though when they say like "silicone-free" on a shampoo bottle, making people think there must be something inherently wrong with silicone in shampoo, when for most people it's something they're really not going to want to do without in their shampoo. Maybe a little asterisk beside those ingredients on the product and then a tiny bit of info and where to learn more, or something.
I wish this video would reach out to way more people, because it is so important!!! The amount of people who incorrectly read the ingredients list on social media just to prove a point or sell products is gonna melt some of my brain cells at one point …. There’s absolutely no common sense anymore 😅
*PLEASE Dr Michelle, can you talk about this controversial ingredient list that has been in the natural hair atmosphere forever; Kinky Curly Knot Today Detangler:* *Ingredient: Organic mango extract, organic slipper elm, organic marshmallow root, organic lemongrass, cetyl alcohol, BTMS, citric acid, phenoxyethanol and natural fragrance* *Can we conclude that the Slippery Elm and Marshmallow Roots are the solvents or the water?* @@LabMuffinBeautyScience
The number of times I've seen conditioners advertising argan oil or coconut oil or some other oil du jour but listed below the fragrance. Of course these days thanks to your videos I tend to be looking for silicones in my conditioner rather than oil.
THIS WAS SUCH A COOL VIDEO. One piece of feedback though: it would’ve been helpful to have like definition cards flash on screen when one of the experts first mentions a term, like humectant. It took me a bit to realize “IL” meant Ingredients List as well.
I worked in QA and R&D for polymers and epoxies for years and that really taught me about formulation. I think what a lot of people tend to miss (beyond what this video covered, which is very helpful) is the fact that the order in which the ingredients are mixed into a formula can make a big difference. The most simple example I could give is with a powder pigment being dispersed into a liquid (like with a shimmer cream, or some foundations). Powders can be hard to disperse properly through a liquid, and if that's the last thing added to the formula, you're not going to get a very good quality, evenly dispersed pigment in most cases. Also when you add your antifungals and PH adjusters is pretty important for overall stability in many things. You'll never learn the order of mixing from an ingredient list.
This is so useful! Thank you! 🙏🏼💖 And thinking about how I have to mix my powdered cacao slowly so I don't get so much "sedimentation" in my hot chocolate, this makes perfect sense, but it's not something I would've even though about. This makes me think that a lot of the difference between higher-performing products vs. lower-preforming ones (especially in makeup) have much more to do with the mixing process than with the ingredients (or names) used to justify the different retail prices.
I know there are tons of peptides but I’d love to hear more about the common ones! Are there good studies on them? Are there any challenges with formulations with them? What are some ways that they work and also how are the sourced?
Yes, to the fragrance science. Even looking at sites like incidecoder or cosdna, masking fragrances may not be identified. I seem to recall hearing that brands sold on Credo that have fragrance, have to list all the fragrance ingredients and can't just say fragrance/parfum. Appreciate all the cosmetic chemists. Chemist Confessions is another good channel that breaks down ingredients/claims.
so good to see all the fab chemists / formulators - Javon, Esther, Jane, Stephen, Jen, Mercedes, Ramon.. all amazing creators and educators. hearing the way they use (or don't) the INCI and make product selections was great, too. thank you for putting all this together in one place, I knew of many elements (one percent rule, ingredient complexes, qualities / grades etc. ) but having all the info in one vid is a fab reference. x
I appreciate how thorough you were with your questions and the amount of people you actually asked. I know it would be easier to just have one guest cosmetic chemist and have a 1:1 with them so presenting it this way is amazing!
I love this video, it's so informative and it'd be great if you made it a series (getting the opinions of your peers). Like one on red flag marketing claims in skincare or trends would be super interesting
Oh wow I knew that natural extracts could differ significantly but not synthetic ones as well! I thought cetearyl alcohol was cetearyl alcohol and dimethicone was dimethicone. Really puts things into perspective. Thank you so much for this video!
Yes, clinical testing!!! And ingredient quality!! The Ordinary niacinamide serum causes a horrific allergic reaction on my skin, but I can tolerate all the ingredients in that serum when they're in other brands' formulations.
As allways your informative clips are very much apreciated. What an eye opener! I thought that ingredient list is it, but now it turns out that we are still in the dark when having to decide on a product quality and efficiency...
1000% yes re fragrance school sharing! I have MCAS, which is basically a hypersensitive immune system that randomly reacts to allergens! So citric acid made from corn/fungus is my new mortal enemy. All this started with living in a moldy house. Fun! Even allergen lists are not useful for those of us with MCAS. Our immune systems are hyper sensitive to SOMETHING, we're just not always sure what it is. For me, it seems to be wheat and corn and oats (often moldy crops). So if something is made from glycerin or vitamin C. Those can be corn derived which my skin hates or sunflower seed oil, which is fine. Or it could be that when I was living in the moldy house, I used that particular ingredient like colloidal oatmeal to calm down hives that I thought were rosacea and now anything with oats in it is an allergen. It's very weird, but not explaining the source of the ingredients is super annoying because I'm not sure what will give me hives. I trust the big products like Cerave and Cetaphil. But I usually rotate them just like I do with foods. There's a name for this, the 4 day rotation diet for allergies and it works great for skin care too!
23:06 I recently bought a hair conditioner because it had the same first 5 ingredients in the same order as Redken All Soft Mega Curls conditioner. I thought it would be a dupe but it's not. The texture is so different. It's not bad but it didn't wow me like the redken conditioner did. I would've repurchased the redken but it's expensive and I'd have to ship it overseas but I'll probably just go back to that conditioner. Its worth the hassle.
Love love love your content and how you make everything easy to understand. I’ve found cosmetic chemistry very interesting since I was in my undergrad, my frustrated dream was to become a cosmetic formulator but I never went that route.
This is such a great video! So much great information, love the consolidation of opinions from so many cosmetic chemists. Thank you so much for this video and all of your other content. You keep us informed without fear lingering and while addressing the nuance of these topics
the cheesecake metaphor was excellent 😂 question for you if you’ve got the time: if I didn’t have energy to wash my face at night but I keep a product on my nightstand within reach (specifically the differin adapalene gel if that helps but broader advice is also appreciated), can I put that product on before bed without washing my face? will it be less effective, completely ineffective, actively harmful/pore clogging, etc? I try to keep a “good day” and a “bad day” skin routine to better manage things when depressed and this has always been something I’ve wondered about for the “bad days”. thanks for yet another engaging, informative, and well-made video!! I’m so glad I found your channel 🥰
I love these videos so much. Please do the fragrance video. Another video suggestion: Deep dive skincare ingredients. I love your work on the amodimethicone video and I wonder if there are other skincare ingredients (pentavitin, some peptides, etc) that I've been wondering about that might work way better than or just as well as the popular ones and just need more attention.
Yes, this information validates me using ingredient lists as a... maybe wish list as a consumer 😅 Like I will often watch out for certain ingredients for a product I'm considering but always alongside reviews for similar skin types. For example in a moiturizer I would love niacinamide, lots of hydrating ingredients, some soothing ingredients like panthenol are nice to have, and occlusives for winter (for my combo-dry skin), but also I need to know if it works under makeup so I look up reviews. I use the ingredient list to know if I might want to try the product in the first place, if it seems exciting. There's nothing like trying the product yourself but I'm nosy about the ingredients anyway 😅 I've learned a lot about how to choose products for my particular skin from all of these experts in the video actually, so this was a good summary of what to consider when picking products ❤ Even when I'm not an expert these "tips" make it easier to find something I enjoy using and not drown in a sea of marketing. (I do look out for propylene glycol and avoid products with it because I think it triggers my rosacea 😢 but that's the only ingredient I actively avoid.)
Thank you so much for this very informative video! In the end, ingredient list is not the end all be all when it comes to deciding which product to buy. But the responses from the cosmetic chemists you interviewed are really helpful. They gave good and useful insights on what to look for and be aware of in a product other than the ingredient list. Thank you again for this great video!
This is the most interesting video I have seen in a very very long time 😍😍😍 It is a subject that I love 🥰 I was hoping for the example of dimethicone because it perfectly illustrates that a single word can correspond to a whole range of very different ingredients. Thank you very much 🤗 PS : I bought your book, I just started reading it. You are my idol 💖💗💕
Thank you for another great video! I have always struggled with chemistry in school - I couldn’t understand how and why this little things interact or make up the real world. Your videos have greatly helped me with my general (still very limited) understanding and also appreciation of chemistry 🥰
As always, thank you so much for making this video and all of your amazing content ❤️ And yes, please make that fragrance video you were taking about! Would love to see that and your follow-up video on vitamin C derivatives!
Thank you so much for sharing this information with us, and particularly for sharing the opinions of trained cosmetic chemists. This is highly helpful! 🙏🏼💖 I noticed there seemed to be a consensus among them about "improperly listed ingredients," or misspellings or improper nomenclature or improperly followed INCI labeling/ guidelines. For those of us who are not trained cosmetic chemists, this is not information we would have, therefore we would not be able to scrutinize ILs in the same way. I know this is probably a lot of information to put into a video, but would you be willing/ able to make a separate video about INCI rules that we consumers should know about and apply to how we're reading ILs? It could probably be a summit like the sunscreen one (and thank you SO MUCH for that one, too!). Thank you so much, Michelle! We consumers really value and appreciate your labour and contributions to our education, health and well-being.
Fun thing about binomial names is figuring out what they actually mean. Unfun thing about them is that thanks to cladistics and DNA sequencing I lost track of whether my cats are _Felis sylvestris cattus_ or _F. cattus cattus_ this week...
I used to work as a rubber chemist and so much of what ure talking about applies to rubber chemistry too. I do sometimes miss reverse engineering competitors products or trying to figure out how to improve the product
Halo effect - I love the packaging of the Chanel skincare so I use them all, the entire range, thousands of sterling pounds…… and I don’t even like fragrance. Oh God, what am I like…. 😂
Two of the chemists mentioned reviews, but you can't trust most of them anymore, as many people are given products for free in exchange for a review and are part of PR lists.
Thanks for another great video! This has made me think of the recent Aveeno hair product claims on the front saying "oat is the first ingredient" and the first ingredient is colloidal oatmeal extract, even above water in the shampoos. I'm super confused about that, because I'd assume I'm not wanting more colloidal oat extract than water in a shampoo? Are they just trying to capitalize on consumers who are slightly more conscious of the ingredient list, or is that formulation actually beneficial?
For me a dealbreaker i fragrance but as a non-chemist it is SO HARD to sus out as brands are allowed to label products with fragrance as fragrance-free and thereare SO MANY ingredients that are fragrnce and no ingredientchecker that is good enough for me to 100% trust it :(
Well, fragrance-free label usually just means there was no synthetic fragrance used. This does not include functional ingredients or extracts or others that have their own scents. Feel free to correct if I'm mistaken.
Such great info. I LOVE this!!! I’m sure you’ve heard about the old lawsuit between SkinCeuticals and drunk elephants regarding the similarities of their vitamin c products (ie C E Ferulic and C-firma). Have you seen the ingredient list of these two products?? They look SO vastly different- yet apparently they’re similar (?). Is this an example of why you can’t tell everything based on the ingredient list??
I would love a suggested hair care product video for all the different hair types! Also for those trying to use more “natural” products, what kind of preservative should be added into the product. What INGREDIENTS ARE RED FLAGSSSS. Love your videos, thank you 🖤
This was very helpful, thank you! Have you already done a video on unscented product recommendations? I’m super sensitive to smell…most cosmetics, skin and hair care products make me nauseous bc they’re heavily perfumed. Would love some guidance on good brands that don’t add fragrance.
Would love to learn how to avoid fragrance! ❤They have so many names and i am so tired of buying stuff then to discorver it has some obscurely named fragrance in there!
FRAGRANCE SCIENCE! Awesome video. It's interesting to see that even cosmetic chemists aren't going crazy with reading ingredients list. It's more of a vague thing to check over to see if it seems to at least make sense for what you want. Oh, then there's the safety stuff to see if something is amiss. Cosmetic chemists are more equipped for this, but the system is still intentionally vague for everyone
I find this topic so interesting, probably mostly because of what it suggests about how other laypeople engage with ingredient lists in ways I wouldn't've thought to! I read them almost all the time, but I'm primarily looking out for products to which my household has various sensitivities or which are likely to trigger migraines. I do occasionally try a product which has an ingredient featured majorly in another product I respond well to, because I'm trying to figure out what my skin (or hair) does and doesn't like in the context of my skin reacting negatively to the vast majority of products I try. It sounds like some people think they can tell way more from ingredients lists than that, though? Huh.
I wish beauty brands would offer more trial or travel sized products, because as most of the cosmetic chemists said, it’s almost impossible to know how a product is going to work for you unless you actually try it. I think a lot of the insistence of laypeople trying to decipher ingredients lists comes from the desire to avoid wasting their money or product. It’s a big gamble on buying full sized products, and it’s frustrating that consumers often have to take that gamble. I imagine a lot of waste from beauty products could be minimized too if there were more trial sized products available.
To add to this, existing trial size versions like what you find at Sephora are eye-wateringly expensive. It pretty much eliminates the purpose of trying something before buying the full size if the cost of the "mini" is cost-prohibitive. Like b!7¢h, you want me to pay $25 cad for a mini mascara that is $35 cad for the full version? Get ✨bent✨.
+
@MiniJenJen this is why I love korean skincare as they give minis along with full size purchases
So true
I support the minis. If they make more, by economy of scale, it could be cheaper per bottle. It makes trying easier. For a person who has every bit of things in a makeup case, a mini saves space and less heavy to carry around. Big casing of mascaras, eye shadows etc take a long time to finish, they expire first.
Big YES to fragrance science! Sincerely, an ex-Fragrantica fanatic
I wish I can block most of the inhouse Fragrantica shills and essayists except for Matvey Yudov. His chemistry in perfumes articles are very interesting.
Why did you stop loving fragrantica
@@uberhaute_naturalz84 I grew tired of the snobs.
@ariannepine3157 awww. With the rate my country's currency has fallen, I can't even afford a decent perfume so, I just go there to see the ingredients list😁
@@ariannepine3157more noobs then snobs tbh
HOLY WAFFLES YES please do the video about fragrance school! Seriously, that sounds amazing and I'd love to hear about your experience.
"holy waffles" is the best exclamation ever!
@@JillKnapp - That transported me right back to my mid-teens MSN days 17+ years ago lol. That was wild.
Michelle, this topic might be too niche, but can you make a video or short about the technology of encapsulating ingredients? We hear it all the time nowadays, even in this video, so I am curious how in the world they can put this miniscule ingredient inside another “ingredient”.
I don’t think it’s that niche, like you said we hear about it all the time, so I would be interested too!
Agree, especially about encapsulated vit. C or retinol.
Yes encapsulated is a huge buzz word I need to know the science behind this too. Great ask @rickf716
I'd love to see a video on this too!
Geek & Gorgeous have a Peptide serum with encapsulated copper peptides that I've seen a few cosmetic chemists and formulators love, so I'd be very interested in hearing Michelle's thoughts on this. Encapsulation is so cool and I wish more brands did it.
The comments about preservative-free products are spot on. I want preservatives to ensure the products I’m using aren’t growing nasty bugs.
Im an esthetician and try to educate people not to be scared of preservatives alongside the other “chemical nasties”. She has educated me so much I pass it along on the ground level to hundreds. She really makes an impact no matter how niche a topic!!
Gimmie them parabens, I want the good stuff lol
@@superkawaii8315 It’s great to hear you’re demystifying the chemistry!
@@Siberius- LOL Exactly! I used to compound sterile products in pharmacy & methylparabens & propylparabens was used as the preservative in certain topical products. They’re effective bactericidal & fungicidal preservatives with low risk of irritation. 100+ years of data to support safety & efficacy.
@@GoBlueGirl78 - I wonder what the play is in the future to get consumers informed enough about the reality of these ingredients... at some point companies would have enough of an interest in pushing back, in order to have a more effective product.
Companies make it worse for themselves though when they say like "silicone-free" on a shampoo bottle, making people think there must be something inherently wrong with silicone in shampoo, when for most people it's something they're really not going to want to do without in their shampoo.
Maybe a little asterisk beside those ingredients on the product and then a tiny bit of info and where to learn more, or something.
Yes to fragrance information, bless us with the knowledge!
I wish this video would reach out to way more people, because it is so important!!! The amount of people who incorrectly read the ingredients list on social media just to prove a point or sell products is gonna melt some of my brain cells at one point …. There’s absolutely no common sense anymore 😅
I always love whenever people get terrified about an ingredient that's in many different products, like some ingredients of antifreeze for example.
Psst, "common". :-)
9:01 as a chemistry student this genuinely made me recoil in horror 😭😭great job for spooky season
It was really hard to force myself to do that 😂
*PLEASE Dr Michelle, can you talk about this controversial ingredient list that has been in the natural hair atmosphere forever; Kinky Curly Knot Today Detangler:*
*Ingredient: Organic mango extract, organic slipper elm, organic marshmallow root, organic lemongrass, cetyl alcohol, BTMS, citric acid, phenoxyethanol and natural fragrance*
*Can we conclude that the Slippery Elm and Marshmallow Roots are the solvents or the water?*
@@LabMuffinBeautyScience
“‘Aqua’? Hey fellas, this product has ‘aqua’! Well, ooh la di da, Mr. French Man.”
“Well what do you call it?”
“Tapjuice.”
Council pop
...aqua is not water in French, that is Spanish...
Distilled blood
i felt so proud of myself for recalling information from your book throughout this video
Same! The book is soooo gooood!
The number of times I've seen conditioners advertising argan oil or coconut oil or some other oil du jour but listed below the fragrance. Of course these days thanks to your videos I tend to be looking for silicones in my conditioner rather than oil.
THIS WAS SUCH A COOL VIDEO. One piece of feedback though: it would’ve been helpful to have like definition cards flash on screen when one of the experts first mentions a term, like humectant. It took me a bit to realize “IL” meant Ingredients List as well.
I would definitely be interested in hearing about what you learned in fragrance school, even if most ppl I know probably shouldn’t or can’t use it
I worked in QA and R&D for polymers and epoxies for years and that really taught me about formulation. I think what a lot of people tend to miss (beyond what this video covered, which is very helpful) is the fact that the order in which the ingredients are mixed into a formula can make a big difference. The most simple example I could give is with a powder pigment being dispersed into a liquid (like with a shimmer cream, or some foundations). Powders can be hard to disperse properly through a liquid, and if that's the last thing added to the formula, you're not going to get a very good quality, evenly dispersed pigment in most cases. Also when you add your antifungals and PH adjusters is pretty important for overall stability in many things. You'll never learn the order of mixing from an ingredient list.
This is so useful! Thank you! 🙏🏼💖 And thinking about how I have to mix my powdered cacao slowly so I don't get so much "sedimentation" in my hot chocolate, this makes perfect sense, but it's not something I would've even though about. This makes me think that a lot of the difference between higher-performing products vs. lower-preforming ones (especially in makeup) have much more to do with the mixing process than with the ingredients (or names) used to justify the different retail prices.
Commenting for the algorithm and also to say yes to a fragrance video!!
Thank you! Much appreciated
I love the precision in how you choose your words. No ambiguity. Much appreciated
With all those correctly pronounced big words, I have to trust you! (but seriously, this video is really helpful and I hope more people see it)
Your book arrived at my house this week! So excited to keep learning from you!
Hope you enjoy it!
I know there are tons of peptides but I’d love to hear more about the common ones! Are there good studies on them? Are there any challenges with formulations with them? What are some ways that they work and also how are the sourced?
Yes, to the fragrance science. Even looking at sites like incidecoder or cosdna, masking fragrances may not be identified. I seem to recall hearing that brands sold on Credo that have fragrance, have to list all the fragrance ingredients and can't just say fragrance/parfum. Appreciate all the cosmetic chemists. Chemist Confessions is another good channel that breaks down ingredients/claims.
so good to see all the fab chemists / formulators - Javon, Esther, Jane, Stephen, Jen, Mercedes, Ramon.. all amazing creators and educators. hearing the way they use (or don't) the INCI and make product selections was great, too.
thank you for putting all this together in one place, I knew of many elements (one percent rule, ingredient complexes, qualities / grades etc. ) but having all the info in one vid is a fab reference. x
I appreciate how thorough you were with your questions and the amount of people you actually asked. I know it would be easier to just have one guest cosmetic chemist and have a 1:1 with them so presenting it this way is amazing!
YES to fragrance science video! I collect fragrances and perfume school in France sounds like a dream!
I love this video, it's so informative and it'd be great if you made it a series (getting the opinions of your peers). Like one on red flag marketing claims in skincare or trends would be super interesting
Yes!! I second this.
I wish influencers would watch this. People are saying Verb is a dupe for Oribe just because the ingredients are similar.
they don’t care because people are so self-righteous about using dupes and not “falling” for expensive alternatives.
Oh wow I knew that natural extracts could differ significantly but not synthetic ones as well! I thought cetearyl alcohol was cetearyl alcohol and dimethicone was dimethicone. Really puts things into perspective. Thank you so much for this video!
YES to fragrance science!!!
Dankeschön for sharing your knowledge with us. I have been studying INCIs for a while and love your tutorial.
Yes, clinical testing!!! And ingredient quality!! The Ordinary niacinamide serum causes a horrific allergic reaction on my skin, but I can tolerate all the ingredients in that serum when they're in other brands' formulations.
Yay, new video from my favorite creator ever!
As allways your informative clips are very much apreciated. What an eye opener! I thought that ingredient list is it, but now it turns out that we are still in the dark when having to decide on a product quality and efficiency...
1000% yes re fragrance school sharing! I have MCAS, which is basically a hypersensitive immune system that randomly reacts to allergens! So citric acid made from corn/fungus is my new mortal enemy. All this started with living in a moldy house. Fun!
Even allergen lists are not useful for those of us with MCAS. Our immune systems are hyper sensitive to SOMETHING, we're just not always sure what it is. For me, it seems to be wheat and corn and oats (often moldy crops). So if something is made from glycerin or vitamin C. Those can be corn derived which my skin hates or sunflower seed oil, which is fine. Or it could be that when I was living in the moldy house, I used that particular ingredient like colloidal oatmeal to calm down hives that I thought were rosacea and now anything with oats in it is an allergen. It's very weird, but not explaining the source of the ingredients is super annoying because I'm not sure what will give me hives. I trust the big products like Cerave and Cetaphil. But I usually rotate them just like I do with foods. There's a name for this, the 4 day rotation diet for allergies and it works great for skin care too!
Yessss
Please talk about fragrance science
Love your videos, so helpful
This was so cool! I loved seeing so many different experts featured. Would love more like this!
23:06 I recently bought a hair conditioner because it had the same first 5 ingredients in the same order as Redken All Soft Mega Curls conditioner. I thought it would be a dupe but it's not. The texture is so different. It's not bad but it didn't wow me like the redken conditioner did. I would've repurchased the redken but it's expensive and I'd have to ship it overseas but I'll probably just go back to that conditioner. Its worth the hassle.
They know the curly community are heavy spenders and product junkies so they're probably in no rush to offer us viable alternatives. 😢
Excellent video! So glad it came up in my feed!
Love love love your content and how you make everything easy to understand. I’ve found cosmetic chemistry very interesting since I was in my undergrad, my frustrated dream was to become a cosmetic formulator but I never went that route.
This is such a great video! So much great information, love the consolidation of opinions from so many cosmetic chemists. Thank you so much for this video and all of your other content. You keep us informed without fear lingering and while addressing the nuance of these topics
Ok, but I had to laugh at the 'what type of cheese to put into cheesecake' comparison 😅
Very interesting video 👍🏻
NGL: I would LOVE a Blue Cheese-cake!! 😋
the cheesecake metaphor was excellent 😂 question for you if you’ve got the time: if I didn’t have energy to wash my face at night but I keep a product on my nightstand within reach (specifically the differin adapalene gel if that helps but broader advice is also appreciated), can I put that product on before bed without washing my face? will it be less effective, completely ineffective, actively harmful/pore clogging, etc? I try to keep a “good day” and a “bad day” skin routine to better manage things when depressed and this has always been something I’ve wondered about for the “bad days”. thanks for yet another engaging, informative, and well-made video!! I’m so glad I found your channel 🥰
Ooo! YES tell us about your experience in fragrance school in France and everything about fragrance!
I'm currently studying Galenic pharmacy/pharmaceutics in my pharmacy program so this video is right on time
would LOVE a video about fragrance science! i've just started learning about fragrances and i love how you explain things
I love these videos so much. Please do the fragrance video.
Another video suggestion: Deep dive skincare ingredients. I love your work on the amodimethicone video and I wonder if there are other skincare ingredients (pentavitin, some peptides, etc) that I've been wondering about that might work way better than or just as well as the popular ones and just need more attention.
Yes, this information validates me using ingredient lists as a... maybe wish list as a consumer 😅 Like I will often watch out for certain ingredients for a product I'm considering but always alongside reviews for similar skin types. For example in a moiturizer I would love niacinamide, lots of hydrating ingredients, some soothing ingredients like panthenol are nice to have, and occlusives for winter (for my combo-dry skin), but also I need to know if it works under makeup so I look up reviews. I use the ingredient list to know if I might want to try the product in the first place, if it seems exciting. There's nothing like trying the product yourself but I'm nosy about the ingredients anyway 😅
I've learned a lot about how to choose products for my particular skin from all of these experts in the video actually, so this was a good summary of what to consider when picking products ❤ Even when I'm not an expert these "tips" make it easier to find something I enjoy using and not drown in a sea of marketing.
(I do look out for propylene glycol and avoid products with it because I think it triggers my rosacea 😢 but that's the only ingredient I actively avoid.)
Thank you so much for this very informative video! In the end, ingredient list is not the end all be all when it comes to deciding which product to buy. But the responses from the cosmetic chemists you interviewed are really helpful. They gave good and useful insights on what to look for and be aware of in a product other than the ingredient list.
Thank you again for this great video!
Would love to see fragrance science content!! ❤
Yes fragrance science video pleaseeeee!!!!!! Thank you for everything you share on here 💝
This is the most interesting video I have seen in a very very long time 😍😍😍
It is a subject that I love 🥰
I was hoping for the example of dimethicone because it perfectly illustrates that a single word can correspond to a whole range of very different ingredients.
Thank you very much 🤗
PS : I bought your book, I just started reading it. You are my idol 💖💗💕
that 1% line thing has been sooo useful to me. thank u
Thank you for another great video! I have always struggled with chemistry in school - I couldn’t understand how and why this little things interact or make up the real world. Your videos have greatly helped me with my general (still very limited) understanding and also appreciation of chemistry 🥰
As always, thank you so much for making this video and all of your amazing content ❤️
And yes, please make that fragrance video you were taking about! Would love to see that and your follow-up video on vitamin C derivatives!
Yes please on a video about your experience at fragrance school! And thank you for yet another informative video 🤩
Yes!!! Please do a video of fragrance science!
This is one of THE MOST THOROUGH COMPREHENSIVE PRAGMATIC (still succinct) videos available on the 'cosmetic ingredients list' topic. Thankss LMB🙏🌹
Thank you so much for sharing this information with us, and particularly for sharing the opinions of trained cosmetic chemists. This is highly helpful! 🙏🏼💖
I noticed there seemed to be a consensus among them about "improperly listed ingredients," or misspellings or improper nomenclature or improperly followed INCI labeling/ guidelines. For those of us who are not trained cosmetic chemists, this is not information we would have, therefore we would not be able to scrutinize ILs in the same way. I know this is probably a lot of information to put into a video, but would you be willing/ able to make a separate video about INCI rules that we consumers should know about and apply to how we're reading ILs? It could probably be a summit like the sunscreen one (and thank you SO MUCH for that one, too!).
Thank you so much, Michelle! We consumers really value and appreciate your labour and contributions to our education, health and well-being.
Fun thing about binomial names is figuring out what they actually mean. Unfun thing about them is that thanks to cladistics and DNA sequencing I lost track of whether my cats are _Felis sylvestris cattus_ or _F. cattus cattus_ this week...
Please, I would love to hear about fragrance science! 🙏 Thanks for keeping us informed!!
Definitely want a video on scents/fragrance, please!
I used to work as a rubber chemist and so much of what ure talking about applies to rubber chemistry too. I do sometimes miss reverse engineering competitors products or trying to figure out how to improve the product
Im fine with chemical and pharmaceutical names - but botanical names - i feel you 😂😂😂
We like ✨systems✨
Yes, please tell us more about fragrance science 😊
Halo effect - I love the packaging of the Chanel skincare so I use them all, the entire range, thousands of sterling pounds…… and I don’t even like fragrance. Oh God, what am I like…. 😂
😮
FRAGRANCE SCIENCE!! FRAGRANCE SCIENCE!! OMG FRAGRANCE SCIENCE!!!
Another amazing video! And YES, please make a video on perfumes and fragrances.
Two of the chemists mentioned reviews, but you can't trust most of them anymore, as many people are given products for free in exchange for a review and are part of PR lists.
Yesss to more fragrance science videos please!!
i laughed so hard when all the ingredients on the screen turned into CHEESE
i love her humour
Thanks for another great video! This has made me think of the recent Aveeno hair product claims on the front saying "oat is the first ingredient" and the first ingredient is colloidal oatmeal extract, even above water in the shampoos. I'm super confused about that, because I'd assume I'm not wanting more colloidal oat extract than water in a shampoo? Are they just trying to capitalize on consumers who are slightly more conscious of the ingredient list, or is that formulation actually beneficial?
Ugh I think it's probably a marketing trick - technically they can extract the oat with a ton of water and count it as "oat extract" 🙄
Damn, Lab Muffin been cooking 🔥
I'd love to hear about fragrance! I appreciate your videos for their unbiased and scientific approach
This is such an exemplary and informative video. Thank you Michelle!
For me a dealbreaker i fragrance but as a non-chemist it is SO HARD to sus out as brands are allowed to label products with fragrance as fragrance-free and thereare SO MANY ingredients that are fragrnce and no ingredientchecker that is good enough for me to 100% trust it :(
For real! I thought benzoyl alcohol was just a drying or fatty alcohol turns out it's a fragrance allergen. How am i supposed to know that!
What's the issue with incidecoder?
@@kikiTHEalien they regularly claim products are fragrance-free when they aren't (they are sctually really poor at spotting fragrance ingredients)
Those pesky masking fragrances. They do need to be more easily identified.
Well, fragrance-free label usually just means there was no synthetic fragrance used. This does not include functional ingredients or extracts or others that have their own scents. Feel free to correct if I'm mistaken.
omg. I love love this video especially the tips part from everyone
Yes, please do a video on fragrance science!
Yes please, I would love to see a video about fragrance
Very cool video 😍 I will be rewatching
Such a great video!
Such great info. I LOVE this!!! I’m sure you’ve heard about the old lawsuit between SkinCeuticals and drunk elephants regarding the similarities of their vitamin c products (ie C E Ferulic and C-firma). Have you seen the ingredient list of these two products?? They look SO vastly different- yet apparently they’re similar (?). Is this an example of why you can’t tell everything based on the ingredient list??
This was a great topic and video! ❤
Yesssss to the video on fragrance!!
I would love a suggested hair care product video for all the different hair types! Also for those trying to use more “natural” products, what kind of preservative should be added into the product. What INGREDIENTS ARE RED FLAGSSSS. Love your videos, thank you 🖤
thank u, michelle 💖🌻
Nice mix of interview!
Wow, this was so incredibly informative. Thank you!
Awesome video!
This was very helpful, thank you!
Have you already done a video on unscented product recommendations? I’m super sensitive to smell…most cosmetics, skin and hair care products make me nauseous bc they’re heavily perfumed. Would love some guidance on good brands that don’t add fragrance.
Would love to learn how to avoid fragrance! ❤They have so many names and i am so tired of buying stuff then to discorver it has some obscurely named fragrance in there!
FRAGRANCE SCIENCE!
Awesome video. It's interesting to see that even cosmetic chemists aren't going crazy with reading ingredients list. It's more of a vague thing to check over to see if it seems to at least make sense for what you want. Oh, then there's the safety stuff to see if something is amiss. Cosmetic chemists are more equipped for this, but the system is still intentionally vague for everyone
Thanks for this, Michelle!
I use ingredients lists mainly to check if there are any essential oils in the product, because my skin really hates it, even in wash off products!
This was a great video!!
this was so insightful!
Excellent reporting. Great explanations and background information. Thank you.
I find this topic so interesting, probably mostly because of what it suggests about how other laypeople engage with ingredient lists in ways I wouldn't've thought to! I read them almost all the time, but I'm primarily looking out for products to which my household has various sensitivities or which are likely to trigger migraines. I do occasionally try a product which has an ingredient featured majorly in another product I respond well to, because I'm trying to figure out what my skin (or hair) does and doesn't like in the context of my skin reacting negatively to the vast majority of products I try. It sounds like some people think they can tell way more from ingredients lists than that, though? Huh.
Great video, thank you!
Fragrance video? Yes, please!
yess to fragrance science video omg
Of course we want, desire, CRAVE AND DYING for a video about fragrance science 😍😍😍
Fragrance video 😮 YESssss! Please 🙏 even a series :D