Perry Romanowski - Its OK to have Lead in Your Lipstick

Written by Perry Romanowski & RandySchueller

Edited by Lily Elderkin

Copyright 2013 by Brains Publishing

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by BrainsPublishing. www.brainspublishing.com

The authors have attempted to make this bookas accurate and up to date as possible, but it may contain errors,omissions, or material that is out of date at the time you read it.Neither the author nor publisher has any legal responsibility orliability for errors, omissions, out-of-date material, or thereaders application of the advice contained in this book

First Smashwords edition

Book design: Y42K Book ProductionServices

http://www.y42k.com/bookproduction.html

Perry and Randy would like to thank ALL themembers of the Beauty Brains community without whom this book wouldnot be possible. (Especially the more prolific members of our Forumwho help answer questions while asking a few of their own!) Thanksguys!

Read this book if you want to be a smartershopper.

Smarter because youll be able to spotover-hyped, over-priced beauty products. Smarter because youll beable to shop for products you LOVE without worrying about whichingredient scare-story you should believe. Smarter because youllbe able to look your friends and family in the eyes and tell themNo, mineral oil in cosmetics does not cause cancer.

This book will change the way you think aboutbeauty products

Being a smarter shopper, however, comes with aprice. You like, many fans of our website, may find yourselfturning into a Beauty Brainiac. Symptoms of being a BeautyBrainiac include:

Catching yourself reading the back of yourshampoo bottle in the shower.

Finding out who makes your favorite productand then checking to see if they make any other brands that havesimilar formulas for less money.

Laughing out loud every time you hear someonetalk about chemical free cosmetics.

Speaking of laughing, dont think that justbecause this book is written by chemists that its filled with dry,scientific jargon. Were here to educate AND entertain. Dontbelieve us? Just check out the chapter on bizarre beautyingredients. (Come on, be honest, arent you DYING to know if bullsemen is really good for your hair?)

Were the founders of The Beauty Brains, the #1beauty science blog, and weve answered thousands of beautyquestions over the past 7 years. In addition, were veterancosmetic product developers who worked on some of the most popularbeauty products in the world. Weve written dozens of sciencearticles and books for Cosmetics & Toiletries, Gale Publishing,and the Marcel Dekker company. Our book, Beginning CosmeticChemistry is used in several college programs. Trust us, we knowwhat were talking about.

Perry Romanowski is a writer, cosmetic chemist,Inventor, scientist, instructor, futurologist, and thought leader.Hes also the founder of Chemists Corner blog and trainingprogram.

Randy Schueller is a writer, former Sr. Directorof Hair and Skin Care R&D for Alberto Culver and Unilever and amember of the National Association of Science Writers.

The cosmetic industry does wonderful things forus. It helps our skin stay young looking, it lets us change ourhair color when ever we want, and it keeps our armpits fromsmelling bad. However, even the best intentioned companies can...exaggerate from time to time. And less scrupulous companies havebeen known to exaggerate a lot! This chapter helps you understandwhen companies cross that line and over-exaggerate their claims.Understanding when companies are stretching the truth will make youa smarter shopper.

Glendas going shoppingMy hair is thick,coarse and dry. Which product should I buy, Pantene or HerbalEssences?

Its interesting that you ask about those twoproducts because, as you can tell if you look at the ingredientlists, they are actually the same basic formula. (They are evencovered by the same patents). Since a 22 ounce bottle of Pantenesells for about $5.99 while Herbal Essences sells for about $7.99,youre spending $2.00 more for basically the same thing!

Equal ingredients

Take a look at Pantenes Ice Shine conditionerand Herbal Essences Hydration Conditioner. If you turn the bottlesaround youll see that the first five key ingredients are exactlythe same:

Water, Stearyl Alcohol, Cyclopentasiloxane,Cetyl Alcohol, and Stearamidopropyl Dimethylamine.

Are these similarities surprising? Not at allconsidering that P&G (the company that makes Pantene) boughtClairol (the company that makes Herbal Essences.) Shortly after thepurchase, P&G converted the Herbal Essences formulas to theirPantene base.

The bottom line

The good news is that Pantene is an excellentconditioner. The bad news is that if you want the performance ofPantene with the color and fragrance of Herbal Essences, it willcost you more! So, since either product will work fine, go with theone that smells the best to you or is least expensive.

Angie asksI dont understand what it meanswhen companies say that a skin care product reduces the appearanceof something like brown spots, redness, or wrinkles. It soundslike vague advertising words to me. Is the implication that itdoesnt really do anything to physically change the brown spot,etc.?

Essentially it means just what it says theappearance is reduced not necessarily the underlying physicalcondition. In most cases changing the physical structure of theskin would make the product a drug. Since most of these productsare NOT drugs, they have to add the weasel words to their claimthat make it clear that they are only changing the appearance.Companies have to be careful with the exact wording of their claimsto avoid getting into regulatory/legal trouble.

For example, a wrinkle product that temporarilyplumps up wrinkles by adding moisture reduces the appearance ofwrinkles. Any type of concealer product that covers up redness orage spots reduces their appearance. But after the product is gonethe wrinkles remain.

The bottom line

Many cosmetics exaggerate their claims byrelying on weasel words like helps and reduces the appearanceof. Watch for qualifying terms like this, especially when shoppingfor expensive products.

Terry saysI am a lover of chemical freeproducts because they use ingredients grown from our good earth,not cheaply mass produced in a lab so some company can reap theprofits. Not all of us have the knowledge to know what goes intoour beauty products but, for example, my old Akin lavender shampoogives their customers the knowledge. This type of ingredients listmakes me feel happy because I know exactly whats in the bottle,some of which are chemical names I cannot even begin to try topronounce. In my personal opinion I believe that a product shouldstate what percentage of its ingredients are botanically sourced.This puts the power to the consumer.

If you look at the list of ingredients in theshampoo that Terry mentioned (see below) youll notice that itgives a natural source for each item. Presumably, seeing thisnatural source makes you trust the product more and makes you moreinclined to pay a higher price for it. The is a trick known asgreenwashing!

Youve been greenwashed!

The truth is that there is nothing natural aboutCocamidopropyl Hydroxysultaine. The only way you can produce it isto create it in a lab!