
Lab Muffin
499 FOLLOWERS
Hi! I'm Michelle, and I'm here to help you figure out what beauty products are worth buying, and which ones aren't, using science! I started this blog as a way of sharing the information I found and presenting the science in an easy-to-understand way, so hopefully, even the non-geeks can get something out of it. The science and chemistry of cosmetics, beauty, skincare, make-up, and..
Lab Muffin
2w ago
A little while back, Dr Andrew Huberman, a Stanford neuroscientist with a massive podcast, released an episode called “How to Improve Skin Health & Appearance”. It had a bunch of slightly weird recommendations if you’re familiar with skincare science. He mentioned some of his sources, but didn’t have any experts talking. 1.5 months later, he released another skin episode, this ...
Read more
Source ..read more
Lab Muffin
2M ago
There’s been a few viral posts about how harmful chemical sunscreens are. The latest one is a post about “Sunscreen Swaps” from @a.glimpse.of.amelia (an Australian “low-tox” consultant) and @jordiepieface (a nutritionist from New Zealand), claiming that “some conventional sunscreens can do more harm than good”. Unfortunately, most of the post is inaccurate, and it’s likely scaring people away from using ...
Read more
Source ..read more
Lab Muffin
2M ago
There’s been a lot of stories about benzene contamination in personal care products over the last 4 years. This year, benzene was discovered in benzoyl peroxide, a staple acne treatment. How concerned should we be? Petition and original paper I’ve written about the background behind Valisure’s benzene analyses before, as well as questions about the accuracy of their data and ...
Read more
Source ..read more
Lab Muffin
3M ago
What’s the best way to dry your hair, according to science? Is it hair dryers, hair straighteners, towels, or just leaving it to dry naturally? I have fragile, expensively damaged hair and try a lot of hair products, so I have a special interest in this. Here’s the science of drying your hair. The video is here, keep scrolling for ...
Read more
Source ..read more
Lab Muffin
4M ago
How do you check if information is reliable? One shortcut that works well (most of the time) is to check if the source itself is reliable! This is much faster and easier than trying to learn the science behind an area you’re not already familiar with – it takes a lot of time to properly factcheck information, even for experts. ...
Read more
Source ..read more
Lab Muffin
4M ago
There’s been a lot of hype around Cyperus oil for hair removal, largely based on a study where it supposedly worked as well as laser. Unfortunately I don’t think it works, and if it did work, it would be a risky product to be using. For context, my PhD is in medicinal chemistry. Part of this involves looking at the ...
Read more
Source ..read more
Lab Muffin
4M ago
If you’ve ever tried gel nails, you’ll know you have to bake your fingers under a UV lamp. And if you’re like me, you might’ve thought: I know UV from the sun is bad and causes skin cancer, tanning beds are extra bad, they cause extra skin cancer… is this thing that looks like a tanning bed (for ants) actually ...
Read more
Source ..read more
Lab Muffin
5M ago
Here’s Part 2 of our deep dive into benzene contamination in your products. In Part 1, we talked about whether the experiments were “realistic” (no), and whether the cancer risk was described accurately (also no). This time, we’ll be discussing the wider issues around the private lab behind these findings, Valisure. This is adapted from the video version (which works ...
Read more
Source ..read more
Lab Muffin
5M ago
Here’s Part 3 of my updated sunscreen recommendations – these are the new Korean sunscreens I’m adding to my list. Part 1: Japanese sunscreens Part 2: European sunscreens Part 3 (this one): Korean sunscreens Part 4: Australian sunscreens The video is here – keep scrolling for the text version. See Part 1 for the full background information – here’s a ...
Read more
Source ..read more
Lab Muffin
5M ago
Part 2 of my 2024 top sunscreen recommendations update! This part covers the new European sunscreens on my list. Part 1: Japanese sunscreens Part 2 (this one): European sunscreens Part 3: Korean sunscreens Part 4: Australian sunscreens The video is here – keep scrolling for the text version. See Part 1 for the full background information – here’s a very ...
Read more
Source ..read more