Lab Muffin
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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
1M ago
Is rosemary oil a natural, science-backed treatment for hair growth? According to a lot of doctors, scientists and trichologists across the internet, yes – there’s “scientific proof” that it works as well as minoxidil. But unfortunately, that isn’t true. It all seems to be a misunderstanding of a single study: Rosemary oil vs minoxidil 2% for the treatment of androgenetic ...
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Lab Muffin
1M ago
One of the biggest sources of myths in beauty is misunderstanding how scientific research works, and how to interpret scientific evidence. A huge problem I’ve seen is people relying on abstracts – the short summary of the paper – instead of reading the full text. Here’s why this isn’t a good idea. This article is based on part of this ...
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Lab Muffin
1M ago
There’s a troubling pattern with a lot of “science-based” cosmetic products. Many of them make claims solely based on mechanistic reasoning, rather than any actual measured effects on humans. This is a big problem because mechanistic reasoning often doesn’t predict what happens on actual humans – and it’s especially the case with the ways these claims are often used for ...
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Lab Muffin
1M ago
There are a lot of myths in beauty, and over the years, I’ve noticed that a lot of them come from misunderstanding how science and scientific evidence works. Here’s one big misconception: the idea that if a source is “peer reviewed”, it’s automatically higher quality than a source that isn’t. Unfortunately, it isn’t any sort of guarantee, especially for a ...
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Lab Muffin
1M ago
Batiste is one of the most popular dry shampoos, but there are lots of posts on social media warning people not to use it. Is it actually bad for your hair? Here’s the lowdown. What are the claims? Here’s an example of one of these videos, which I debunked recently as part of a YouTube video on haircare myths: Video: ...
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Lab Muffin
1M ago
You might’ve seen videos of people testing their heat protectant products by trying to light them on fire. As many of you may have suspected, this is a really ineffective test for whether a product protects your hair from heat. Where does this test come from? This test seems to be promoted by a lot of people selling Monat, an ...
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Lab Muffin
2M ago
DMDM hydantoin is a preservative commonly found in shampoos. It started getting a lot of attention in 2021, thanks to a number of lawsuits surrounding hair loss – so let’s talk about the science behind it and whether it’s safe. (This post is partly based off a longer video about haircare misinformation on TikTok, which also covers sulfates, silicones, testing ...
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Lab Muffin
2M ago
I’ve been reviewing beauty products for more than 10 years, so not a lot of things excite me – but some things did in 2023. The Olay Super Serum was one of them! The video version of this review is here, keep scrolling for the text version…. Olay Super Serum is the best new skincare product I’ve tried in a ...
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Lab Muffin
2M ago
Something that made a big difference to me in 2023: I worked out how to find eyeliner pencils that were transfer-proof even on my oily skin! My eyelids are super oily, so eyeliners always smudge or start transferring after a few hours. Transfer-proof pencils aren’t really that new an innovation, but for the longest time I didn’t really know what ...
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Lab Muffin
3M ago
Have you seen colour-changing lipsticks and blushes online? A lot of these claim to “adjust” to your skin’s pH to give a personalised shade… but is it just a gimmick? Here’s the chemistry behind these products. Colour-changing ingredients Red 27 Most colour-changing products – whether lipsticks or blushes – contain an ingredient called Red 27, also listed as CI 45410 ...
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