We received the following comment on our previous post related to the Jan Marini Age Intervention Eyelash product. The author helps to illustrate an important point about beauty product claims. Here’s the exchange.

Deb writes…Are you talking about the Age Intervention Eyelash being a mascara? It isn`t. It`s in an eyeliner-type container, and you brush it on like an eyeliner. It has no color, and you don`t put it on the actual eyelashes, just at the base of the lashes.

I have been using this for about three months now and for me, it has worked. I started using it because I noticed my eyelashes were starting to get sparse. They are now fuller and longer, and I am very happy.

So, take it for what it`s worth. It works for me.

The Left Beauty Brain responds

Thanks for the comments Deb. We haven’t used the product and it’s not clear from any of the literature that I read that it isn’t a standard mascara. It actually says it’s a mascara.

Eyelash Ingredients Are Nothing Special

However, after looking at the ingredient list, the advertising copy and the relevant scientific journals, I’m still unconvinced it does anything to make your eyelashes grow thicker and fuller.

Ingredients: Deionized Water, Hydrolyzed Glycosaminoglycan (and) Sodium Hyaluraonate, Triethanol-amine, Propylene Glycol (and) Methylparaben (and) Propylparaben, Acrylates C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate, Panthenol, Biotin, Sodium Chloride, Sodium Phosphate, Eylash Growth Factor.

There is no published medical evidence that hydrolyzed glycosaminoglycan or sodium hyaluraonate can effect eyelash growth. The next few ingredients are preservatives and fillers. Then you have a polymer that coats and artificially builds up your eyelashes (like every other mascara). Panthenol, biotin, sodium chloride & sodium phosphate will not affect eyelash growth. Finally, “hair growth factor” is an illegitimate ingredient name that could be anything or nothing.

But no legitimate ingredient in this formula will do anything to make your eyelashes growth differently than they naturally grow.

Jan Marini claims raise an eyebrow

I reviewed their claims and found the following “Age Intervention Eyelash can rapidly induce dramatic improvement in the appearance of volume, texture, density and, yes, even color.”

Notice how they add the phrase “in the APPEARANCE” Why add APPEARANCE? Because that way they can not be accused of lying to you when it doesn’t work. It could APPEAR to work without actually doing anything. If it actually worked they would say “dramatic improvement in volume” not “dramatic improvement in the appearance of volume”.

Just because you use a product and notice that your eyelashes are thicker and fuller doesn’t mean the product is responsible. You could’ve done nothing and your eyelashes may have just grown thicker naturally. Or maybe you just think they look thicker but they aren’t any different. When someone spends >$150 on a product they’ll be inclined to believe it works whether it does or not. It’s easier to believe a product works than to admit you’ve been taken in by a scam.

The Beauty Brain’s Bottom Line

No ingredient has been proven to make hair grow longer, thicker, or fuller. This product is no exception. Feel free to try it for yourself. For me, I’d rather spend $19 on Get Bent Lash from Benefit and donate the other $130 to a worth charity.

Here’s a bit of science information from the Beauty Brains that you might find interesting on a Saturday afternoon. There are tiny little animals called demodex mites that live on your face and eyelashes. These mites are not pretty to look at but they do the excellent service of keeping the bits of dead skin cells off your lashes and face. People have thought that these creatures are responsible for causing acne but that’s a myth. Demodex mites do not cause acne or any other hair or skin conditions. If you get enough of them they can cause itching. However, this is a rare event indeed. So the next time you’re coating your lovely lashes, think about all the microscopic mites that help keep your body clean.

Several readers have asked about promoting eyelash growth. The notion of using castor oil as a growth accelerant keeps coming up…

Marta Says:
I have heard that castor oil does promote eyelash growth. I was talking to an old Indian lady who is an aesthetician and she said that in the old country this is what women used for eyelash growth.

The Left Brain Comments:
At the risk of upsetting Marta and aetheticians everywhere, I feel compelled to point out that while aestheticians are trained in skin care techniques, they are generally not chemists. This half of The Beauty Brains would prefer to see the scientific research on castor oil rather than take someone`s word for it.

So what does the scientific community say? Well, the American Cancer Society looked into a bunch of false claims about castor oil and decided that there was no data to show that it did much of anything. I quote the ACS:

Naturopathic practitioners and some others claim that castor oil boosts the immune system by increasing white blood cells, which help the body fight infection,and other immune cells. They also claim that castor oil helps dissolve cysts, warts, and tumors, as well as soften bunions and corns. Other claims for castor oil include treating lymphoma, bacterial and viral diseases (including HIV), arthritis, skin and hair conditions, eye irritations, diseases of the colon and gallbladder, bursitis, multiple sclerosis, and Parkinson’s disease. There is no scientific evidence to support these claims…

So, until someone can do a controlled study that shows castor oil makes your eyelashes grow, color me skeptical.

By the way, did you know that castor oil comes from the castor bean, the same bean that ricin, one of the world`s most deadly poisons is derived from? Only 1/5000 of a gram of ricin can kill you if you inhale, ingest, or inject it. It’s twice as deadly as cobra venom! Does that mean castor oil is dangerous? Is it it really some kind of murderous mascara? Not at all, I just thought this was an interesting science fact that would catch your attention. (he he, I warned the Right Brain that I was feeling mischievious today!)

Ok, but what about other eyelash growth products that readers have asked about like Jan Marini Age Intervention and Mavala Switzerland’s Double Lash? Stay tuned for a future post on these soon!

Akiko Asks:
This product, Talika Lipocils Eyelash Treatment Gel, claims to promote eyelash growth…. Is it true (or too good to be true?)? If it really works, how does it do this?

The Right Beauty Brain Reviews Talika

Well, Akiko, thanks for raising a very interesting question. Talika Lipocils (for those of you who aren’t well versed in esoteric French cosmetics with unpronouneable names) is an eyelash treatment with an interesting history. We quote the Talika website

“In 1948 a young Medical Doctor named Danielle Roches was treating war casualties in the Hospitals of Paris. Whilst using a special anti-bacteria cream she had formulated with plants extracts, Dr Roches discovered that the product not only promoted the healing of wounds, but also had a dramatic secondary benefit: significant and measurable eyelash and eyebrow growth.”

Intriguing, eh? Well it gets better. Talika’s website proudly proclaims that they have clinical proof of their claims. They claim their product provides “measureable eyelash and eyebrow growth” yet the clinical study referenced on the website only shows that their product helps eyelashes reach a longer “maximum length.” Read that part carefully - their study doesn’t show that their product stimulated the GROWTH of eye hairs, it only shows that more eye hairs reached their “maximum length” when treated with the product.

We keep putting “maximum length” in quotes because that’s the wording used in their report. The exact description of the data is “Percentage of hairs (eyelashes or eyebrow hairs) having reached a maximum length.” We’re not exactly sure WHAT that means. But we do have a theory.

Growing hair without growth

If you wanted to prove that a conditioner made hair grow faster, you could do this: Measure how long it takes to grow your hair to a certain length (lets say 10 inches) without using any conditioner. Since you’re not using conditioner you’ll get some number of broken or split hairs, which you’ll want to trim to keep your overall hair style looking frizz free. So, let’s say it takes you 3 months to grow out ten inches of hair that are split-free.

Now, do that same test but use conditioner this time. Guess what? Since you’re taking better care of your hair, it will get to that 10 inch length faster because you won’t be cutting off so many splits. Therefore, you may reach your “maxium length” in 2 months instead of three.

Ok, now imagine that instead of going for a specific length of 10 inches, you just measure how long your hair gets with and without conditioner. Same thing, you hair will get longer, faster, when you’re using conditioner. It doesn’t GROW any faster, it just reaches its maximum length quicker because you’re not trimming off the yucky parts. (”Yucky” is a technical term.)

We can’t be sure, but we think that our friends at Talika are doing their testing in a similar way. Maybe their eyelash treatment gels works like a hair conditioner. We’ve never tried to condition eyelashes and measure their breakage, but in theory that kind of test would account for Talika’s data. (Ok, ok we realize that you don’t shampoo, blow dry, and brush your eyelashes like you do your hair, but like we said, it’s just our theory. Sheesh!)

There’s another possibility that’s a slight twist on this theory:

Eyelashes, like other hairs, will eventually fall out on their own. What if their product just keeps the eyelashes from falling out so quick? Again, they’re not stimulating the growth rate of the eyelash but maybe they’ve found a way to keep the hair from it “stuck” in it’s follicle longer. If this is the case, that’s extremely cool! We’ve never heard of anyone ever accomplishing that feat, but heck, they’re French! Anything’s possible. Possible, but not very likely.

So, since we’ve never seen any published scientific studies on the possibility of increasing eyelash growth, we’re doubtful. And the fact that their report leaves a lot to be desired in terms of the explaining the control group, base size, and statistical analysis doesn’t exactly give us a warm and fuzzy feeling either.

The Beauty Brain’s Bottom Line

Maybe this product does what it says, but we’re skeptical based on the data the company presents. And we’ve never seen any cosmetic product that actually affects hair growth. If anyone’s actually tried this product, please let us know!

In case you didn’t know, some of the beauty blogs are running a series of posts about Mascara during the month of May. They call it “The Great Mascara Hunt” and it’s a lot of fun.

Here’s the list of Bloggers participating in May Mascara Month:

Beautyaddict.blogspot.com
Blend10.blogspot.com
Blogdorfgoodman.blogspot.com
Thedailyobsession.wordpress.com
Beautydiary.blogspot.com
Ladybuglife.blogspot.com
Monkeyposh.blogspot.com
Scentzilla.com
After-so-much-thinking.blogspot.com
Victoriasown.blogspot.com

Even though we’re not ” officially ” participating we thought we’d pitch in with the Brain’s point of view. Since our expertise is on the scientific aspects of products, here’s a post about how mascaras work.

History of mascara

First a quick bit of background - we know that mascaras have been around since at least 4000 BC because historical records show that Egyptians used charcoal and other minerals to darken their lashes and eyelids. In modern times, mascara first appeared in the form of a pressed cake that was applied by wetting a brush, rubbing it on the cake, and than applying it to eye lashes. The cake consisted of a mixture of black pigments and soap chips. The next innovation in mascara involved a lotion like version of the soap cake that was packaged in a tube and squeezed onto a small brush to apply. Mascara as we know it today was created in the 1960s with the invention of a grooved brush that could apply a consistent amount. This is the basic form that’s still used today.

Mascara ingredients

The primary ingredients in mascara are pigments - the chemicals that provide color. Because U.S. Federal regulations only allow certain colorants to be used in area of the eye, only natural colors and inorganic pigments are used. Carbon black and iron oxides provide black, brown , and red colors; chemicals Ultramarine blue provide blue and green shades.

How to make mascara

These pigments are mixed together in a cosmetic base that is an emulsion of oils , waxes, and water. For examples of these waxy ingredients, let’s look at an example formulation from Maybelline Great Lash:

Water, Beeswax, Ozokerite, Shellac, Glyceryl Stearate, Triethanolamine, Propylene Glycol, Stearic Acid, Sorbitan Sesquioleate, Methylparaben, Quaternium-15, Quaternium-22, Simethicone, Butylparaben, Iron Oxides (may contain), Titanium Dioxide (may contain), Ultramarine Blue (may contain)

The Beeswax, Ozokerite, Stearic Acid, and Shellac provide the main body of the mascara and give it it’s waterproof and smudge proof properties. Glyceryl Stearate and Triethanolamine are added to make sure the mascara can be washed off.

The Propylene Glycol, Sorbitan Sesquioleate, and Simethicone, added as processing agents and help control the consistency of the product while Methylparaben, Quaternium-15, Quaternium-22, and Butylparaben are preservatives that keep the mascara free of “bugs” Finally, the Iron Oxides Titanium Dioxide Ultramarine Blue are the pigments.

These ingredients are mixed together in large metal kettles. Typically, the waxes and emulsifiers are mixed together and melted in one vessel and the water soluble ingredients are mixed in another vessel. Once the waxes are completely melted, the pigments are added. When both portions are sufficiently heated and mixed , they are blended together to form the final product. A device known as a homogenizer is used to make sure all the pigment particles are properly dispersed.

Once the mascara is finished mixing, it is transferred to a filling machine that pumps a metered amount into each glass or plastic mascara bottle. The brush or wand is inserted into the tube and a capping machine automatically twists it shut. The tubes are then packaged for shipping.

So how does mascara work?

This is really the simple part - when you stick the brush into the mascara tube and pull it out, a metering ring built into the orifice scrapes off the excess mascara so the brush has a controlled dose on it. So, when you brush your eye lashes, just the right amount gets delivered to each tiny hair fiber. The waxy nature of the mascara helps form a relatively thick coating that, due to the high wax concentration, is very water proof. That’s how a good mascara can resist smudging and bleeding . The result - your eye lashes get a nice splash of color and they look much plumper.

And that’s how mascara works!

We’ve had several readers ask how mascara is made and how it works, so here’s the sciencey scoop:

History of mascara

First a quick bit of background - we know that mascaras have been around since at least 4000 BC because historical records show that Egyptians used charcoal and other minerals to darken their lashes and eyelids. In modern times, mascara first appeared in the form of a pressed cake that was applied by wetting a brush, rubbing it on the cake, and than applying it to eye lashes. The cake consisted of a mixture of black pigments and soap chips. The next innovation in mascara involved a lotion like version of the soap cake that was packaged in a tube and squeezed onto a small brush to apply. Mascara as we know it today was created in the 1960s with the invention of a grooved brush that could apply a consistent amount. This is the basic form that’s still used today.

Common ingredients

The primary ingredients in mascara are pigments - the chemicals that provide color. Because U.S. Federal regulations only allow certain colorants to be used in area of the eye, only natural colors and inorganic pigments are used. Carbon black and iron oxides provide black, brown , and red colors; chemicals Ultramarine blue provide blue and green shades. Manufacturing, Mixing, and Packaging: These pigments are mixed together in a cosmetic base that is an emulsion of oils , waxes, and water. For examples of these waxy ingredients, let’s look at an example formulation from Maybelline Great Lash:

Water, Beeswax, Ozokerite, Shellac, Glyceryl Stearate, Triethanolamine, Propylene Glycol, Stearic Acid, Sorbitan Sesquioleate, Methylparaben, Quaternium-15, Quaternium-22, Simethicone, Butylparaben, Iron Oxides (may contain), Titanium Dioxide (may contain), Ultramarine Blue (may contain)

The Beeswax, Ozokerite, Stearic Acid, and Shellac provide the main body of the mascara and give it it’s waterproof and smudge proof properties. Glyceryl Stearate and Triethanolamine are added to make sure the mascara can be washed off. The Propylene Glycol, Sorbitan Sesquioleate, and Simethicone, added as processing agents and help control the consistency of the product while Methylparaben, Quaternium-15, Quaternium-22, and Butylparaben are preservatives that keep the mascara free of “bugs” Finally, the Iron Oxides Titanium Dioxide Ultramarine Blue are the pigments.

How mascara is made

These ingredients are mixed together in large metal kettles. Typically, the waxes and emulsifiers are mixed together and melted in one vessel and the water soluble ingredients are mixed in another vessel. Once the waxes are completely melted, the pigments are added. When both portions are sufficiently heated and mixed , they are blended together to form the final product. A device known as a homogenizer is used to make sure all the pigment particles are properly dispersed. Once the mascara is finished mixing, it is transferred to a filling machine that pumps a metered amount into each glass or plastic mascara bottle. The brush or wand is inserted into the tube and a capping machine automatically twists it shut. The tubes are then packaged for shipping.

How mascara works

This is really the simple part - when you stick the brush into the mascara tube and pull it out, a metering ring built into the orifice scrapes off the excess mascara so the brush has a controlled dose on it. So, when you brush your eye lashes, just the right amount gets delivered to each tiny hair fiber. The waxy nature of the mascara helps form a relatively thick coating that, due to the high wax concentration, is very water proof. That’s how a good mascara can resist smudging and bleeding. The result - your eye lashes get a nice splash of color and they look much plumper.