Are animal cosmetic ingredients still used?

Nicola needs to know…Is it true that rendering plants sell animal by-products for use in cosmetics?   Left Brain Illuminates: It has always amused me that people will gleefully eat steak, lobster, and fried chicken, but are appalled to imagine animal ingredients would be used in their cosmetics. What do they think should happen to [...]

Is Imedeen good for my skin?

Cheong Asks: Do oral skin supplements like Imedeen really work?? I do believe that you are what you eat, and a healthy diet does help your skin, but can taking things like collagen or bird’s nest soup or ginseng really give you better skin?? The Left Brain Begets: Thanks for a great question. We get [...]

Spa bath with fish is a wash

Midbrain update… Here’s a follow-up to a fish bath story featured in a Beauty Science or BS poll from last year. In that story, we learned that some spas in China were using flesh-eating fish to exfoliate skin. Seattle Fish Spa Bath Well, the idea proved too enticing for one nail salon owner in Seattle. [...]

Beauty q&a: does malibu treatment remove hard water and rust stains from hair?

The Cynical One Says: I want to know what you think about getting a “Malibu Treatment” to remove the chemical residue from well water? Does well water effect blonde hair? What does a Malibu treatment actually do? Can I do this at home? Is this even worth my time, or can I just use a [...]

Naturally nasty: the top 10 natural ingredients you need to avoid

The Left Brain’s lesson: Here at the Beauty Brains we get tons of comments and emails telling us how all-natural ingredients are the best thing you can use on your hair and skin. We’ve previously explored the topic and have explained why we believe “natural” ingredients are neither superior nor inferior to “synthetic” ones. Both [...]

Beauty Q&A: What’s the difference between oil and moisture?

Tabitha Asks: Is there a difference between adding oil and adding moisture to the skin? This is usually a line used by those same sales people, who explain that dry skin needs a product that will add oil, but normal skin needs a product that adds *moisture*, NOT oil. A product that adds oil is [...]

Can potato starch straighten your hair?

Haleigh’s hair hope: Okay someone told me that if I took the juice from a potato and let it sit in my hair that it would straighten it. Does this work? The Left Brain’s stiff response: Like I said when I blogged about using coffee to color hair, I love questions like this that can [...]

How do you stop nail polish from bubbling?

The Beauty Brains receive hundreds of questions each week and while we read each and every email, there’s no way we can answer them all. So, we thought we’d try something new – we posted a few of your recent questions in our Forum where we’re blessed with over 1000 helpful and knowledgeable members. Today [...]

The mascara you should never wear with contact lenses

Rebecca’s contact concern: I read at Consumer Reports.org that contact lens wearers should not use lash-extending mascaras because they contain microfibers that become trapped under the lens and scratch the cornea. What qualifies as a lash-extending mascara? Do the labels “lengthening” and “lash-extending” mean the same thing? Do they mean anything? If a mascara is [...]

Even more alternative uses for petroleum jelly

Mid Brain muses: I saw the Beauty Banter blog wrote a short piece about 5 unconventional uses for Vaseline. She includes using it as a makeup remover, an eyebrow conditioner, a shaving aid and a mixer to modify your other makeups. We’ve blogged about Vaseline before and these are some great tips. Now here are [...]

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