Brands
January 6th, 2025 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Look at the ingredient list below. Has anything changed in 20 years? $300 will buy one ounce (30ml) of this: Algae Extract, Water, Dimethicone, Isododecane, Glycerin, Hydrogenated Polyisobutene, Trisiloxane, Caprylic/Capric/Myristic/Stearic Triglyceride, Vinyl Dimethicone/Methicone Silsesquioxane Crosspolymer, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Sea Salt, Yeast Extract, Everlasting flower (?) Extract, Sesame Seed Oil, Alfalfa Seed Powder, Sunflower Seedcake, Sweet Almond Seed Meal, Eucalyptus Leaf Oil, Sodium Gluconate, Copper Gluconate, Calcium Gluconate, Magnesium Gluconate, Zinc Gluconate, Tocopheryl Succinate, Niacin, Sesame Seed Powder, Red algae Extract, brown algae Extract, Molasses Extract, Phytosphingosine, brown algae Extract, Corallina Officinalis Extract, Sodium Hyaluronate, St. Paul’s Wort Extract, buckwheat Seed Extract, Rapeseed Seed Oil, Polyglyceryl-3 Diisostearate, Licorice Root Extract, brown algae…
June 23rd, 2024 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
You can’t tell from the ingredient list. Water, Glycerin, Cyclopentasiloxane, Propanediol, PEG-75, Pentylene Glycol, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Triethylhexanoin, Ethylhexyl Palmitate, Dimethicone, Polyquaternium-51, Sodium Hyaluronate, Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Fruit Extract, Actinidia Chinensis (Kiwi) Fruit Extract, Citrus Aurantium Dulcis (Orange) Peel Extract, Prunus Armeniaca (Apricot) Juice, Allantoin, Arginine, Glycosyl Trehalose, Hydrogenated Starch Hydrolysate, Behenyl Alcohol, Glyceryl Stearate, PEG-75 Stearate, Polysorbate 80, Ethylhexylglycerin, Tocopherol, Carbomer, Dimethicone Crosspolymer, Butylene Glycol, Tetrasodium EDTA, Phenoxyethanol, Fragrance. What I can tell you about this Japanese product (yes, it’s Japanese) is that its advertising is honest. The claims are “No synthetic fragrance, no coloring, no mineral oil, weakly acidic, paraben-free, alcohol-free. ” True, but not important. …
June 14th, 2024 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Active Ingredients: 15% Zinc-Oxide (non-nano) Inactive Ingredients: Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Purified Water, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, C13-15 Alkane*, Glycerin, Lauroyl Lysine, Polyglyceryl-2 Oleate, Polyhydroxystearic Acid, C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate, Stearalkonium Hectorite, Leuconostoc/Radish Root Ferment Filtrate, Dipalmitoyl Hydroxyproline, Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate, Tocopherol, Kappaphycus Alvarezii Extract, Caesalpinia Spinosa Fruit Extract, Melanin, Bisabolol, Hyaluronic Acid, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Phospholipids, Polyglyceryl-2 Stearate, Sodium Chloride, Propylene Carbonate, Isopropyl Titanium Triisostearate, Titanium Dioxide (C.I.77891), Iron Oxides (C.I.77492, C.I. 77491, C.I.77499) *Our C13-15 Alkane is from Sugar Cane, ECOCERT approved, NPA Certified and USDA Biobased. Incidentally, Leuconostoc/Radish Root Ferment Filtrate is known to be adulterated because it doesn’t contain enough endogenous antibacterial/antifungal chemicals to be used as a…
April 30th, 2024 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
I would prefer it if we all just gave up on the silly idea that a tan makes us look better. But, if I can’t win, let’s make it less bad than a suntan or a chemical tan. What is a suntan? It happens when UV (it doesn’t have to be the sun!) reaches your skin and starts a cascade of events that ends up with the pigment melanin accumulating in the keratinocytes of your skin. See my posts below for more information. What is a chemical tan? Here, the pigment is not melanin, and melanin has nothing to do with the process. Here, the chemicals in the “cosmetic” product…
January 23rd, 2024 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
What do I , Hannah, consider safe for use in skincare products? My criteria differ from those of the FDA, a great agency but underfunded. What does the FDA consider to be safe? As long as the claims on the product are carefully worded and the ingredient is NOT used as medication (by prescription or over the counter), the FDA will not get involved unless reports of undesirable side effects start to appear. This is the loophole that the skin care industry uses as protection when selling new and untested ingredients. The industry counts on the ingredients not penetrating the skin and the low concentrations used (parts per million, not…
January 17th, 2024 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Water, Glycerin, Propanediol, Niacinamide, Isopropyl Palmitate, Polyacrylate-13, Palmitoyl Hexapeptide-12, Palmitoyl Tripeptide-1, Palmitoyl Tripeptide-5, Palmitoyl Dipeptide-5 Diaminobutyroyl Hydroxythreonine, Palmitoyl Dipeptide-5 Diaminohydroxybutyrate, Acetyl Hexapeptide-38, Phosphatidylserine, Ascorbyl Palmitate, Swertia Chirata Extract, Hydrolyzed Pea Protein, Ornithine, Ceramide NP, Ergothioneine, Dunaliella Salina Extract, Phytosterols, Phospholipids, Glycolipids, Tremella Fuciformis Sporocarp Extract, Olive Fruit Oil, Shea Butter, Betaine, Squalane, Lecithin, Caprylyl Methicone, Disodium EDTA, Polysorbate 20, Tocopherol, Butylene Glycol, Caprylyl Glycol, Caprylhydroxamic Acid, Polyisobutene, Ethylhexylglycerin, Phenoxyethanol There is nothing of great value here to suggest a “quasi-medical” value. What I can rescue is the intent: the phrase “supports healthy adipose tissue”, like in giving the subcutaneous fat its due. Unfortunately, in the advertising the phrase refers to…
September 27th, 2023 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
The promises? Essential lipids, antioxidants, and vitamins. The ingredients: Water, Dimethicone, Hydrogenated Polyisobutene, Glycerin, Cholesterol, C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate, Ceramide 3, Sunflower Seed Oil Unsaponifiables, Bis-Peg-18 Methyl Ether Dimethyl Silane, Sodium Polyacrylate, Peg-10 Dimethicone, Nylon-12, Lauryl Peg-9 Polydimethylsiloxyethyl Dimethicone, Dimethicone/Peg-10/15 Crosspolymer, Phenoxyethanol, Disteardimonium Hectorite, Hydroxyethylpiperazine Ethane Sulfonic Acid, Ammonium Polyacryloyldimethyl Taurate, Chlorphenesin, Caprylyl Glycol, Peg/Ppg-18/18 Dimethicone, Propylene Carbonate, Disodium Edta, Acrylonitrile/Methyl Methacrylate/Vinylidene Chloride Copolymer, Adenosine, Dipropylene Glycol, Lavender Oil, Rosemary Leaf Oil, T-Butyl Alcohol, Peppermint Oil, Sodium Citrate, Linalool, Isobutane, Ceramide Eop, Bht, Tocopherol, Limonene. What it gives you: There are several silicones and lots of formula improvers. Irritating essential oils. Fragrances galore. Not much stuff that your skin can use…
May 22nd, 2023 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Here we go again: words that sounds rich and magical like “platinum”, “rare”, “elixir”, following a French name. And a bad product inside a pretty bottle. Ingredients: Water, Glycerin, Butylene Glycol, SD Alcohol 40-B (Alcohol Denat.), Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Ethylhexyl Palmitate, Ascorbyl Tetraisopalmitate, Synthetic Fluorphlogopite, Squalane, Dimethicone, Glycoproteins, Platinum, Panax Ginseng Root Extract, Equisetum Arvense Extract, Palmitoyl Tripeptide-1, Palmitoyl Tetrapeptide-7, Calendula Officinalis Flower Extract, Sodium Hydroxide, Nicotiana Sylvestris Leaf Cell Culture, Disodium EDTA, Polyglyceryl-6 Polyricinoleate, Yeast Extract, Sodium Hyaluronate, Tocopherol, RNA, Magnesium Carboxymethyl Beta-Glucan, Soy Amino Acids, Polyacrylamide, Polyglyceryl-10 Laurate, Tocopheryl Acetate, PoIyacryIate Crosspolymer-6, Silica, Coco-Glucoside, Biosaccharide Gum-1, Bisabolol, C13-14 Isoparaffin, Carbomer, Sodium Lactate, Laureth-7, Tin Oxide, Charcoal Powder, Glycolic Acid,…
February 17th, 2023 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Keep your religion separate from your purchasing, especially of skincare products. There is no Saint Jane in the Christian list of saints, but my Yiddish name is Jane (pronounced Chane and named after my grandmother), so I feel very protective of the name. So when I saw that there is now a skincare brand named Saint Jane, I became interested. Like, taking my grandmother’s name in vain! I found it in Credo, a website that purports to keep your skincare as pure as your heart (Credo in Spanish means religion). Too much religion here in products that should be “ruled” by science. Indeed, in TikTok they use the phrase “sent…
January 15th, 2023 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
“Nona” from Latin, having nine (remember hexagon, heptagon, etc.?). Is a nonapeptide better than an octapeptide? Or than a decapeptide? It doesn’t matter how many amino acids; the sequence is what matters. In this case, the stereospecificity also matters because a couple of amino acids used in this particular peptide are not present in proteins, which are all Levo amino acids. The actual sequence of this nonapeptide, described by Jayawickreme et al. (1994), is Met-Pro-D-Phe-Arg-D-Trp-Phe-Lys-Pro-Val-NH2Why does it matter? Because it has to do with a spatial 3-D structure that will bind to the hormone receptor, blocking access to the normal hormone and preventing it from working. The idea is to…
November 6th, 2022 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
You get lots of occlusive agents (in bold) plus the miracle of petrolatum. Ingredients: Algae Extract, Mineral Oil, Petrolatum, Glycerin, Isohexadecane, Microcrystalline Wax, Lanolin Alcohol, Lime Extract, Sesame Seed Oil, Eucalyptus Leaf Oil, Sesame Seed Powder, Alfalfa Seed Powder, Sunflower Seedcake, Sweet Almond Seed Meal, Sodium Gluconate, Copper Gluconate, Calcium Gluconate, Magnesium Gluconate, Zinc Gluconate, Magnesium Sulfate, Paraffin, Tocopheryl Succinate, Niacin, Water, Beta-Carotene, Decyl Oleate, Aluminum Distearate, Octyldodecanol, Citric Acid, Cyanocobalamin, Magnesium Stearate, Panthenol, Limonene, Geraniol, Linalool, Hydroxycitronellal, Citronellol, Benzyl Salicylate, Citral, Sodium Benzoate, Denatured alcohol, Fragrance. Skin conditioners and moisturizers: Mineral Oil, Petrolatum, Glycerin, Isohexadecane, Microcrystalline Wax, Lanolin Alcohol, Sesame Seed Oil, Decyl oleate, Paraffin Minerals: Sodium Gluconate, Copper…
October 10th, 2022 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
No, but your pocket will need reviving! Because to get it you will have to pay $250 for 1 oz., 30 grams, of a very plain moisturizing cream. Crema NeraWater, Glycerin, Apricot Kernel Oil, Shea Butter, Alcohol Denatured, Isopropyl Myristate, Rhamnose, Pentylene Glycol, Ammonium Polyacryloyldimethyl Taurate, TamarindSeed Polysaccharide, Sunflower Seed Oil, Resurrection plant (Myrothamnus Flabellifolia) Leaf Extract, Caper Bush (Capparis Spinosa) Fruit Extract, Tin Oxide, Potassium PCA, Glyceryl Stearate, Trehalose, Methylsilanol Mannuronate, Sodium Hyaluronate, Sodium Hydroxide, Sodium Lactate, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Adenosine, Magnesium Sulfate, Disodium Phosphate, Caprylyl Glycol, Citric Acid, Trisodium Ethylenediamine Disuccinate, Biosaccharide Gum-1, Lactic Acid, Synthetic Mica (Fluorphlogopite), Acrylates / Steareth-20 Methacrylate Copolymer, Cetyl Alcohol, Octyldodecyl Myristate, Tocopherol,…
September 21st, 2022 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
This is a good example of how novel ingredients may be bad for your health. Let’s look at the ingredients. No.3 Hair Repair Perfector Water, Bis-Aminopropyl Diglycol Dimaleate, Propylene Glycol, Cetearyl Alcohol, Behentrimonium Methosulfate, Cetyl Alcohol, Phenoxyethanol, Glycerin, Hydroxyethyl Ethylcellulose, Stearamidopropyl Dimethylamine , Quaternium-91, Sodium Benzoate, Cetrimonium Methosulfate, Cetrimonium Chloride, Fragrance, Tetrasodium EDTA,Polyquaternium-37, Benzyl Benzoate, Etidronic Acid, Ascorbic Acid, Phytantriol, Tocopheryl Acetate, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Panthenol, Jojoba Seed Oil, Citric Acid, Potassium Sorbate Nothing special: water and other solvents, fragrance, and preservatives, except for… Bis-Aminopropyl Diglycol Dimaleate. The promise is that “Olaplex will repair broken bonds for stronger hair”. What makes how hair strong? Keratin. What makes keratin so…
September 21st, 2022 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
This case is about a new skincare brand created in Spain by a plastic surgeon who is telling Spaniards that it’s not necessary to go under the (his) knife to have a young face. All they need is his new line of skincare products. What’s this all about? His theory is that skin ages because of the accumulation of a toxic protein, called “progerin” that causes all the symptoms of aging skin, including thin skin, wrinkles, non-uniform pigmentation, enlarged pores, etc. He then asserts that his new skincare products, containing an alga extract, plus two other plant extracts, can destroy this toxic protein and restore skin to its younger appearance…
May 18th, 2022 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Anti-fatigue cosmetics will not make up for lack of sleep. A concealer could help hide the deep shadows under your eyes but otherwise, what on earth are anti-fatigue cosmetics? L’Oreal Paris Men Expert Hydra Energetic Anti-Fatigue 24H Daily Moisturizer Water, Glycerin, Alcohol Denat., Isohexadecane, Hydrogenated Polyisobutene, Ammonium Polyacryldimethyltauramide / Ammonium Polyacryloyldimethyl Taurate, Mentha Piperita Extract / Peppermint Leaf Extract, Peg/Ppg-18/18 Dimethicone, Hdi/Trimethylol Hexyllactone Crosspolymer, Dimethicone, Cetearyl Ethylhexanoate, Caffeine, Sodium Citrate, Sodium Hydroxide, Magnesium Pca, Ascorbyl Glucoside, Isopropyl Myristate, Caprylyl Glycol, Menthol, Polymethyl Methacrylate, Ci 19140 / Yellow 5, Ci 42090 / Blue 1, Linalool, Limonene, Parfum / Fragrance. Water is good (and cheap). Glycerol is great at moisturizing. Denatured alcohol?…
May 1st, 2022 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
How do you end up with silly formulations like Perricone’s Hyaluronic 4 + 2 Complex? Ingredients: Water, Sodium Hyaluronate Crosspolymer, Sodium Hyaluronate, Sodium Acetylated Hyaluronate, Hydrolyzed Sodium Hyaluronate, Pentylene Glycol, Ethylhexylglycerin. This ingredient list is silly. Why? There is sodium hyaluronate (hyaluronan), an ingredient we use in Skin Actives. As you can see below, I am against using three of the four actives: Sodium Hyaluronate Crosspolymer, Sodium Acetylated Hyaluronate, and Hydrolyzed Sodium Hyaluronate. The rest is water (solvent) and preservatives. One of these, sodium acetylated hyaluronate, was designed to be used in implants and grafts. It is made by cutting hyaluronan and acetylating it by chemical means, to prevent degradation…
March 24th, 2022 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
But first, what’s in it? What can it do for you? The ingredient list wants to convey “natural” and “plum” (just because plum and plump together sound like fun), so you will find many label value ingredients below the 1% concentration, which is the boundary after which you can list the ingredients in any order. This is a good way to hide preservatives, but here there are a couple at the end of the list (Sodium Benzoate, Phenoxyethanol). Plums are a type of fruit of the genus Prunus, but this product uses fruits that may look like plums but belong to many different, unrelated species. There are some nice ingredients…
March 24th, 2022 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
How to start?Buy some self-stick labels and write with a golden marker the following: Magic! Elixir! Golden! Crystal! You are halfway there. Next, I will tell you how to make your own, improved version. Ignore ingredients labeled by me as “label value”, LV. They are there to “plump” the ingredient list and help hide synthetic ingredients and fragrances. Charlotte’s Magic Cream | Charlotte Tilbury Ingredients: Water (solvent), Homosalate (chemical UV filter)), Glyceryl Stearate SE (lubricant), Ethylhexyl Salicylate (exfoliant), Butylene Glycol (solvent), Glycerin (humectant), Butyl Methoxydibenzoylmethane (chemical UV filter), Octocrylene (chemical UV filter), Cetyl Alcohol (emulsifier), C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate (emollient), Cyclopentasiloxane (silicone, feel), Dimethicone (silicone, feel), Phenoxyethanol (preservative), Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea)…
March 14th, 2022 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Is the skin of Korean women “better”? If it is, is it because (as “they” say) a Korean beauty routine comprises 20 or so steps? Is it better because they use Korean made skincare? Will Korean skincare make your skin smooth and healthy like that of Korean women? Acne Too many questions. In any case, from what I know, the skin of Korean women is more similar to American skin than it is different. For example, Korean women also get acne, and the acne triggers seem to be the same as for women in the USA: psychological stress, lack of sleep, menstruation, smoking, drinking. And acne is also triggered by…
March 9th, 2022 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
A product from Spain with a Japanese name. What could go wrong? Just as fake as its Japanese sounding name, here are the ingredients Water, Butylene Glycol, Propylene Glycol, Ascorbic Acid, Glycerin, Glycosaminoglycans, Tocopheryl Acetate, Peg-35 Castor Oil, Benzyl Alcohol, Glycogen, Salicylic Acid, Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Benzoate, Soluble Proteoglycan, Sorbic Acid, Camellia Sinensis (Tea) Leaf Extract, Matcha Tea. Is there anything interesting in this list? Not the solvents (water, butylene glycol, propylene glycol), or ascorbic acid, which will be an oxidizer by the time it reaches your skin. The preservatives, potassium sorbate, sorbic acid and sodium benzoate, are not very interesting either. Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) or mucopolysaccharides, can be more interesting.…