Brands
December 20th, 2019 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Yes! The famous, non-existent “declustered” water! Why? Because it looks better than just “water”. Water is a special molecule with special properties, and unless you freeze it you can’t “cluster” it. What else is in here? Various oils, fragrance ingredients (some of them skin irritants), algae extracts, various salts, Ceffeine may be a bad idea as an “all over the face” because it will promote degradation of the sub-dermal fat, which we need to keep our face looking the way it looks now. Fragrance: these are the ingredients that make a product smell expensive. But beware, they are not helping your skin at all: Lime peel extract, Eucalyptus leaf oil,…
December 19th, 2019 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
The scalp, usually hidden behind one of our precious possessions, our hair, is exposed to the same stressors than the rest of our skin, like UV radiation, reactive oxygen species (ROS*), heat, physical stress and more. On top of the usual suspects, add the long list of chemicals, usually unwanted, that are present in the hair “care” products we use. Hair coloring, perms, straighteners, plus hair dryers, chemical and physical stress endured by those wearing “extensions”, and who knows what else. It is not surprising that most people, starting at a relatively young age, have hair problems which are actually scalp problems, because hair is dead protein and all the…
October 20th, 2019 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
As a skin care company, do we need to be cute to be successful? It is too late to change our name, Skin Actives Scientific to something cute like “troll skin” or “sweet minuet”. Philosophy is already taken. What should matter to our customers is whether there are ingredients in other brands that we should envy. Trust me: this does not happen often because we are so cutting edge.We know what works, we are up-to-date with scientific literature and we can find or make anything that is worth gaving. Specifically, do I envy any ingredient in Drunk Elephant? Because if I envied a cute little fridge or a fancy container,…
October 7th, 2019 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
You can buy an ounce (30mL) of the following for $245. Ingredients: Limnanthes Alba (Meadowfoam) Seed Oil , Dimethicone , Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride , Water\Aqua\Eau , Trisiloxane , Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil , Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil , Polydecene , Hydrogenated Polydecene , Butylene Glycol , Propanediol , Glycerin , Algae (Seaweed) Extract , Brassica Campestris (Rapeseed) Seed Oil , Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil , Sesamum Indicum (Sesame) Seed Oil , Eucalyptus Globulus (Eucalyptus) Leaf Oil , Camelina Sativa Seed Oil , Oxycoccus Palustris (Cranberry) Seed Oil , Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil , Hippophae Rhamnoides Oil , Medicago Sativa (Alfalfa) Seed Powder , Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower)…
September 28th, 2019 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
At $330 for 4 vials with 0.18 oz each, or 20mL, it works out at $16 per mL. or about $1 per drop. You may wish to imitate it and save hundreds of dollars but look at the ingredient list: Ingredients : Water/Eau (Aqua), Glycerin, Cyclopentasiloxane, Salix Alba (Willow) Leaf Extract, Solanum Tuberosum Extract, Algae Extract-Paraffin, Gingko Biloba Leaf Extract, Hydrolyzed Malt Extract, Propylene Glycol, Tocopheryl Acetate, Arginine, Phenoxyethanol, Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Xanthan Gum, Sodium Methylparaben, Sorbic Acid, Tetrasodium Edta, Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender) Oil, Thymus Mastichina Oil, Chlorphenesin, Methylparaben, Butylparaben, Ethylparaben, Propylparaben. (cont. limonene, linalool) Ingredients (translated by Hannah) : Water (solvent), Glycerin (humectant), Cyclopentasiloxane (silicone), Willow Leaf…
September 13th, 2019 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Did you see the latest “personalized” Clinique? But the new gimmick takes some chutzpah: 15 products (5×3) is not personalized. What do you get for $39? You get 3.9oz (117mL) of a base cream, lotion or gel, plus 0.1 oz (3mL) of a concentrate that contains some ingredients with undefined anti-aging benefits like caffeine, taurine and whey protein. What’s the problem? I like Clinique moisturizers because they work for very dry skin because they contain mineral oil (you can add this to any base cream for 5 cents, though). But, Clinique has very few actives as such. Its products can moisturize and very little more. For example, Clinique’s concentrate for…
August 24th, 2019 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Would you try to fix your television without knowing anything about televisions? In the best of the cases, you will simply make it unusable. In the worst, you will die by electrocution! And yet, people feel free to play with the skin of others, like in this silly product. No, you can’t sculpt your face. Yes, you can increase elasticity, improve hydration, rejuvenate your skin with actives such as Vitamin A, epidermal growth factor, essential fatty acids and more. But, what’s the fun in doing the right thing? Actually, at Skin Actives we do have fun while doing the right thing. Maybe other companies could try it? So, what do…
August 20th, 2019 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
What I was taught while doing my doctorate, was to read a paper but skip the abstract and conclusions. The idea was to let the facts, as described by the authors, to tell you the story, and not be mislead by the ideas of the researchers. Even when skipping the advertising, you can be mislead if the authors misstate their findings, but this is less common. In this case, the fake scientists know tat they are lying. If their findings are important, others will try to repeat the experiments, and if the results are different the fraudsters will be revealed, eventually. In skin care, it is more common to find…
August 17th, 2019 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
ideas did not amount to science, in that they did not lend themselves to rigorous proof. Look at this description: “Gokujyun Lotion, and other Hada Labo and Hada Labo Tokyo™ products have a unique and powerful combination of 3 types of Hyaluronic Acid, designed to restore and strengthen skin’s natural hydrating ability and youthful qualities. 1 of the 3, Micro Hyaluronic Acid, is smaller than 50 kDa, and due to its micro size, it penetrates deep into skin to infuse moisture below the surface, providing skin replenishment and moisturization from the inside-out.” It “sounds” scientific: the words micro and hyaluronic acid convey seriousness. The rest if advertising parlance. And this is how scientific language sounds. Less interesting but…
August 1st, 2019 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
French consumers want American skin care products, American consumers want Korean skin care. Why do we think that our neighbor’s grass is greener? Because, in this case, it isn’t. There is a strong uniformity in the skin care ingredient lists around the world. There are reasons for this: the background of formulators is usually a bachelor’s diploma in chemistry and some expertise in the industry, and both chemistry and the curricula are the same everywhere. Also, the same skin care ingredients are sold everywhere by multinational companies like DuPont, Nexeo, BASF, Dow, etc. As more and more companies consolidate into larger conglomerates, there will be even less manufacturers of ingredients,…
July 25th, 2019 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
One of the many new brands that appeared in the internet era, Glossier is interesting for its lack of anything interesting in the ingredients lists. Super Pure Water, Niacinamide, Glycerin, Propanediol, Zinc PCA, Honeysuckle Flower Extract, Honeysuckle Extract, Citric Acid, Allantoin, Hydroxyethylcellulose. Where are the preservatives?. An interesting product (and not in a good way). The actives are niacinamide and zinc PCA. As for the honeysuckle extracts, it has no proven beneficial activity, although I was able to find a paper on its effect on rat wounds. The most likely role here is hide the preservatives in the ingredient list, so the product can be advertised as “super pure”, whatever…
June 18th, 2019 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
Lazy is not bad unless you are repeating old formulas that everybody knows don’t work. To those who think that foreign companies make better skin care products, here comes a warning: Babor, is a German company that uses very American run-of-the-mill ingredients to sell products with huge mark-ups. Here, again, the brand value is in the ridiculously high price; it is certainly not in the quality of the ingredients. Another irritating fact: they baptize old, inexpensive ingredients with novelty names and then they leave you to try to guess which ingredient is which. Maybe it doesn’t matter? Here are some examples: “Telovitin, extends the life cycle of skin cells. Agicyl,…
June 14th, 2019 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
I am not going to advertise this “cool” product by naming it. I just want you to see how it looks like when you take off the new clothes off the emperor. First, the ingredient list, second with the label value ingredients in italics. Third, with the label value ingredients deleted. Ingredients:Water/Aqua/Eau, Glycerin, Caprylic/ Capric Triglyceride, Isopropyl Isostearate, Pseudozyma Epicola/Camellia Sinensis Seed Oil/Glucose/Glycine Soja Meal/Malt Extract/Yeast Extract Ferment Filtrate (Pseudozyma Epicola/Camellia Sinensis Seed Oil/Glucose/Yeast Extract Ferment Filtrate), Stearic Acid, Glyceryl Stearate SE, Cetearyl Alcohol, Pentylene Glycol, Plantago Lanceolata Leaf Extract, Adansonia Digitata Seed Oil, Citrullus Lanatus (Watermelon) Seed Oil, Passiflora Edulis Seed Oil, Schinziophyton Rautanenii Kernel Oil, Sclerocarya Birrea…
May 1st, 2019 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
What is worse than no vitamin C? Oxidized vitamin C. How do you get that? Put ascorbic acid and copper together in a serum. Oxidized ascorbic acid is a pro-oxidant. Not an antioxidant. 5 marketing guys get together and make a list of names and they put a fancy, “technical” name to it, and they trademark it. They decide that the “new” product will be advertised as a “DNA-fixing complex”. They don’t even bother to ask a chemist. When you buy a product, however expensive, however much they advertise it, no matter if they say that it is “patented”, no matter if they say it can make your skin look…
April 10th, 2019 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
For not reading the ingredient list. Example: How do you get a 30% alpha hydroxy acid solution that does not burn your skin? Answer: you don’t. You lie! Add acids to 30% and neutralize the hell out of them with sodium hydroxide or any other base. How can you tell? It is all there, in the ingredient list: Glycolic Acid, Water, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Water, Sodium Hydroxide, Daucus Carota Sativa Extract, Propanediol, Cocamidopropyl Dimethylamine, Salicylic Acid, Potassium Citrate, Lactic Acid, Tartaric Acid, Citric Acid, Panthenol, Sodium Hyaluronate Crosspolymer, Tasmannia Lanceolata Fruit/Leaf Extract, Glycerin, Pentylene Glycol, Xanthan gum, Polysorbate 20, Trisodium Ethylenediamine Disuccinate, Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Benzoate, Ethylhexylglycerin, 1,2-Hexanediol, Caprylyl Glycol.…
March 4th, 2019 by Dr. Hannah Sivak
If you think about it you can tell that this is all rubbish. Your face is not made of butter but of skin and muscle and bones. Maybe it can be changed using Photoshop but otherwise you will need the surgeon knife. And then, anything can happen, most of it bad. And yet, skin care advertising uses “sculpting” with abandon. Then, it is time to look at ingredient lists, like the one from City Multi Action Sculpting Cream. And no, don’t expect Skin Actives to sale anything like this! Without the solvents and thickeners, this is what the ingredient list looks like: Caviar Extract 2 (fish egg puree), Hydrolyzed Silk…