Pseudo science and sciencewashing: two different scourges for the consumer
Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be scientific or factual but are inherently incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by “contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable claims; reliance on confirmation bias rather than rigorous attempts at refutation; lack of openness to evaluation by other experts; absence of systematic practices when developing hypotheses; and continued adherence long after the pseudoscientific hypotheses have been experimentally discredited.”
Examples of pseudoscience in the skincare industry include: singing to bacteria while “fermenting” sea kelp to prepare miracle broth of the NASA myth
2) water with little-known energies that are undetectable by ordinary scientists, i.e., energy water or structured water.
3) invented by a “world famous” doctor that is not actually well known.
Science-washing is designed not to illuminate but to obfuscate, giving the veneer of science but ensuring that if people ask how it works, they will get no clear answer. Almost no one is looking up a peer-reviewed study to make sure the claims in the fancy container are accurate. People like buying products that are backed by science, but most people are not equipped to actually evaluate those claims. What science-washed products promise—more than what they actually promise on the package—is that someone else did the work for you and that you should trust them. Conversely, I do look for peer-reviewed studies supporting claims, and I can tell you that data supporting science-washed ingredients tend to include tables without units, lack materials and methods sections, and proper controls (positive and negative). You end up guessing how the experiments were done, and concluding that the data presented are not reproducible.
Examples: anything exosomes, stem cell growth media, peptides galore.
Why do consumers fall into such traps? To understand this, we have to look at how our brain works and how evolution molded our behavior. Advertising companies take advantage of these quirks of brain function to make us buy something against rationality.
Further reading
https://quackwatch.org/
Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst, by Robert M Sapolsky, Penguin Books, 2018. 0143110918 / 9780143110910