00:00Fact or Fiction? Bloodletting used to be a beauty regimen.
00:11It's time for another Fact or Fiction and today we're talking about makeup.
00:17My name is Deirdre Gormley. People call me Dr. D. I am a cosmetic chemist.
00:22I think we have a fun group of people. I'm excited to hear what people think.
00:26Hello everyone. Hi.
00:29So are we ready to get started? Yeah. Alright.
00:32I'll probably get, you know, over 50% right.
00:35I'm a little bit worried I'm gonna like walk to the wrong side and be like the only one that
00:39gets it wrong.
00:40I think I will do pretty well in the challenge. I have a background in science.
00:45My job right now is working for a website that just does only makeup content.
00:50I think I'm gonna do well.
00:51Love makeup because just growing up I've always been an artist and you know,
00:54kind of like use it as like a creative facet.
00:57I'll be reading statements today. If you believe it's fact, stand to my right.
01:01If you believe it's fiction, stand to my left.
01:03Getting more information out there is obviously the goal. Just educating people one at a time.
01:08The first statement is, you don't need to wear sunscreen if you're wearing makeup.
01:18I don't see anyone over here so we'll talk over here. Why do you think it's fiction?
01:22The sun is so damaging with all of the different like types of rays and things that you have to
01:28make sure that you're protected.
01:29Although some foundations and concealers have an SPF in them, it's not enough and that SPF does wear off.
01:34That's correct. So we can all agree that we need to check for SPF on our labels and if it
01:39doesn't have it, we need to add SPF to our regime.
01:41You have to read the label, you have to reapply to ensure that you have the appropriate sun protection factor
01:48on your face.
01:48I try to wear sunscreen every day. I always carry it with me in my backpack.
01:52It's impossible for black people to find something that has SPF in it that won't make you look ashy or
01:58gray cast.
01:59I don't know if people are necessarily creating their products with black people in mind.
02:02Number two, bloodletting used to be a beauty regimen.
02:08That's like where they put leeches on your skin.
02:22Well now I kind of want to just be like the devil's advocate on going the other side.
02:26Does anyone know what bloodletting is?
02:28Isn't that where they like put leeches on like your skin or something like that?
02:32We can do that. We can also just give blood and become whiter.
02:38It is seen in many cultures as beautiful to be pale.
02:41However, we all have different pigments in our skin.
02:44Therefore pigment is beautiful too. It's kind of the opposite of sun kiss.
02:48So we don't recommend bloodletting, but it was something that was done.
02:51There's no way that this is like sanitary or healthy.
02:55Our next statement is hypoallergenic products are always safer than non hypoallergenic alternatives.
03:07The only thing that makes me like question about wanting to go over there is like what chemicals are in
03:11it that make it like hypoallergenic and is that bad for you?
03:15There's a lot of labels that are used in beauty products that actually don't necessarily mean anything.
03:20They're just buzzwords.
03:21So the answer to this question is it is fiction.
03:24Everybody is different. Everybody's skin is different.
03:27What works for you might not work for someone else.
03:29When something is labeled as hypoallergenic, it's basically saying that there are no allergens in that product.
03:35We have our microbiome. Our skins all react differently to different products.
03:39Firstly, it's had the word always in it and my daddy taught me nothing is always true.
03:45You can just say any old thing and if it's a buzzword, people will buy it and they'll believe.
03:49When things are labeled hypoallergenic, it's kind of your hypoallergenic until proven non hypoallergenic.
03:55I don't think blanket statements are ever a good idea.
03:58When it comes to makeup, vegan and cruelty free mean the same thing. Fact or fiction?
04:10I should know that's cause I'm vegan.
04:13So everybody got it right.
04:15Yay us!
04:16When it comes to makeup, vegan is said when something does not contain animal byproduct.
04:21Something that's cruelty free is not tested on animals.
04:25I'm trying to be more like vegan friendly and more sustainable.
04:30But that doesn't necessarily mean they're the same thing.
04:33It can be vegan but still also be tested on animals.
04:37That's messed up.
04:38The next statement is some ingredients in makeup may be the product of child labor.
04:47Everybody's correct.
04:49We're buying mica and we're using it.
04:51We're told it's natural but we really don't know where it's coming from.
04:55It's awareness and it's everybody getting involved to try to understand why this is happening,
05:00how we can help and maybe make a change in what's going on.
05:04Definitely I think child labor is one of the things that has caught my attention especially in the cosmetic industry.
05:10The next statement is some cosmetics contain the same ingredients as electronics.
05:16Is this a fact or a fiction?
05:18This is fact.
05:20Examples of why this is true?
05:23The earth is so full of different like materials and minerals that it doesn't surprise me that like
05:28something in electronics could be present in makeup as well.
05:31Mica is a unique element or it's a mineral that we can actually cut in different ways to refract colors.
05:38So it's commonly used in the semiconductor and electronics industry as well.
05:42Water is another example.
05:44We use it as a base in many cosmetics.
05:46It's also a very powerful conductor of electricity.
05:49That was a very interesting tidbit that I found out that mica doesn't conduct electricity.
05:53But I was assuming there was some type of metal.
05:54Is mica a metal?
05:56It's a mineral.
05:57Learned two things today.
05:58Our next statement is if a makeup product is for sale at a store it must be safe.
06:03Fact or fiction?
06:07That's 100% a lie.
06:10Alright, you're making my job easy.
06:12The FDA doesn't regulate every cosmetic product that's out there.
06:16It regulates things like over-the-counter drugs, pharmaceuticals, things like that.
06:21The cosmetics industry is actually self-regulated.
06:24If you're walking through a store and you're trying to figure out what cosmetic brand to buy,
06:27it's really hard.
06:28You can't tell by just looking at the label.
06:30You can reach out to the company via their website.
06:32You can look for data.
06:33Try to get that information on safety and testing and things that they have done to ensure that their product
06:39is safe.
06:39Just because makeup is sold in a big department store doesn't mean that it's completely safe.
06:45I think that education is a huge thing that needs to happen within the cosmetic industry.
06:49The next statement is makeup used to be considered immoral.
06:53Fact or fiction?
07:01For ages and years, like, it's always been looked at as a good thing.
07:05Some people do think it's immoral, but, you know, obviously all of us here, we're the ones who are the
07:09pioneers and the ones who are here for it.
07:11He's wearing makeup today.
07:14The turn of the 20th century, beauty salons were considered to be like brothels.
07:19There are pioneers in our industry that, you know, showed women cosmetics are not a bad thing.
07:25Helena Rubenstein actually gave makeup to suffragettes as a sign of resistance.
07:30I just always thought, like, makeup has really never been immortal to us. It's always been a luxury.
07:37I've encountered people that for some reason do think that it is immoral or that it may be, like, something
07:43that can give you a reason to judge another person.
07:45When really, I think the idea and the whole aspect of, like, beauty and makeup behind the cosmetic industry is,
07:50like, we want for everyone to embrace it.
07:52You're living your best life does not affect me from living my best life.
07:55And I think that's just a very big note that people need to take.
07:58Our final statement of the day. Since the FDA barely regulates the cosmetics industry, there is no such thing as
08:04ethical makeup.
08:16I'm a glass half full kind of gay. I like to think that, you know, they mean what they're saying.
08:22I just have trust issues.
08:23We have someone on the move?
08:25Yeah.
08:26I'm going to take two people on the move.
08:28All right. Let's go.
08:29Yeah, I know. I wanted to come in there.
08:30We have trust issues.
08:31I don't know if the channels necessarily exist that you can be 100% ethical even if you wanted to.
08:38When we hire somebody to work in our company, we dig into the details of that person, their background and,
08:45you know, who they are and where they've been and what they stand for.
08:47Why wouldn't we do the same thing with our cosmetics?
08:50I think we've kind of all realized that it is a fiction. It is a fact.
08:53You know, we're only as good as the information that we have.
08:56And as long as there are some ethical people out there, we'll push the good into the industry.
09:02It's very easy to do through documentation, through testing, and just honest communication.
09:07Ethicality is based off of the society you live in. What may have been ethical in the 30s may not
09:13mean ethical now.
09:14We're all trying to push forward into more ethical and sustainable beauty, just like we're trying to push towards more
09:19ethical and sustainable practices for life.
09:23Thank you for being here. We appreciate everyone's honesty and excitement for cosmetics and the cosmetics industry. It was great
09:29to have you.
