Sunscreen tattoos, DIY plastic surgeries, and more listener questions!

Dr Jeffy and husband discuss social media beauty trends and answer listener questions. Topics include: “medial canthus maxing,” where some people reportedly cut the inner corner of the eye at home. Also, they cover contouring with SPF, and “sunscreen tattoos”. They describe Anne Hathaway’s homemade “facelift” and speculate Tom Brady may have had a hair transplant and filler. They talk about fragrance trends, “functional fragrance,” dupes, and skincare white labeling. Listener questions include beef tallow as a moisturizer, nasolabial folds and side-sleeping, and share travel skincare essentials while working within TSA liquid limits.

ABOUT DERM & DUMBER

Derm & Dumber is a podcast hosted by board-certified dermatologist Dr. Brooke Jeffy and her husband, where skincare, relationships, internet trends, and questionable opinions collide.

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DISCLAIMER

The information discussed on this podcast is intended for educational and entertainment purposes only and should not be considered medical advice. Listening to this podcast does not establish a doctor-patient relationship. Always consult your own physician or qualified healthcare professional regarding medical concerns, diagnoses, or treatment decisions.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:24

Welcome back to a new episode of Derman Dummer. What are we talking about today?

SPEAKER_05 0:31

Well, it wouldn't be one of these early episodes if I didn't bring up some sort of maxing that I'd learned about the week before.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

Of course. Of course.

SPEAKER_05 0:41

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

So What are we maxing? What are we maxing now?

SPEAKER_05 0:46

Apparently now we're maxing our eyes. Um, but this is something called medial canthus maxing.

SPEAKER_02 0:55

Our eyes. How are we maxing out our medial wait, what's the word?

SPEAKER_05 1:01

Canthus is like one of them. I guess canthi if you're talking about both of them.

SPEAKER_02 1:07

Ooh, Latin.

SPEAKER_05 1:09

But the medial canthus is the middle part of your eye that is next to your nose. And apparently, you know, that like inner corner there, that's the medial canthus. And apparently it is a desired trait amongst some people to have an elongated, um, elongated line there. And so there are people on social media who are saying they're like just slitting this area themselves at home. I guess this is a procedure you could have done by a plastic surgeon for various reasons, although I'm like not really, I have not really heard of that before looking into this trend a little bit. But what's just more outrageous is that people are just saying that they're doing it themselves.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

Like these people are they're okay. Let me get this. They're just taking like a home scalpel setup or some kind of like, I got a box cutter, and I'm gonna just jump in there and slit from the corner of my eye into my nose, towards like the bridge of my nose.

SPEAKER_05 2:20

Yeah, just to make it a little, like a little, like a tiny little slit. I mean, it's not like cutting all the way across to the bridge of your nose, but um, yeah, just to make just to make like a little line there, a little cut, you know, a couple of like millimeters.

SPEAKER_02 2:36

Isn't that something you can just do with makeup? Yes. So Or is this with men too?

SPEAKER_05 2:41

No, this is this is like a men thing.

SPEAKER_02 2:43

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_05 2:44

But yeah, I mean, women do things creatively with like eye pencils to try to make this area look elongated. Because I've seen it on the outside.

SPEAKER_01 2:58

Yeah. Something ridiculous. But Yeah. Okay. I mean, whatever, that's a makeup trend. So but you're saying now that this is not just makeup, this is surgery. This is straight up home surgery to put a slit in your skin so that I can always see this. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 3:13

I mean, I don't know how long I mean, like if you know the skin is gonna tend to heal, like depending on how like deeply you cut here. So whether it's permanent, I don't know. If you go deep enough and like there's scarring, then yes, it's not gonna heal over. The whole thing is just insanity, really. And I mean, like, yeah, I guess you're thinking about having your friend or you're doing this in the mirror. And I mean, there's there's like really important structures there in the, you know, that area of your eye in terms of like tear management and you know, tear drainage. And, you know, if you get a big scar that happens on your lower lid, you get something on it called ecropion where like your eye just folds out and it's just gonna forever be dry. So, you know, there's just a lot of wow.

SPEAKER_01 4:06

Yeah, a lot of potential for it's just not an area.

SPEAKER_05 4:10

Yeah. And it was funny, I was looking um up this, you know, trend, just Googling it, see what I would get. And I got to this page, I think it was called like looksmaxing.com. I don't know, something. And it had laid out this whole plan of how to do it, which luckily by the end I kind of realized was satire. But like the beginning of it was like, grab a knife that you don't see any visible rust on.

SPEAKER_01 4:37

Yeah. Well, that's just sadly probably not far from the actual website that might tell somebody how to do this stuff.

SPEAKER_05 4:46

Yeah. So, yeah. So, you know, just Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:50

Sometimes I don't want to learn things.

SPEAKER_05 4:52

I know. The maxing is it entertains me though.

SPEAKER_01 4:55

So it's called. Like if if somebody listening who like me just learned what you're talking about, wanted to Google this, they would type in medial canthus maxing. Yes. The type of people who do this are using the actual medical term for that part of the face. Yes. Wow, good for them. Just wouldn't have expected that. It could be like I can't even think of what stupid word I would have called it. Anyways. All right. Well okay. Moving on from that nonsense. Is that is that all is there do is there more on that? No, there's nothing else on that, but be on the lookout for crazy cuts on people's sides of their noses. Yeah, I just don't bleed from their eyes.

SPEAKER_05 5:40

I mean, to me, I don't see how that looks attractive.

SPEAKER_01 5:43

I bet we don't see that. I bet that was like a freak thing.

SPEAKER_05 5:47

Three people online that got attention and then Well, other other trends I have seen this week. Contouring with SPF. Do you know what contouring is?

SPEAKER_01 6:02

Yeah. I think so.

SPEAKER_05 6:03

Like when it refers to like makeup and like what women I mean, I guess what anyone men do it to to contour their face.

SPEAKER_01 6:13

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They're they're dare I say, maximizing their their products. Yeah. To their appearance, you know, their appearance by the you know, with the use of products.

SPEAKER_05 6:26

Yeah. So this this is like using um you know lighter or darker um pigmented products to kind of create or enhance shadows on the face so that you know angles look more pronounced or cheekbones, cheekbones more defined.

SPEAKER_01 6:46

Yeah, yeah. Okay, that's what I would have guessed.

SPEAKER_05 6:48

So contouring with SPF, what people are doing is they're basically using SPF sunscreen, like high like where you would put usually highlighter, which would be like using a light, a lighter product to um to make an area reflect light.

SPEAKER_00 7:05

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 7:06

You know, and and change the contours. So anyway, they use the SPF um as the highlighter, so they'll put it like across the cheekbones and then let the rest of the face tan. So the the the tan is, you know, acting like the darker contour.

SPEAKER_01 7:25

Wow.

SPEAKER_05 7:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:27

That's that seems uh it seems like you're hoping for I mean, we when you do that with makeup, don't you I mean, I don't know, have you ever Sure. You've done this with makeup before? Sure. You're not a big makeup user, so I don't, you know. Right. But I know you've we've gone to things before where you have to wear more or less than you usually do. But anyways, so you do this with makeup, you can make a mistake or you can brush it off or grind it better. But I mean, here you're like really gambling that you hopefully you got it even, right? Yeah. And you got the same layer amount. Yeah. And you got it in the same spots, and then the sun is hitting I. Yeah, there's a lot of variables. This is just like, hey, instead of buying a bunch of makeup and trying to get good with using it, you can just buy this one product and sit in the sun. It's free. The sun is free.

SPEAKER_05 8:20

Well, and the other thing is too, like you're trying to use this you know, you're trying to contour your face so it looks better, looks more youthful. You're maxing yourself, but you're actually tanning yourself, which hopefully all of our listeners now know is not ideal if you're trying to avoid things like uh brown spots, loose skin, not to mention skin cancer. But you know, you're gonna definitely struggle with a contoured facial look if your skin is all saggy from chronic sun exposure.

SPEAKER_01 8:55

Except for the one spot where you kept flying it. That's funny. This is another one of those things where you get people like we talked about last week using the UV, using something good for something evil.

SPEAKER_05 9:06

Yes. Yes, good point.

SPEAKER_01 9:08

I love it. I love it, the world is so dumb.

SPEAKER_05 9:11

Uh yeah. And then similar to this, uh, I mean, I think people have always done this, but uh seeing an increase in it talked about on social media is sunscreen tattoos, which, you know, kind of similar to contouring with sunscreen, just that, you know, you draw a picture or whatever, or something with your sunscreen, and you let the rest of yourself tan, and you have a tattoo.

SPEAKER_01 9:37

Right. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I mean, I've seen humorous clips before, or in my life, just at the beach when we were younger, just like if people, you know, like a guy drawing a word back, like, will you put some sunscreen on my back? And then just like barely applying it, but putting like a the word dork or something across the side. Yeah, or something far more, you know, uh yeah, distasteful.

SPEAKER_05 10:01

Right, right.

SPEAKER_01 10:02

Okay. Yeah. No, that's that's that's just good old-fashioned fun.

SPEAKER_05 10:05

But it's the same problem. I mean, okay.

SPEAKER_01 10:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 10:08

But whatever. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:10

Okay. So yeah, there's uh there's what, three quick friends?

unknown 10:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 10:15

Yeah. And then another thing I I thought I would share that has been circulating for a while now on social media, but I was recently interviewed about it, is Anne Hathaway's facelift hair hack.

SPEAKER_01 10:33

Oh. I don't know what you're talking about, but I do know who Anne Hathaway is. So you're saying she came up with a new procedure?

SPEAKER_05 10:41

Yeah, I think.

SPEAKER_01 10:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 10:44

I mean, that's a whole different conversation about whether or not Anne Hathaway has had work done or or not. I mean, she looks amazing. But what this is particularly referring to is that, and and she did post uh uh herself showing this being done, is that she will have her hairstylist make this little braid that is not visible. Um, you know, so it's it's not visible, it's hidden by hair on top. So it's kind of like an underneath braid that she makes from her temple back on both sides, and then she ties them like it's tied together at the crown. So it's like allegedly like pulling, you know, the the temple back to like give a bit of a lift, and then the rest of her hair over the top of it, you know, covers those braids. So you can't.

SPEAKER_01 11:39

You're sort of demonstrating it to me while we're sitting here so I can picture it. But okay.

SPEAKER_05 11:43

Yeah. Did I explain that kind of well?

SPEAKER_02 11:44

Oh, yeah, I get it. Okay. Well, I mean, that's a I've that's a hairstyle though, right?

SPEAKER_01 11:48

I mean I've seen that like where you a woman will do two braids on the side, tie it back, and then just the rest of the hair kind of flows back around them, but you can still use these brains.

SPEAKER_05 11:58

Sure, but she's doing it to pull it super tight really tight and then hide. So that you yes, and then like to get this little lift in the temple skin.

SPEAKER_04 12:07

Got it.

SPEAKER_05 12:08

So I mean, I so I I attempted to do this standing in front of the mirror. And I mean, I guess you can get like a tiny bit of lift there. But okay, the real problem is here that it doesn't feel great.

SPEAKER_02 12:23

I was gonna say, doesn't that hurt? And then all all night long or however long you have to hold it for your event that your just hair is being pulled the whole time.

SPEAKER_05 12:33

Yeah. And there's a little thing called traction alopecia that people get from having their hair like constantly pulled back in like a tight ponytail or a tight braid. Um so you know, you're basically pulling and traumatizing the hair as it comes out of the follicle. And over time, if you continue to do that, actually you can permanently scar the follicle and you won't grow hair there.

SPEAKER_01 12:56

So um so do that sparingly.

SPEAKER_05 12:58

I mean, I would do it sparingly if you're gonna do it. But again, uh I mean I don't do it. Yeah, maybe just don't do it. I I don't know. I personally didn't really see. But apparently this hack has a lot of people that are now trying it out.

SPEAKER_02 13:13

Okay, of course.

SPEAKER_05 13:15

And uh speaking about I don't know, famous people out there. I was recently watching something with our son, I don't remember what, and I saw Tom Brady, and I am not a football fan. I don't really care about Tom Brady or whatever, or stay too much on top of like just sports figures, sports figures, or you know, really stars in general, unless there's something going on with them in social media. But anyway, he looks a lot different than I remember him.

SPEAKER_01 13:48

Okay. I haven't seen him in a while because I do watch football, and the football season's been long over now. I haven't seen him in a while. What does he look like now that caught your eye?

SPEAKER_05 13:57

I mean, he just looks good. He looks like a supermodel. He's got the high cheekbones and a great hairline.

SPEAKER_01 14:07

I mean the last time you saw him, he didn't have those things.

SPEAKER_05 14:10

Yeah, I don't I just I don't remember having those thoughts about him at all.

SPEAKER_01 14:15

Having those thoughts about him.

SPEAKER_05 14:17

Well, just that he was attractive, even.

SPEAKER_01 14:19

Oh, I see. Nah.

SPEAKER_05 14:21

And now I'm like, damn, he could be a supermodel.

SPEAKER_01 14:25

Okay, well I'm sure he appreciates that if he's a listener.

SPEAKER_05 14:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:37

Got it. Oh, I see. I was wondering how you were gonna tie that back into health and derm and skincare. All right. But we just wanted to talk about how hot this dude was.

SPEAKER_05 14:47

Yeah, well, yeah. I just I wondered if you had appreciated his change.

SPEAKER_01 14:51

That's not I only I mean he's become a broadcaster for is it Fox or CBS? I don't know. He's become a broadcaster now. That's the only time I ever see him is when I'm watching a football game and he's calling the game.

SPEAKER_05 15:06

Yeah. Wasn't there a thing he was doing with like his brother where they were like, wasn't there a thing like where they were commenting on games or something and it was like him and his brother going back and forth.

SPEAKER_01 15:16

No, no, no, no. That's uh that you're thinking of the Manning brothers, Eli. Oh, the Manning brothers.

SPEAKER_05 15:20

See, this is how little I know about football.

SPEAKER_01 15:22

Yeah. No, that stuff's good. That's no, that's entertaining. If you don't care about either team and you just want to Yeah, those guys are great.

SPEAKER_05 15:28

Yeah. Anyway, back to Tom Brady. Uh so yeah, the transplant.

SPEAKER_01 15:32

I'd rather talk about the Mannings, but okay. Go ahead. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 15:36

No, I really there's not that much else to say. I think he's also probably had some filler uh to enhance the cheekbone area, lift up the upper face, and then I just think he's also lost a lot of weight. Anyway, that's all about that. I just was in shock.

SPEAKER_01 15:53

You saw a picture of him and it shocked you. Great. All right. So maybe we can figure out what he did, how much that would cost, and you can make me.

SPEAKER_05 16:03

Okay, more on that in the future.

SPEAKER_01 16:05

Yeah. Well, all right. So there's the top four or five things that have caught your attention on social media this week. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_05 16:14

Something else that I think is popular that I really see has rubbed off on you lately is fragrance. This is Yeah. This is really taking over in the beauty uh beauty space.

SPEAKER_04 16:31

Okay. How so?

SPEAKER_05 16:33

Just lots of brands incorporating fragrance in different ways, trying to do unique things with fragrance.

SPEAKER_01 16:39

Yeah. You got you got like a PR packaged randomly in the mail the other day. Uh-huh. And in it was uh like a sample vial of one of their like perfumes. But also something that I'd never heard of or seen before. It was a lotion, a moisturizer, but it was heavily scented. Right.

SPEAKER_05 16:59

Yeah, and not even really a lotion, more like a like a body milk.

SPEAKER_01 17:03

Okay. Like how's that not a moisturizer?

SPEAKER_05 17:05

Okay. I mean, I guess it's a moisturizer, but you said lotion, and I just think of that as like a heavy fragranced product. That's not really what this was.

SPEAKER_01 17:12

So, all right, whatever. So, yeah, it's not a bottle of jergens, but it's it's a like a lighter It's a milk, you want to call it.

SPEAKER_05 17:19

Yeah, I want to say like a milky consistency, and it's just you're supposed to use it to moisturize your skin and it leaves this very light fragrance behind.

SPEAKER_01 17:27

Yeah. No, I mean you used it the other day, and I was like, whoa, did you put on a scent?

SPEAKER_05 17:31

Yeah. I don't really love scents too much. I mean, no, I know.

SPEAKER_01 17:34

And you when you if you're in clinic and seeing patients, you probably shouldn't be covered in like you know, a strong, powerful scent.

SPEAKER_05 17:42

Yeah. I mean, personally, I I don't like scented skincare um much at all. Um, but occasionally I do like, you know, a perfume or you know, some kind of fragrance if if I'm outside of clinic. But yeah, I don't want to annoy people with scents.

SPEAKER_01 18:00

But well, when skincare products, you you typically want to avoid those things just to keep another ingredient out that can cause a problem, right? Isn't that right?

SPEAKER_05 18:10

I mean, yes, there is that argument, but you know, skincare for a lot of people is also about the experience. And there are lots of people who want fragrance in that experience. So it becomes like a a whole sensory part of it. Um, so a lot of, you know, a lot of brands will have versions that are fragrance-free, or they'll have, you know, fragrance in some product that you're that they're using, but they'll have an alternative for people that don't that don't want it.

SPEAKER_01 18:41

No, this has clearly gotten a lot more, you know, popular on social media because even my limited social media use, I've started to see a lot of talk about colognes. I'm, and I hate to admit it, becoming influenced by some of this stuff. I've kind of gotten the bug on um on some colognes. I've never been a cologne person. Same with you. I have a I I I don't didn't really like them. I they've always been like I I my I have a very sensitive nose. So I can pick up the slightest scent. So anybody that, you know, and then that's the other thing. The only people that ever seemed to wear them were these like douchey guys that just went nuts and you could smell them across the room. And it was just like I never want to be associated with that. Um but, however, I don't know. There's if you start to dive into it, you start to see the artistry behind some of it. And the it's just such a deep rabbit hole that you can go in. And I don't know. I'm I'm a sucker for it now, I guess. There's some things there's that are really, really have caught me. Like I said, I've got the bug for it now. There's a couple of cents I've ordered, and I've started to get little samples and these decants of But now the algorithm is really Oh my god, yes. And now I can't get away from it if I get in there. I have to like I have to start like blocking stuff if I want. But I I mean I'm yeah, I can't believe it. I'm yeah, I'm being influenced. Yeah. And I don't like it. Well, anyways, yeah. So yeah, that's in skincare now too.

SPEAKER_05 20:15

Yeah. So this other um type of fragrance that I thought was really interesting um that we've talked about before too. So I know you have a there's a brand that you like that I I think tries to evoke a more like emotional, you know, sentimental type of Yes, the replica line from uh uh Maison Margella.

unknown 20:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:35

Yeah, some of my favorites. It's so and they do a really good job of it. Just they literally call their bottles, their scents, like, you know, oh by the fireplace or something. Yeah. So it has a name of like an event. The name of it is a a feeling. So you're saying that's just stretched into other skincare.

SPEAKER_05 20:58

Well, I'm saying that like there's there's that, and then there's actually this category of fragrance now called functional fragrance, which is um which there are brands that are trying to actually attempt to evoke certain emotional responses with their fragrance. So um there are companies that are trying to use neuroscience-based methodologies to actually create different feelings like joy, for example, um, when using a fragrance and they're trying to like measure and quantify this.

SPEAKER_01 21:35

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 21:36

So kind of interesting.

SPEAKER_01 21:37

Yeah. Wonder when they'll get to anger and what that's gonna smell like.

SPEAKER_05 21:43

Yeah. I don't know if we need to work on evoking that.

SPEAKER_01 21:47

Uh yeah, you just gotta scroll social media for 30 seconds.

SPEAKER_05 21:51

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 21:52

Hey, I've evoked anger again.

SPEAKER_05 21:56

Yeah. So now we have basically an entire section in our bedroom of Benjamin's scents. Oh, it's not.

SPEAKER_00 22:04

Get out of here. I'm not overrunning. I will not stand for this.

SPEAKER_05 22:08

Because now not only the fragrances he's into, but now he's like really interested in learning about dupes.

SPEAKER_01 22:15

That's well, yeah, just because that's wallet friendly. I'm not gonna I mean, some of these scents are ridiculous what they try to get away with charging. If You find something you like. So yeah, that's what you do. You order is what I do at least. You order a sample or a travel size or something. A TK, you know, you get the little thing. If you like it, this is my process. If I like it, then I just I I I do some research to find out if there's a really good Middle Eastern dupe, because that's where they all come from. All the best ones come from some usually some Middle Eastern country where they will just take a popular fragrance and uh make a make a fraction of a cost dupe of it. And uh sometimes even going so far as to completely dupe the bottle. Which I guess uh I've learned in the community, like presentation on the bottle and the opening it and all that, that's highly regarded. I don't give a crap about that.

SPEAKER_05 23:08

Oh, you're part of the community now?

SPEAKER_01 23:10

Because it smells good. No, I'm just saying, but some of the if what if you do enough research, you start to see these, you know, these same people who, you know, who do this for a living somehow. Yeah. They will uh But anyways, yeah. That's my method. So dupes. I if you can get a dupe for a fraction of the cost, why not?

SPEAKER_05 23:30

Yeah. Yeah. I mean Okay. I guess makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 23:33

How does that pertain to what you were about to say?

SPEAKER_05 23:35

Well, I was just gonna say, so there's it sounds like you can get pretty close with these dupes. And and I mean the thing is too, there's like dupes that people talk about in in skincare as well. You know, there's kind of certain, I guess, sort of iconic pro products um that, you know, maybe people try to find less expensive versions of. Um, but in skincare, it's interesting because I I don't know how it works in the fragrance world, but and honestly, I didn't know this before I started to create between my skincare line for kids.

SPEAKER_01 24:11

No, here we go. No, no, go ahead. This is this is actually, I think I think I see where you're going. And this this is pertinent. It's not just tooting your horn again.

SPEAKER_05 24:21

Yeah. So not a commercial. Um, I didn't, I didn't I didn't know this. No one, you know, no one trained me on this as I was going through dermatology residency, even though people just sort of think that dermatologists know about skincare. We really don't. You really do have to like go learn it yourself separately. It's not part of training. But anyway, so when I set out to try to make some products, I learned that there are different ways to bring products to market. So you can come up with your own formulation, you know, work with a chemist, tell them what you're interested in, go back and forth, um, come up with a finished product that you're happy with that you totally own. And that's is what I did with between for our cleanser and moisturizer. But then there is what's called white labeling. So you can go, there are tons of these companies that have these products, these um already created and known to be stable products that you basically just buy from them and put your label on.

SPEAKER_01 25:27

Right. Um which is really handy when it comes to a particular product, right? Because like let me just so when in regards to your products, the between BTWN, for those of you keeping score, for those products, you developed a moisturizer and a cleanser on your own from scratch. Yes, those ingredients, those are custom worked with the chemist. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. But then you added a sunscreen because people were asking, and that's like your most important, you know, thing, right? But like we talked about last week, sunscreen is ridiculously hard to come up with a new one in America because of the FDA's involvement in treating it like a drug.

SPEAKER_05 26:10

Right. So it is much harder to uh create your own sunscreen. So um I did do a basically white label, a sunscreen product that's out there. So basically the point is that like multiple companies can have the same product because they're just buying it from these companies and slapping slapping their own labels on it.

SPEAKER_02 26:32

Right. Right. So um we can't know what it is in the public though.

SPEAKER_05 26:36

We don't there's no way for you to disclose it.

SPEAKER_01 26:41

They don't have to Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_05 26:43

No. Um or you can do like a semi-custom where there might be some kind of tweak that you make to it. So one of those tweaks could be fragranced.

SPEAKER_03 26:51

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_05 26:51

Or maybe you're able to add some kind of ingredient or two that you know you want without hugely changing the overall formula. So you could do a semi-custom um type of uh formulation. So, but yeah, for the sunscreen, uh definitely just you know a huge barrier to to doing that if I had not white labeled. But anyway, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:14

Well, that's not to say you didn't do a good amount of research and figure out which one is the best for you and for what you're trying to, you know, get across with skincare.

SPEAKER_05 27:22

Right. And don't get me wrong, I tried to white label or do semi-custom for you know the cleanser and the moisturizer, but there just wasn't anything out there that met my standards.

SPEAKER_01 27:35

Oh, yes.

SPEAKER_05 27:36

Um, because it is exceptionally high standards. Much faster, much less expensive to get those things going, um, versus creating your own. And we can talk about that whole process if we feel like people would find that interesting at some point. Um, but anyway, my point is with dupes in skincare that there easily can be those because a lot of these manufacturers may be using similar, if not the same, base products.

SPEAKER_01 28:07

Got it. Well, there you go. Anybody want to start their own skincare line? That's uh a little glimpse into how to do it. Right. So that's I think that's good for what uh what we wanted to talk about today that was catching your attention this week. Um let's do a few more listener questions. Um we did a couple last week and it seemed to be a good idea with some of the feedback we got. So we have a few more that you picked, um, or that I picked, or that came to us in some form or another. So here we go. I'm gonna do let's do this first one here. Somebody asks, My friend is using beef tallow moisturizer. Your favorite. Why are people doing this and is it bad for you? Oh man. I'm gonna sit back and listen to this because this is one of the first pardon the pun, one of the first beefs you got into a lot on social media with people was about this.

SPEAKER_05 29:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:12

So go for it.

SPEAKER_05 29:14

Oh my gosh. I honestly just feel a combination of very tired and just very worked up when I even think about beef tallow. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 29:25

So But it's so tasty.

SPEAKER_05 29:27

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 29:30

So Why is her friend using it on her face? Well, I think she's as a moisturizer.

SPEAKER_05 29:36

Using so there's this huge trend, right? Where everyone wants thinks everything is natural. You know, if it's natural, it's gotta be better for me.

SPEAKER_01 29:45

Yeah, what could be more natural than the rendered fat from a cow?

SPEAKER_05 29:50

Fat on my face. And okay, so can it be used as a moisturizer? I mean, I I guess, yes, it has moisturizing properties. It's primarily an occlusive uh form of moisturizing uh agent. So it's basically gonna work to prevent water loss from your skin.

SPEAKER_01 30:10

So in that respect, it's a moisturizer.

SPEAKER_05 30:13

Yeah, in that respect, it's a moisturizer. But as an occlusive, it does, even though people will swear it like cures their acne, there's whole product lines that actually say they have beef tallow products to cure your acne. Don't even get me started. But it makes no sense that that would work because occlusives hold, trap, dirt, oil, sweat under the skin, clog pores, which can drive acne. So ridiculous. I mean, if it's working for you and it's clearing your acne, great.

SPEAKER_00 30:50

Right. Who are you hurting?

SPEAKER_05 30:51

But do it for you.

SPEAKER_01 31:08

But I can't pronounce those.

SPEAKER_05 31:10

Oh my gosh. It's not my fault that you only finish third grade.

SPEAKER_00 31:14

I mean, I Oh, here we go.

SPEAKER_05 31:17

Oh, don't get me started on the I can't pronounce it thing.

SPEAKER_01 31:21

We're getting spicy. I can pronounce beef tallow air go. It is good for me.

SPEAKER_05 31:27

Yeah. And I mean, the other thing is that most of the time, like when I've gotten in these beef tallow beefs, I love it. I will go to these people's profiles and there will be someone selling beef tallow, of course. It's like everyone is selling beef tallow and they're in these comments.

SPEAKER_01 31:45

And you know, I am obsessed with fill in the blank.

SPEAKER_02 31:52

Yeah. My hair, my skin, my sleep has never been better. Right.

SPEAKER_05 31:58

And they have these powerful stories, which I think, you know, do go a long way with convincing people. You know, people like a good story and they don't they don't care that other products have been around and tested and truly work. Right. They're just like, oh, my friend, her skin looks great. I don't know whatever else she's doing, but she told me she's using beef tallow.

SPEAKER_01 32:20

Imagine how frustrating that is for you or anybody who's trying to educate somebody.

unknown 32:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:25

I know I can like you have you have to try to convince people that, you know, large, independently funded, multi-centered, double-blind trials involving thousands of participants have, you know, have happened and that they have these results. And, you know, here's why they should trust that, and here's why they should use it, and this is the best for you. And, you know, they're like, but you can't argue with this.

SPEAKER_05 32:53

But you have Cindy from the farm. Who yeah, who said who standing in the field rubbing?

SPEAKER_01 33:01

Yeah. Yeah. I heard this one anecdote on Instagram from this stranger with a discount code. Yeah. And now they're gonna be it's just people want that quick fix. People don't. Yeah. And I is that is that a failing of the education system that we can't look at studies and interpret data? Is that a failing of the scientific community who often hides their research and results behind paywalls because at the universities or on their websites? I mean, where does it fall? I don't you don't want to just blame every person out there who's trying to do something.

SPEAKER_05 33:37

I mean, is it the education system? Right. Is that what I'm saying? Is it the education?

SPEAKER_01 33:41

Well, of course. We're not teaching all of that.

SPEAKER_05 33:43

But then also, how is that teaching, just like what you said, if you're scrolling on your phone constantly and you just see this over and over? I mean, once you look up, I'm probably gonna get inundated with beef tallow stuff now. And it's like, you know, you're just constantly seeing that. It's like that takes over your little educated part of the brain. And right.

SPEAKER_01 34:02

Well then yeah, then you're fighting against an algorithm who's yeah, who's trying to reinforce something. Yeah, I know I know. And it's gotta come down to are we critically thinking? Are we being taught how to critically think? Because if you were, you would look at these two possibilities for skincare, and you would make the right decision if you were thinking critically. So, yes. I it's it it's it's gotta be a mix of all of these things. So, anyways, okay, we might be getting off track. And do you want to say more about this or do you get angry, get angrier about this? If you want to move on to the next question.

SPEAKER_05 34:35

I don't know. What do you think?

SPEAKER_01 34:37

Um The point is there's better things out there than smelling. The short of it is yeah, if you want to smell like you know, delicious old-timey McDonald's french fries that used to be cooked in beef fat, then go ahead and keep using it.

SPEAKER_05 34:51

And you know, one other thing I think is funny about this whole trend is like it wasn't that long ago where everyone was like, it was like vegetarian be a vegetarian and like animal uh welfare. Animal welfare. And I I mean, uh yeah, and then now we're slathering it on our it's just it's just It's that maha. That dichotomy.

SPEAKER_01 35:12

What happened in the last two, two, you know, year and a half, two years? Maha.

SPEAKER_04 35:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 35:18

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 35:19

Anyways, there you go. Okay. Next question. This one asks, how can I reduce my nasolabial folds? And do I have to sleep on my back? And now I'm gonna ask, what's a nasolabial fold? I know uh some of the words in there, but not in that context.

SPEAKER_05 35:44

So this is the fold that runs from like the bottom of your nose to the corners of your lips. That this line, this fold, nasolabial, labial mouth.

SPEAKER_00 36:00

Got it.

SPEAKER_05 36:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 36:03

So we all have this line. It becomes more prominent due to age-related changes and gravity.

SPEAKER_01 36:10

Shugging.

SPEAKER_05 36:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:12

Um this person's wondering, I guess they're noticing theirs a little bit more, and they are interested in reducing it, wondering if sleeping on I guess because okay, so they're saying sleeping on your side will smush the side of your face and therefore Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 36:30

Which I mean, it is it is true that sleeping, most of us, if you sleep on your sides, you can notice some asymmetries to things, um, to folds and changes on the face. Um, so definitely that's possible. I don't know how um how many of you have tried to sleep on your back when you were a side sleeper.

SPEAKER_01 36:55

But side sleeping is the best.

SPEAKER_05 36:58

Very difficult to change these habits. Um, this comes up a lot. Um, you know, in in aesthetics, like it's also chests, like people who sleep on their sides have, uh especially if you have like a large, larger breast, you're gonna have like more wrinkles and pulling onto that side.

SPEAKER_01 37:16

So um to the I uh wait, onto the side of the breast? I was thinking in the middle they would be.

SPEAKER_05 37:23

Yeah, in the middle, like digital, yes, the larger breasts will like fall down, put more stress on there.

SPEAKER_01 37:30

Um And then over time, correct. The skin starts to show more lines.

SPEAKER_05 37:36

So if you could sleep on the back, that could be helpful. Sure. If you could sleep on the back, this would be helpful in terms of the nasolabial folds. Um, there's also a condition where I'm really often talking to people about how they need to sleep on their back versus their side, and that is this irritation that can happen in people's ear cartilage from chronic pressure. Um, but anyway, my point is that like it's much easier said than done.

SPEAKER_03 37:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 37:59

Um, there are pillows that are made that try to, I mean, I've tried to use this before, and I guess it maybe deters you a little bit, but it's not uh it's not easy. But other things that you might do would be to focus, you know, talk to your dermatologist or plastic surgeon and um do things that improve the volume loss that is causing this, uh, with things like filler or laser, potentially helpful microneedling, um anything that is harming your collagen is going to make this worse.

SPEAKER_01 38:42

Got okay. Well, there you go. Sleep on your back if you can. It uh it could help, but you know, everybody just needs to strap themselves into a recliner.

SPEAKER_05 38:54

Well, and I guess the point is that like if you're already bothered by your nasal labial folds, I don't think that sleeping on your back is going to turn it around like it's already Oh, you should have just been doing it from age five. Whatever contribution that's giving is has given.

SPEAKER_01 39:08

Yeah. All right. So just embrace the side sleep, embrace the lines. Or go find a plastic surgeon or a dermatologist with a laser. Got it. Okay. Good answer. All right, one more question, and we will wrap it up. Um let's do this one. This one comes from a friend, somebody we know in real life. Evidently he was traveling recently uh and noticed somebody get pulled out of line at TSA in the airport because they had loads and loads of bottles of, I guess, travel-sized products. Um, and it got him wondering if you wanted to offer an idea of what is the best things to travel with, like the essentials. And I don't know, it's obviously not the same for everybody, but what do you how about we just address what do you travel with? What are you sure to have?

SPEAKER_05 40:09

So I, in general, would always travel with my favorite cleanser or you know, whatever cleanser I'm using at the time, some micellar water for a double cleanse at night, a vitamin C containing product to use in the morning, a moisturizer, and potentially some kind of corrective treatment for bedtime, like um like a retinol, for example, and then a sunscreen. Are some of these things maybe optional to certain people, possibly?

SPEAKER_01 40:43

Well, sure. Everybody's gonna have different needs and depending on their age or their uh, you know, what they're trying to correct or solve for.

SPEAKER_05 40:51

Um But yeah, I think at a minimum, you know, you take a cleanser, a sunscreen, I mean, a lotion. You could probably get away with that. But I do find that I I need my vitamin C in the morning for sure.

SPEAKER_01 41:05

Yeah, you listed about what, six or seven items there just for you. So that's not okay. Now, this leads me to also the problem with airports and TSA in general in our country. Because you can go on one trip, maybe hit three different three or four different airports on that trip if you've got connections and whatever, both there and back. And you can have three or four completely separate experiences differentiated. Yeah. Yeah. That happened that happens with us all the time. Right. And it's just a mess. So this person just could have been unlucky.

SPEAKER_05 41:43

Yeah. I mean, I don't know. I do try to adhere to I I mean, you know, you're supposed to have what's it say? You have it's like a quart, quartz size bag that you can that all of your liquids, gels, and aerosols are supposed to fit in, and any individual product needs to be less than I think it's 3.4 ounces. Right. So I mean, I roughly try to adhere to that. But you know, if I'm traveling with one of you guys, um then I will be okay fudging it a little bit because I'm like, you guys aren't really taking anything. And so if someone asks me, I'm gonna be like, oh, well, this is for all three of us.

SPEAKER_01 42:17

Um and I look like a freak because I've got nothing but retinol and 12 sunscreens with you. No.

SPEAKER_05 42:23

Um but you know, also it depends on like where you're going. I mean, if there if I'm going to go to a beach, uh I mean, I am gonna need some sunscreen, but I'll probably just buy it when I get there because I'm gonna need a bottle of it. So so yeah, there's there's stores most places you're going.

SPEAKER_01 42:43

Yeah. As long as you're yeah.

unknown 42:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 42:46

But I don't usually take, you know, sometimes people ask if I'll take like a red light mask or other, you know, devices. And no, I don't don't usually do that.

SPEAKER_01 42:55

Oh, okay. Yeah. Well, that wouldn't get flagged.

SPEAKER_05 42:58

Yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_01 42:59

We're talking liquids here, man. Liquids.

SPEAKER_05 43:02

Yeah, and I'm really confused about that too, half the time, because again, is it okay. Certain things are clearly liquids, certain things are clearly aerosols, but like if I have a sunscreen that's more like a serum, is that I guess that's still a liquid? Is it our lotions? Where does that fall in? I get I get kind of confused about all these things. So I usually anything that might be a problem, I usually just put it in the ziploc bag. Just to be safe.

SPEAKER_00 43:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:33

Well, like we said, some airports But different yeah, applications. Some airports you've done exactly what you need to do. In some airports, you're literally trying to bring the plane down. Thanks. Seriously, the TSA is a jobs program.

SPEAKER_05 43:46

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 43:47

Let's not go. Security theater. That's all it is. All right. I'll just throw that in at the end. Awesome. Okay. Well, I think we should wrap it up there. Wrap it. Nice long time here on this one. So all right, that's it. Uh that's what's on our minds this week. Those are some listener questions. We'll see you next time. Thanks for listening, and that was easily the best podcast we've ever done. Bye.