Welcome to this week's episode of listeners questions where we are going to debunk as many TikTok myths as we can, although we don't have all year.
Joining me are brand founders, Mark Curry and Colette Laxton from the Inkey List, Emma Lewisham and skinfluencer, which he's gonna absolutely hate, James Welsh.I'm not sure you're ready for this, especially you.
How to create sunscreen at home has over 22 million views on TikTok.Users are going mad for natural skincare.Don't get me started.Ingredients include, you ready?I feel like you should.
I feel like I feel like I've done you a disservice and you should have a big vat of red wine next to you for this conversation.Shea butter. cacao, beeswax, coconut oil, avocado oil, carrot seed oil, zinc oxide, and you ready for this one?
Watch his head explode.Essential oils.
And what kind of homemade SPF would that make, Mark?Mr. Scientist? A shit one.
Yeah, you're going to be baking yourself.I could only, well, this will say it all.
We had to go to three different testing houses to ensure that the SPF that we thought we'd created was actually the SPF factor that we wanted to create and triple verified.
Because even when you go to that level of detail, we had some stuff that should have been absolutely great for whatever reason, fall out in the formula. car crash.We had 72 different formulations.
72 formulas.So in sum, we are a big brand with lots of people, with a scientist at the helm.Took us three years, 72 formulas and three testing houses.Don't make your own SPF.
Thank you very much.We'll leave it there.I'm just going to finish on that.Beef tallow.I love this.Beef fat is being used as a moisturiser for the skin.It's also being used as an SPF.I just want to put that out there.I've seen it.
28 million posts on TikTok.It's said to be, and I say this, I'm not saying this, you know that, it's said to be super hydrating and mimics Botox.
Don't shoot the messenger.
That's complete bollocks.
Excellent.Excellent.Just just stop it.
Just make it stop.Interesting.
I mean, you probably will get a bit moisturization from the fat.
Every cloud.Yeah.But you're gonna smell like beef.You smell like your Sunday roast.Stick a bit of rosemary in your ass and you're done. The Skincare Smoothie, I feel like I should tap out from this.
If it was a football game, I'd have to say, oh, I'm actually a supporter of Luton, therefore I can't play and be Notorious.But the Skincare Smoothie, 42 million posts.I think we all know who's to blame for this.
People are mixing their skincare products together and then applying that concoction to their face because it avoids the lengthy process of a step-by-step skincare routine.
As everything is applied at the same time, I'm just going to go quiet and let you speak.
What are you trying to do to us?
This is my life every day.
You can cut corners on some stuff and you could probably mix certain things together.Great.You can't mix everything together.They weren't formulated that way.You're just going to be wasting your money and wasting your life.
Good skincare takes consistency and time.
Also, get smart!Like, I'll do, like, I'll clean... I love it.
You come in smart, literally, and Colette's like, and also, but just, like, clean your face, then, like, I'll be, like, putting my serum on, and then I'll just quickly do my hair, and then I'll put... Brush your teeth.
Like, just be smart, like, it takes, like, five minutes to do everything.Literally.Believe me, I can get, like, out of the shower and gone in five minutes.Yeah.Like, let's be smart.You don't have to, like, create a trend, just do your skincare.
They think I'm outspoken, I love it.Exosomes.Named as the future of skincare, they are made from, I'm not telling you, I'm quoting, I'm not talking to you like that.
They are made from human stem cells and are able to get into our skin and communicate with our skin cells.Sometimes used alongside microneedling to push exosomes into the skin to increase collagen and elasticity.Thoughts, sir?
Interesting. I think interesting, but like animal derived, all the things linked to this.The reason why skincare is going to be continually exciting is biotechnology.
Yeah.So I think, again, you don't need to go to these more old school methods in really expensive clinics.Biotechnology is coming.It's going to make things super interesting and bring great technology to the masses.
There you go.Baking soda facial.The baking soda honey facial has 52 million posts on TikTok.For acne breakouts, don't faint.For acne breakouts, baking soda is said to help soothe inflammation and mild pain.Ain't no analgesic, babe.
And it's also said to get rid of hyperpigmentation spots.Behave.People are using it mixed with water and honey to combat acne breakouts and hyperpigmentation.Look at your face.
Mixing it with water and honey.
Honestly, are these genuine?
Yes, yes, yes, yes.Welcome to my world.Yes.And daily, daily I am asked about shit like this.
I mean, I'm trying to pull some positives into it.
Baking soda with acne.It's also an analgesic.It's going to help with the pain and it's going to help with hyperpigmentation.
Do you know what bugs me about this?
is when i was young i had acne and there was nothing out there and it was like all alcohol and stripping and horrendousness like you don't need to do this you don't need to find all these diy hacks there is great skincare now for these problems like why are we trying to create
And my nervousness is it's poor kids that don't have money, maybe, or don't have anything, and they'll go, oh, but I know mum's got this and that.
They'll exacerbate whatever they've got and then end up in a worse place.
Hang on, isn't baking soda like five, six quid?
But it's just... I feel like our baking stuff that Grace uses is expensive.There's great skincare that is affordable.You do not need to be DIYing your things from your kitchen.You don't.
Even when there's an element of it that we all did when we were little, like mixing things and playing with things, that's different.
This, what bugs me is that this is telling people it's like a verbatim, it's, this is what's going to fix it for you.That's the frustration because, and then it's pitched to me as you don't support it because you sell your own product.
Thank you.And people just need to take one look at whatever you've done in the past, where you're supporting multiple different products from multiple people of all shapes, sizes, and what have you.It's fallacy.
Thanks.Placenta serum.He's already laughing.Applied twice a day, this serum made from placenta is said to clean up acne scarring, oh I can't even, and promote skin regeneration.
I mean, depending on how fresh it is, you might get some benefit of some signaling peptides.
If you work on a gynaecological ward and you can maybe get access to a placenta.
Yeah, but unless you have kept it temperature controlled and all the things in between and applied it fresh to your face, you'd be struggling.
Mushroom skincare.Beauty, oh, allow me please to read.This isn't, again, this is not my words.
Beauty mushrooms for skin health are currently all the rage and skincare lovers on TikTok are naming snow mushrooms, also known as tremella mushrooms, to be, gonna watch Colette now, nature's hyaluronic acid.
People are taking them in supplement form and even making soup from them in pursuit of a healthy glow and increased collagen production.
This trend's back.Mushrooms go round and round.
Yeah, I mean, yeah.Food's there for ingestion.And even if you are taking supplements, they have to be created in such a way so that they are absorbed into the body.Not pass out your ass.
Pass out your ass title of my next book.
I think, not in their defence, but I think where it comes from, and you feel it more when you're in the States, and you'll know this well, what I hear a lot of, especially with people making their own SPF, because the anti-SPF brigade at the moment from the States is doing one nut, if I can just put that out there.
But I think that the fear of Big Pharma comes because when you are in the States, it is rammed down your throat every three seconds on TV.Every other advert is for a medicine that you need or you're going to die.
And then the disclaimer that follows it is taking this medicine can cause hyperglycemia and you're just like, why would I take it if it's going to kill me?So I understand the, I think I would hope it came from good intentions at the beginning.
Like people are being overmedicated, especially in the States. We don't have a big pharma problem in the UK.You can barely get meds on the NHS.No one wants to give you anything.You know, so it comes from that.And then it became SPF is killing you.
And it's people who basically do not understand science and that the people, you know, the big argument is, well, if everyone's been wearing SPF. since maybe the 1970s.Why is all the instances of skin cancer going up?
Because Gen Xers and Boomers are getting older and we didn't use SPF, dickhead.And we're all the ones having our moles cut out or melanoma appearing.That's why.It's not because SPF is causing cancer.
We had a tanning bed in our house.
I mean, I lived on tanning beds in the 80s.My mom lived on tanning beds.She got a melanoma on her leg.
Like, we didn't have the education and knowledge.The education and knowledge is now out there and it's out there and it's proven.
But this is the gift and curse of TikTok.So the gift of TikTok is there's the ability to put it out there.
Curse of TikTok is you've got fricking 170 million Americans running around taking some of this stuff for truth, surrounded by a culture of fear and fear mongering.
Fear mongering, which is just ruling at the moment, especially in the States.
And if they could do something cheap and maybe then not need... Stick it to the guy, stick it to the man.Insurance and stuff like... It's a cesspit, isn't it?
It's a cesspit of not having insurance, not having decent health care, making your own.And then it becomes this thing that we can do this better.
And the other frustration for me, which we should probably end on, but the frustration for me is that all of those like handmade, homemade SPFs always have a thick amount of zinc oxide, which unless you are pasty white, is going to make you look like Casper the Ghost.
So there's absolutely no, it's always, I would say, I'll try and be nice and say well-meaning, but sometimes it's just wanker Californians who are very, very blonde and wealthy and thin telling black people that it will work for them.
And you're like, you don't have any black friends, do you?Because if you did, you would say, just try this on your skin.And they'd be like, it looks like toothpaste, Doris.Doris from LA.I'm just thinking of any names here.
You know, I'm just trying to think of a name.
Homemade SPF might be one of the most petrifying trends ever, actually.
What a nice place to end.
I think I need you on my like a regular slot of it's just utter bullshit.Mark Curry.
I feel like he needs a lab coat on at this point to really like.Just to remind people.
It's too hot.It is too hot.I'd be sweating even more than I'd do.
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More details in the show notes. We are going to use the collective brains of James and Emma.What are your views on the Korean skincare made from snail mucin?
I enjoy it in hydrating products, but I think a lot of people think it does things it doesn't do.
Well, also, I'm not saying it doesn't work, but it's just not for me.I can't.It just looks like... No, I can't.It's quite out there.It's just the trail the snail leaves when it goes across, and I just can't.And then they scrape it, supposedly.
I can't.We use like a live bacteria in one of our products, and that's enough for me.Yeah, I do. Even that was discovered on a 22-year-old's face and it's been then bottled and brought to market.
What?I mean, I'd still have that rather than a snail's ass.I'm not being funny.
What brands say they do is they let snails roam free on a bed netting.No, they fucking don't.They don't.It's a snail farm.
They steam them so they get stressed and then they release the moose and then they catch the moose and then they put it in product.It's not cruelty free.
No.Although brands try to claim it is.Oh, behave yourself.Freeway snails.James, have you ever had snails on your face?I would never do that, but I can separate myself when it's in a jar, you know?
What about slugging?What are your thoughts?What is slugging?
I don't do it.I don't do it.
Slugging is when you put like Vaseline.It's like Victoria Beckham on an airplane.On an airplane, yeah.I personally wouldn't do it in public.
Well no, it does look like you've stuck your face in chip fat.
Yeah, you don't look great.But if my skin was really dry or dehydrated, I'd lock in all that moisture and hydration with a layer of Vaseline, essentially.So I do it every so often.I don't think you need to do it every night like everyone's doing.
You're really greasy. It says here it's had 117 million views on TikTok with viewers aiming to get glass skin.Well, that tells you what you need to know.Frankly, you don't need Vaseline to get glass skin.
I think people mistake glass skin for just looking shiny as fuck.They think, oh, put Vaseline and that's it.It's so shiny.No, you're not like a chipmunk.With a ring light.They're like, oh.
Okay, okay.Not that we're being cynical.
No names, no names.What are your thoughts on lemon bottle fat dissolving?The results I've seen online are great, but is it safe?I do not know what that is.What is that?It's a trend on TikTok again, but again, it's not for me.
It's supposed to dissolve fat and you sort of have it here or here, and I'm like, no, I need the fat I've got in my face, thanks.But also, anything called lemon bottle doesn't really sound surgical to me. How much is it?
But what do you do with it then?
Behave!Don't!Inject it directly into fattened tissue.
And also break down your face.Surely that's not allowed.
Enjoy sepsis.They get it from Timu is what they're doing.They get it from Timu, they get it from Wish.That's where it's coming from.
I mean, don't inject your face.I don't believe I have to say this.Don't inject yourself with fat.Don't inject anywhere in your body.
Bin. Right, next, I'm looking to get salmon sperm injections.Do you recommend?I have a question.My question is, how did they discover the salmon sperm?So how did they get the sperm?How did they discover it would be quite good injected into your face?
Yeah, how do you sperm a salmon is what I would want to know. It's very different to collagen, right?Because some collagen is salmon collagen or something they would put... It's supposed to be for wrinkles and shit, isn't it?
What's wrong with normal filler and Botox?Can't we just be happy with what we have?It works.It works.Or a good cream.A good cream.A good cream.A good retinoid.A good slugging.Oh, God. If you use the word sperm, I'm just going to tap out.That's all.
I'm just going to tap out.And also I've got a shellfish allergy.You never know.I don't want to inject it into my face.I know it's not shellfish before we get bombarded.I'm not a moron.
But I don't want to inject my face with something that's come out of a fish's dick.
There's many good things.I haven't seen one on a fish before.
Does a salmon have a penis?I think it's just a hole.I feel so ignorant.And this is why I don't watch David Attenborough.I think he's evil.Bear with, you'll think I'm right.So my husband's obsessed.
Nature loves David Attenborough and I get the man himself.He's a legend.I get it.But if I watch those programs, I'm either vomiting or crying.I'm not interested.I do not want to watch animals killing each other, dying, beaning or shagging.I'm out.
And then he retells you off at the end for being a human.
And why are you taking a plane?Walk to Argentina.Again, it's not for me.At some point there's going to be a toad.Fucking hate toads.So we've gone a long way, but yeah, we would like answers in the comments to do we know how a salmon has sperm?
How do they get it out?How do they get it out?How do you separate it from the water?So it's got to come from a salmon farm.Do they have to get it excited?
Put the female salmon in there.
No, stop it.See what's going on.
OK, would you use olive oil around the eyes for hydration?Just don't put it near my skin at all, thank you.I want it on a plate of spaghetti.Yeah. and then it'll get to my eyes eventually once I've digested it and the nutrients come out of it.
I think skincare's way more complicated than just putting... I think the words you're looking for, Emma, are sophisticated.
You are sophisticated.There's a reason JLo's just been taken out of Sephora.
It's literally gathering dust.She lived with that... My grandmother's olive oil.She lived with that way too much.
Everyone's like, why would I spend $300 on olive oil?
So, true story, JLo and Britney Spears have both made more money than fragrance than anything else they've done.Even their music.
Oh with J-Lo that's not so surprising.
Imagine how much money she's made from J-Lo Glow.I mean she's not making a lot of money in her films is she?So I feel like we've said no to a lot of these treatments and this next question is a good one.What at-home treatments would you recommend?
I love at-home LED.Love a bit of LED.The consistency though is an issue for me.That's the hardest part.
Because even if I leave it set up I'll go, I'm too tired so I'll leave it.
i'm guaranteed to fall asleep under mine as well i have one of those ones that like arch over you i will fall asleep but also you can use it on injuries you can use the infrared part and injuries dodgy shoulder and i still haven't had some just ridiculous yeah led and you know things that people tend to keep in the fridge like i like a cryo
There's nothing wrong with that, keeping it at home, things like that.Things like the, what's the metallic, like the metallic roller, Beauty Pie made one and they couldn't even stop.
That actually feels amazing on the skin because it picks up your skin and massages it as you go.Things like that, yes.Anything that's too invasive.
I think anything you have to dig at your skin or, you know, anything that sounds like it draws stuff out of your skin, you shouldn't be doing yourself.Anything with needles.
Thank you so much for joining Safe Flight Home.You'll be there in, like, four days.Next week.And you, sir, where are you off to?
Oh, nice.Nice little party for one this evening.Get Deliveroo in, you know.Pretend I'm working.Thank you so much.That concludes this week's episode of Listener's Questions.Thank you so much for listening, and keep the TikTok nightmares coming.
I'm back on Monday with a new guest, so make sure you tune in.Until then, I'm glad we had this chat. New episodes are available every Monday and Wednesday.Follow or subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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