Dr. Fayne Frey
Appearances
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The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
Again, as a drug, sunscreen is sunscreen, but to get the actual SPF on the label, it requires that the user applies enough of it. And I think the biggest problem is most people put it on so thin and they don't get the SPF on the label, which is why I get the next question is always, do I really need more than 30 SPF or 15 SPF?
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The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
These are cosmetics. Remember, they can't intend to change your skin. Now, all ingredients, in my opinion, in all these cosmetics, they fall into one of three categories. So these ingredients are either functional ingredients, for example, those humectants and occlusives I told you about, the ingredients that actually create a good moisturizer. These ingredients are also aesthetic.
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The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
Nobody would be happy if they poured out a cream and it went into your hand like water. So there are ingredients that add thickness and color, and we'll call those aesthetic ingredients. And then there are ingredients that I call marketing tool ingredients. Now remember, this is a cosmetic that's not really intended to change anything, but they do make claims like anti-aging.
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The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
So if you're a manufacturer, you have to add a minuscule amount of some ingredient that has to be, if I was to take chromatography and make sure that there's actually this ingredient in there, they have to have enough that it could be identifiable if it's tested. They add this little marketing tool ingredient,
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The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
And that satisfies the claim on the front panel, which, as I told you, is a lot of marketing. Now, you asked the question, does it have any benefit whatsoever? I've never seen any permanent benefit. And again, which is consistent with the fact this is a cosmetic.
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The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
Retinol is a vitamin A derivative. The parent compound is tretinoin, which is the prescription. It is very well tested in a petri dish. It definitely has an impact on gene rearrangements. It has an effect. But when it's put on the skin, the ability for retinol to actually penetrate 20 layers of dead tissue, which is what the top 20 layers of your skin are, the barrier,
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The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
through another 60 layers of top layer of skin below a basement membrane into a second layer of skin called the dermis where the wrinkles and the real aging changes occur not likely going to happen sounds like it would be impossible to happen Some people feel that it helps, it makes them feel better.
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The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
I have never looked at anyone, Mike, have you ever walked down the street and you run into somebody you haven't seen in a long time and you look at them and you say, wow, you know, Susie, you look fantastic. And she says, well, that's because I'm using this magic retinol cream. It just doesn't happen. It just doesn't happen.
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The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
Again, this is a cosmetic, which is not intended to make any permanent change in anyone's skin.
Something You Should Know
The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
Well, soap by definition is a combination of animal fat and it's a salt of animal fat and lye. It's got a high pH. That's what soap is. The original ivory soap was a soap and it's very effective at cleaning, but it's also very drying for the skin because the pH is so high.
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The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
So companies have created some really nice lower pH, five, six, what we call synthetic detergent bars, syndet bars, if you will. Dove Beauty Bar is an example. It cleanses adequately, but it's not as drying.
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The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
So people use the word soap and cleanser interchangeably, but when it gets down to science, a true soap is very different and much harsher than some of the beauty bars and liquid cleansers that are on the market.
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The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
Well, it's preference. I personally use one cleanser for my whole body. Again, there's market share. They want you to buy a product for your face and a product for your body and a product for your eyes and a separate product for your neck. They would love you to buy an anti-aging product, probably a toner, a serum, an astringent, a primer, an essence. Again, market share. It's a business.
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The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
If you're a manufacturer of a skincare company, your goal is to sell. And most of these products are redundant. As far as the cleanser, a mild cleanser with a synthetic detergent is all you need for your whole body. You don't need a separate facial product and a separate body product.
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The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
Shampoo is fascinating. If you know anybody who's older than 75 years of age, if you ask them, if you have a grandparent, ask them what shampoo they used when they were 10, 15 years of age. And I can almost guarantee you what they're going to say. They're going to say, I don't remember.
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The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
and the reason they don't remember is because shampoo wasn't even a thing it wasn't a part of a common household item before the late 50s early 60s when prel and breck hit the market and johnson and johnson's baby shampoo so before that most people used a bar of soap or they would use castile soap
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The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
These were harsh soaps that left a ring around the bathtub and shower and of course shampoo was born. It was a much more aesthetic product to leave the hair both clean and manageable. But again, there's no correlation between what you pay for a shampoo and its effectiveness.
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The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
And just like moisturizers, those three ingredients, you don't wanna pour out a bottle of shampoo that looks like water, you'd be miserable. So we have the surfactant or the ingredient that takes the dirt away. And then we have ingredients that make it thicker and sparkly and fragrance. It smells nice, because ultimately that's how most people pick their product.
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The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
In over 30 years of testing products, and I don't care whether they're anti-aging creams, anti-wrinkle creams, eye creams, night creams, day creams, neck creams, I have never seen any one of these products get rid of a wrinkle.
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The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
They actually flip open the cap and smell it, make sure it smells good. And then we have those marketing tool ingredients as well.
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The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
That is correct. Shampoo is designed to clean. Conditioners are designed to leave the hair manageable. it's very difficult to create a product that can do both.
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The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
Because if your product is trying to strip things off the skin as the shampoo does, it's very difficult then to leave the hair manageable with a coating of something that leaves it pleasing to the consumer, which is why in my opinion, those two-in-one products don't work very well.
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The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
If you wanted to buy a shampoo that's gonna clean your hair, I would suggest a separate conditioner to help keep it manageable. And these are all cultural pleasures. You don't need any of these really.
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The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
Well, I have hundreds of products because I'm always testing them. But if I wasn't testing them, the one single product I would have on my vanity is sunscreen. And it could be a spray. You'd spray it into your hand and put it on your face and spray it on your body. It could be a lotion. It could be a stick.
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The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
You can pick any form of broad spectrum SPF 30 or higher sunscreen you like, but it should be used every single day, January through December. regardless of where you live, because I'm a true believer you get a lot of ultraviolet light just incidentally walking to the drugstore, walking to your mailbox, et cetera. And that would be the one single product that I would recommend everybody have.
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The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
Moisturizer, if you have dry skin. I live in the Northeast. It gets dry in the wintertime, and oftentimes moisturizer helps.
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The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
skin is optimal when the amount of water in the skin is optimal because it functions better so a moisturizer if you need it is ideal and the third product i'd keep on my vanity is petroleum jelly i think it's the most versatile product on the market it can be used for many things runaway eyebrows chafed skin protection of the lips dry elbows and knees so those are the three products that i recommend my patients keep in their vanity
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The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
Mike, it's been an absolute pleasure speaking with you today. Thank you for having me.
Something You Should Know
The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
Thank you for having me.
Something You Should Know
The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
Yes, some of the marketing is misleading, but do know the skincare industry is a fantastic industry. It does manufacture wonderful products that are truly good for your skin health. So that's the good news. The bad news is it's a blind item. Most ingredients are not known by the consumer. So it's a blind item because consumers don't understand the ingredient listing.
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The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
They don't have the chemistry background to do so. And the other point is marketing is powerful. It reinforces a definition of beauty that's unrealistic and unobtainable. So the consumer feels bad about themselves. So somebody's got to advocate for for the consumer. And that was my goal.
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The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
Right. Like I said, the most important information on a skincare product is the ingredient listing. But again, because consumers don't understand the ingredient listing, they base their product selection on the front display panel. And that front display panel has what the product is and the amount as far as fluid ounces that's required. But after that, you have a lot of marketing real estate.
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The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
In addition, how do people pick products? Right, Mike? They ask their friends, or they look at a magazine ad, or they listen to the media.
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The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
Well, first of all, you have to understand these products are cosmetics. And in our country, in 1938, we passed a law that said, if you're a manufacturer and you intend to make a product and sell it, if that intention of that product is to really change the structure or the function of any organ, but in this case, we're talking about the skin.
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The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
If your intent as the manufacturer is to change the structure or function, by law, it's a drug. And if it's a drug, it has to go through the FDA and it has to get pre-market approval. It has to prove safety and it has to prove efficacy. If the intent of your product, Mike, is to just beautify, like lipstick, just to make somebody look better or adorn, you don't have to get pre-market approval.
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The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
But again, the intent of that product is not really to change the structure or function of the skin. So that's why when you preface this by, you know, you know this all can't be true. It can't be true because these are cosmetics we're talking about, not drugs.
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The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
So the truth is this, there's no correlation between what you pay for a moisturizer and how well it works. And I know this because I test these products in my office. I have a machine, it's called a corneometer, and it actually measures skin hydration. So you'll put a product on the skin for a week.
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The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
We'll test the water content before you start using the product and a week later, and I can tell you whether the product works. That's first and foremost. So we know what works and we know there's no correlation between what you pay and how well that product works. I recommend people buying products from reputable national and nationally known brands.
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The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
They have the resources to make the best products. They have the resources for using ingredients. They do testing as much as testing is done. And these products are available. So that's why I recommend that. I'm not sure I could give you a list of four or five ingredients that would be ideal for someone to pick based on the ingredient listing. It would be much like picking a cake.
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The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
How do you pick a good cake? Well, some of it is taste, but the best cakes, it depends on the combination of ingredients and the quality of ingredients and of course your personal preference. So it's not so easy as to just say, oh, look for these four ingredients and that's how you pick.
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The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
Well, if you want to go over the basic recipe for a good moisturizer, I'm happy to do that. A basic good moisturizer is water-based and there are ingredients in it called humectants. These are ingredients that hold on to water. Ingredients like glycerin, like hyaluronic acid, which is a great humectant. It doesn't penetrate into the skin when you see that marketing like, oh, this is in your skin.
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The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
So put hyaluronic acid, it'll decrease your wrinkle. Well, not really. It really just sits on the skin and holds water. A great moisturizer will have occlusives in it, which are ingredients that prevent water from evaporating out of the skin. The most effective one being petrolatum. And you'll see that on the back of an ingredient listing often.
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The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
Again, and then you have ingredients that hold these water and oil combinations together. Water and oil don't mix much like your salad dressing. And so you have to have emulsifiers that hold these products together. You'll have some preservative because all these water-based products will turn rancid with mold and bacteria within two weeks if they don't have a preservative.
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The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
Many times we add fragrance. But a good moisturizer is one that helps you prevent water loss from your skin. And there's a lot of good ones on the market.
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The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
No, like I said, there's no correlation but what you pay per price for a pound and you'll get a great product for $12 for 16 ounces and you'll see other women are paying $500 an ounce. That's a shot glass. That's $8,000 a pound. Mike, can you think of any perishable that you'd even consider spending $8,000 a pound on?
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The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
Well, I guess that depends on what you call reduce or improve wrinkles. If it's a temporary hydration, so if you have a raisin and you pump water into it, you get a grape temporarily. I'll ask you, is that anti-wrinkle?
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The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
it's anti-raisin it's okay it's it's a temporary improvement so if you have dry skin and and that means there's low water content and you put on a product that prevents water from evaporating and the water is in water content of the skin goes up and the skin looks optimal it's temporary right because that that product's going to wear off and water is going to evaporate again you can have an improvement in the appearance of the skin in over 30 years of testing products cosmetic moisturizers
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The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
And I don't care whether they're anti-aging creams, anti-wrinkle creams, eye creams, night creams, day creams, neck creams. They're all cosmetics. They're all moisturizers, in my opinion. I have never seen any one of these products get rid of a wrinkle.
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The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
Anti-aging, as I say, is the most brilliant marketing term in existence. We haven't discovered a single ingredient or a single product that can reverse the aging process. Now, remember, these are cosmetics, which by law are not intended to actually change the structure or function of skin to begin with.
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The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
That is correct. And they're limited by what ingredients they can use. As cosmetics, there are limits to the actual ingredients they can use in their formulations. So this is something the consumer has to be aware of.
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The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
That's an excellent assessment. The sun, ultraviolet rays of the sun cause more skin damage, yes, skin cancer too, but if anyone would compare unexposed skin to exposed skin, you will see a very large difference in the tone, in the texture, certainly once you're past the age of 40, 45 years of age.
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The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
You know, sun avoidance is number one, meaning avoid midday sun. Number two, cover up as much as you can. If you have minimal exposed skin, you don't need to apply as much sunscreen. I love sunscreen and I apply it every single day and I think everybody should apply it every single day. But some people are concerned about putting more chemicals on their skin.
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The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
So my answer is put it on as little bit as you can of surface area as you can by staying covered up. You don't need to apply sunscreen under clothes, under skin that's covered. So sunscreen is by far, if you want to use the word anti-aging, the most effective anti-aging product on the market.
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The Skincare Hoax & How Measurement Shaped Our World - SYSK Choice
But do keep in mind, sunscreen is regulated in this country as a drug because it does prevent disease and it claims to do so. So sunscreen is a great choice, and I believe everybody should be using it every single day of the year.