SCIENCE BASED BEAUTY BLOGS

Doesn't really have anything to do with today's post, but how often do you see a flamboyant praying mantis? Beautiful, right? Credit: Igor Siwanowicz, spiegel.de

With the myriad of makeup and skin care products available, it’s often difficult to decide which ones are the best to put your faith and money into.  Thankfully, there is an army of beauty bloggers out there, dedicated to helping us figure out what works and what doesn’t.  We especially love following science-based beauty blogs that explain the formulations and mechanisms of action behind these products – a glamorous way to apply all that chemistry and biology you took in college!  Here are some of our favorite blogs:

Beauty Brains (thebeautybrains.com)

Beauty Brains is the collaboration of several real-life cosmetic scientists whose mission is to review the latest in skin and hair care products as objectively as possible.  Many of their posts break down the ingredient lists of the beauty products under review, and explain the role of each ingredient in relation to the overall formulation, as well as its function. This is especially helpful when you can’t recall what polyglycerylmethacrylate does from your organic chemistry days.  Beauty Brains also busts beauty myths and answers questions from readers.  Each post offers a “Beauty Brains Bottom Line” but also provides enough information to help you form your own conclusions.

Future Derm (www.futurederm.com)

Future Derm was started by Nicki Zevola, a highly over-achieving medical student (check out her bio here) who is in the midst of launching her own skin care line. Future Derm also features opinions from a team of contributing writers, including physicians and other beauty experts.   Along with science-based analyses of skin and hair care products, Future Derm also features reviews of make-up and cosmetic procedures.  The soon-to-be Dr. Zevola tests some of these products on herself, showing not only how, but if something works.  This blog is quickly expanding with a very promising future!

The Science of Beauty (sarah-thescienceofbeauty.blogspot.com)

The Science of Beauty is authored by an Australian scientist with a Ph.D. in wound healing.  The majority of the posts on this blog are dedicated to make-up reviews with the occasional science-based post, but who doesn’t love a good product review mixed in with their chemistry lesson? 

Lab Muffin (www.labmuffin.com)

Who can resist the cute name of this blog? Lab Muffin is run by another Australian scientist, on her way to earning a Ph.D.  In addition to a clearly sectioned of  ‘Science’ tab,  that is interesting for both scientists and non-scientists alike, this blog has loads of nail art and do-it-yourself home remedies (such as a DIY lip scrub).  LabMuffin was launched in late 2011, but is already well updated and organized.

science-y hair blog  (scienceyhairblog.blogspot.com)

As the name of the science-y hair blog implies, this blog is mostly about, well, the science of hair and hair care.   The author offers in-depth explanations for why hair behaves the way it does and analyzes the components commonly found in shampoos, conditioners and hairstyling products.  Since the author of the science-y hair blog is also allergy prone, she offers a variety of allergen-free recipes you can concoct at home to take care of your hair and skin.

Happy reading and happy learning!

<3 LSI