I, and countless other people navigating acneic skin, have at one time or another bought and used a whole slew of salicylic acid skincare products to try to deal. My family’s favorite when I was growing up was pHisoderm, and if you’re a Millennial or older, you probably remember TV infomercial darling Proactiv.
What is Salicylic Acid?
Salicylic acid, a beta-hydroxy acid (BHA), is oil soluble – so it is good at:
helping dead skin cells slough off
penetrating deep into pores to break down sebum and gunk
reducing inflammation (legacy wisdom described crushing aspirin and making a paste to apply to blemishes)
But it isn’t always the answer for addressing acne. Salicylic acid isn’t a silver bullet, and it can even make things worse.
Precious few of us wash our makeup brushes as often as we should – but ecoTools Daily Brush Cleaner makes it easier for me to pull off.
Although washing our brushes at least weekly is high up there on the list of things we can do to improve both our application and skin’s health, a lot of us non-professionals just don’t do that. It is a bit silly when you think about it: caring for your tools – whether they are makeup tools or powertools – helps them last longer and perform better.
I used to use Cinema Secrets to buy time between proper soap washes, but when I saw that ecoTools, a more accessible and affordable brand, had a similar product (their ecoTools Daily Brush Cleaner), I wanted to try it out. Both less expensive and easier to get, it seemed a good fit as long as it worked.
For the first time, I wish something had been discontinued: L’Oreal tampered with the L’Oreal Telescopic formula.
Huh…That’s Weird
When I had to travel earlier this year, I picked up a fresh tube of L’Oreal Telescopic in Carbon Black because I worked through my stash (I bought a few tubes on sale a while ago). I thought I had mixed up tubes because I noticed it wasn’t applying the way I’d expect a fresh tube. And, weirdly, it wasn’t removing as easily despite using the same tools. At the time, I was on the opposite coast; perhaps the water was different? Or, Occam’s Razor: I left the new tube at home.
After all, L’Oreal Telescopic was reliable – it lengthened, separated, and simultaneously did not smear but did remove easily at the end of the day. It was super accessible – drugstore, Ulta, Wal-Mart, Target, Amazon – you name it, you could find it.
What Gives, L’Oreal Telescopic?
That wasn’t it. I bought another tube this month. Still didn’t remove easily. Going at it with a makeup removing cloth and warm water removed maybe 20% of it – I still had stubborn product clinging desperately to my lashes for dear life.
I switched away from antiperspirants years ago. In the time since, I’ve tried a few different things with most of my use being in Old Spice-land and more-recently a 0% Aluminum Dove option that I prefer the fragrance of (Pomegranate and Lemon Verbena).
I heard of Lume before and while I was curious, I had mixed feelings. I hate their marketing. Hate. It. Happily, my distaste is for reasons other than the usual.
At some point, I ended up on a mailing list of theirs (thanks for selling my info!) and was appalled that it was very heavily along the lines of (I’m paraphrasing), “Got intimate area stink?” This isn’t just an unfortunately-targeted e-mail campaign, this is de rigeur for the brand.
Why?!
The founder happens to be an OB-GYN. Her intent was to formulate a whole-body deodorant product that won’t cause mayhem near the area(s) she most commonly provides care for. Noble enough, but the marketing is appallingly tactless. (But, spoilers, I did try the product – more on that after the jump).
What’s this? A doctor fulfilling unpleasant stereotypes about abysmal bedside manner?! If someone really DOES have those concerns, I’m sure they’d appreciate a more delicate and tactful approach.
There’s also an insinuation that everyone suffers from all of these complaints. We don’t! Just because these things are normal to encounter does not mean everyone experiences all of them, so its uncomfortable at best and presumptuous at worst.
Anyway, Lume ads are cringe. Whyyy:
If you can get past that, it is inclusively marketed to be suitable for myriad purposes – for everyone’s anatomy if they have and/or wish to address unwanted odors.
After Abra’s endorsement and a timely sale, I decided to give Lume a try.
Not in a few. 70% of the latest round of tests, featuring 150 batches from 30+ brands across multiple parent companies, came back with high levels of exposure. Here are just some of the affected brands:
We had a post go live today, but I sat down this afternoon and wrote a whole entire ‘nother because this is NONSENSE. First, sunscreen. Now, there’s a multi-brand recall due to carcinogens in dry shampoo. It’s the same we’ve been seeing in sunscreen: benzene.
The amount of things being recalled for benzene in the last few years is too damn high. Carcinogens weren’t even really top-of-mind for me when I stopped buying dry shampoo a while back (which I JUST shared before this news hit), but there’s a hell of a good reason!
The Affected Brands
Per the release, which you can read on FDA.gov, this recall applies to products under Unilever’s sprawling umbrella. If you use any of these,
Dove
TRESemme
Nexxus
Suave
Tigi
You need to check the UPC and lot codes, which you can do here, to see if you need to take further action. Please note that just because you bought it recently doesn’t necessarily mean it was manufactured super recently! CHECK.
If it isn’t one of these, you may be in the clear – but I’ll come back to this.
