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Is Preparation H good for puffy eyes? Episode 40

Tune in to hear Perry and I bust some more beauty myths. Plus: Can Perry finally win another round of Beauty Science or Bullsh*t?

Show notes

Beauty Science or Bull Sh*t – a special animal-themed episode

Can you guess which one of the following 3 beauty science headlines is fake?

  1. A Gecko-inspired adhesive has been used to make repositionable bandages.
  2. A treatment based on cow antibodies is as effective against acne causing bacteria as benzoyl peroxide.
  3. Hippopotamus sweat can be used as a natural sunscreen and skin protectant.

Beauty Myth Busting

Myth: Silicones suffocate hair

The Truth: Silicones can build up on hair from shampoos and conditioners that contain high levels of high molecular weight, water insoluble silicones. If you over-use products like this everyday, it is possible to end up with hair that feels weighed down and limp. But even this does happen, you’re not really suffocating your hair.


2) Even though your hair absorbs moisture from the environment, its state of dryness isn’t completely controlled by this external water. Dryness is more a function of how damaged your hair is and how much natural lipids it contains.

3) Even if you did block your hair from absorbing moisture, the silicone would act like a moisturizing agent because it would plasticize and lubricate your hair. It would essentially fight the effects of dryness.

Myth: Preparation H cures puffy eyes

The Truth: First you have to understand there are many causes of Puffy Eyes (isn’t that your rapper name?) Can be due bloating, dehydration, fatigue, allergies, hormones, or genetics. Because there are so many causes there is no single treatment. But I can see how this myth got started because redness is common complaint and that can be due to increased blood flow so any treatment that restricts blood vessels could provide some temporary relief.

Since Prep H does restrict blood vessels at least when applied to the butt-u-lar area, some people think it will help around your eyes as well.

This may seem like a good idea but there are two basic issues here:

First, at best, it can only address the redness not the puffiness. And second, if you accidentally get some in your eye, the other ingredients can cause some serious damage in which case puffiness will be the least of your concerns. The Straight Dope has a nice debunking of this myth in their entertaining article on the topic.

You’re better off addressing the underlying causes of the problem. Are you getting enough rest? Seven hours of sleep per night is the recommended minimum. Also, often puffiness is due to allergies. While it may not be pollen season, you can still be allergic to anything from airborn allergens like grass to certain foods . If this is that big of a problem for you, get an allergy test done, or try eliminating foods from your diet to see if any relief occurs. Another big reason for undereye puffiness is bloating or dehydration. This can be hormonal like before menstruation, or because of diet. The best treatment in these cases is to take a diuretic (it will help you eliminate the extra fluids), as well as to drink enough water and consume healthy amounts of salt to stay hydrated but not bloated.

Finally, for some people, having puffy eyes is hereditary. In these cases, there really is not much you can do besides really invasive measures like cosmetic eyelid surgery. But either way, the notion that Prep H is an easy cure for the problem is just a myth.

Myth: Yeast infection cream make your hair grow better

The Truth: Here’s another myth that involves taking a product designed for one part of your body and using it somewhere else – yeast infection creams can grow hair.






Myth: Windex cures zits

The Truth: Windex is a mixture of water, rubbing alcohol and some industrial solvents. Yes, it might help degrease your oily skin and it might even kill off a few acne causing bacteria, but it won’t work as well as pimple medications that you buy in the store. And it’s a household product -which means it’s not held to the same high safety testing standards as cosmetics. It’s not meant to be directly applied to your skin and that means it could even irritate your skin and make your pimples worse.

Myth: Your hair “gets used to” your shampoo after a while

The Truth






Myth: Salon shampoos have better pH than drug store brands 

The Truth: Shampoos tend to be fairly neutral so they fall around the middle of the scale between 5 and 8. Shampoos that contain cationic conditioning agents are generally formulated a little lower and deep cleansing shampoos designed to get rid of styling residue are formulated at slightly higher pH to neutralize styling resins. But overall you should expect your shampoo to have a pH between 5 and 7.

According to one version of this myth ”The pH of grocery store shampoos is too high 99% of the time.” That’s a pretty definitive statement but it’s also a highly testable proposition.  I took samples of ten different shampoos, some from salons and some from grocery stores and then I measured their pH. I found that the average pH of grocery store shampoos is 5.95 and the average pH of salon brand shampoos is 6.14.

As you can see from this data the premise that 99% of all grocery store shampoos have a higher pH is simply not true. In fact in the samples I measured the salon products had the highest pH. The pH will vary by brand and doesn’t depend on where you buy it.

Myth: Fluoride toothpaste causes cancer

The truth:  Fluoride and tooth decay share a long and interesting history. It all started with the discovery that people living in areas with water supplies with naturally occurring fluoride had lower incidence of cavities. This knowledge led to the addition of fluoride not only to toothpastes but to public drinking water. The latter prompted rumors of a Communist conspiracy which, mostly, have faded away.  Health concerns associated with fluoride remain but there seems to be little data to indicate there’s really a problem in regard to cancer. In fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control, adding fluoride to water supplies has been “one of the greatest achievements in public health in the 20th century.” More importantly, multiple animal and human studies have failed to show a link between fluoride and cancer. Researchers reviewed over 2.2 million cancer death records and 125,000 cancer case records from places where fluoridated water is used and found no indication of increased cancer risk. You can read all the details at cancer.gov.

Another aspect of the rumor is that “responsible” governments are removing fluoride from water supplies. We could find no evidence to support that notion. It is true that too much fluoride can cause a condition called fluoridosis which can initially cause teeth to turn mottled and brown eventually cause irreversible skeletal and nerve damage.  This condition is a problem in parts of the world which have high exposure to fluoride due eating food grown with fluoride-containing fertilizers, drinking ground water contaminated with excess fluoride, or breathing fumes generated by burning fluoride-containing coal. In those areas where this problem exists UNICEF is working on de-fluoridation programs with local governments. However this has nothing to do with cancer risk and it does NOT mean that governments are eliminating water fluoridation programs in areas that need it (in other words, areas that have low levels of naturally occurring fluoride.) This is still a raging controversy and for a more detailed debunking, you can read this reference.



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{ 8 comments… add one }
  • ew July 22, 2014, 8:43 am

    Thanks for my morning laugh today….

    almost had to clean the keyboards of coffee 😉

    • Randy Schueller July 22, 2014, 9:04 am

      LOL, thanks! It’s tough enough to crack Perry up but when I make one of our listeners spill coffee I KNOW I’m doing something right!

  • Kate @ MGR July 23, 2014, 2:15 pm

    But doesnt hair like a pH of closer to 4? *confused*

    • Randy Schueller July 24, 2014, 8:41 am

      @Kate: Strictly speaking hair doesn’t have a pH because it’s not water soluble but its isoelectric point (which is sort of, kind of similar) is close to 3.

  • isabel July 25, 2014, 10:46 am

    I am one of those listeners that hear the podcast on the way to home and forget to comment after arriving.

    I love both of your first voices, you are a dinamic duo. Randy voice is very soothing but Perry avoids that I fall sleep.

    I really like this podcast, it’s awesome to know the geeky stuff of cosmetics and brag about it when people try to recomend things that doesn’t work, I say “just save your money”

    Thanks for sharing each episode, I think you are getting funnier each day and I love it.

    PS: Am I the only one that hears a little static noise in the background

    • Randy Schueller July 25, 2014, 1:54 pm

      Isabel – thanks for being one of our “Silent Majority!” I’m glad that Perry and I can help you get your beauty geek on. And, yes, we are having a technical problem that’s causing static on Perry’s recording channel. My theory is that his Urban Bunny has partially chewed through his microphone cable. We hope to have that resolved soon.

  • atticuscove July 31, 2014, 9:55 am

    Thanks so much for your scientifically informative & interesting shows. Your (lab) humor is icing on the cake for listeners!

    Perhaps its time for a cable show (with visits to the local drug-store to help shoppers maneuver through the vast aisles of chemicals and potions promising youth and beauty; I often seen rows of people just standing and staring at shelves glassy-eyed, and painfully perusing labels of hair, skin, and other ‘health’ products).

    You guys are true consumer advocates, especially for people who really care about “translating” the ingredients listed in commercial “health and beauty” products; often the chemicals listed appear hardly “healthy or safe.” You prove that there is real and more-often “not real” science behind the products we buy.

    Have you had shows tackling the truth/myths on all those endless vitamin supplements that guarantee fountains of eternal youth, beautiful skin, hair, and longevity? Internet searches on this issue are endless an controversial.

    Thanks again both for your book & your email shows!

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