The Eco Well podcast Jen@theecowell

In this episode, I spoke with Nicholas Georges, Senior Director of Scientific and International Affairs for the Household & Commercial Products Association (HCPA). We talked about some of the regulatory changes coming up in the USA, including on 1,4-dioxane limits as well limits on VOCs by the California Air Resource Board (CARB) and what it all means for the personal care industry.

This episode featured a conversation with Dr. Agean Chan, California based dermatologist and beauty science blogger. A few weeks ago I asked my Instagram followers to send me their skincare questions. With over 100 questions sent in, we tried our best as many as we could. This episode is a little on the longer side as a result, but jam packed with so much good information. Thanks to everyone who submitted a question!

This episode featured a conversation with Joanne Sherrard, co-founder of one of my favorite Canadian beauty start-ups, Aurum Skincare. Prior to starting her brand, Joanne focused her masters research on Aesthetics Philosophy, a topic that I truthfully know very little about and also one that I thought would be an interesting vantage point for the personal care space. We talked about what aesthetic philosophy is, historical beauty preferences, and how this all plays into your cosmetic products.

In this episode I interviewed Belinda Carli from the Institute of Personal Care Sciences to go through the anatomy of a lotion - or emulsion products in general. We broke down the key ingredient types needed to make these products possible, from water to emulsifiers to preservative systems and more. Spoiler alert - there is NO SUCH THING as filler ingredients. Every ingredient serves an important function. For more on that, tune in to this informative episode - a cosmetics science 101 on emulsions!

This episode featured a conversation with Valerie George, cosmetic chemist and co-host of my other favourite beauty podcast, The Beauty Brains. A highly requested topic, we talked about the recent Toxic Beauty documentary. Did they get the facts right? Long story short, unfortunately, the answer was no. Before you tell me I’m wrong, please listen to the episode, it’s about 30 minutes and I think we did a pretty thorough review.

This episode featured a conversation with Dr. Alex Lorestani, co-founder and CEO of Geltor, a biodesign company that’s focused on creating globally scalable animal-free proteins, such as collagen for the personal care and food sector. We talked about collagen - it’s historical use, where it usually comes from, and why Geltor collagen, biodesign and how it can help our industry do better, sustainability, challenges with our current industry eco- certifications, and steps moving forward.