Because youâre an idiotâ¦
Thereâs a great article in Thursdayâs Guardian in Ben Goldacreâs Bad Science column about the kind of pseudo-scientific jargon you see on beauty products. I quote:
Our noble bad science spotter Carl Brancher sends important news of PO2 Contour Cream from Laboratoires Herzog: itâs a âpatented stabilisation of oxygen within a creamâ that âputs oxygen back into the skin, reoxygenates skin cells, encourages natural rejuvenation”. It sounds like bollocks; but it smells like peroxide. Especially since Laboratoires Herzog point out, in the small print, that you will want to keep the stuff off your eyebrows. Now, Iâm not sure that this is going to put any useful oxygen in my skin, because Iâve got a perfectly adequate circulatory system to handle that; but more importantly, Iâm not sure that peroxide is quite what Iâm looking for on my face. For £25.
To which I can only sayâwell said, that man. Iâm always yelling at the screen when the latest face cream is advertised as having âadvanced activated liposomesâ or some such thing. Itâs just a fancy word for fatâyou could get more or less the same effect by rubbing your face with cooking oil. Pah.
