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.
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Sigh. One of the few positive things about âreal menâ was that we didn`t use that kind of nonsense product, at least not publicly. Admitedly only because of some obscure manly tabu code and not because of any intrinsic superior silliness filter, but nonetheless⦠Men have always been a great market for toys and if they really get serious about beauty products.. Sometimes a relatively rational world feels sooo far away. Thank god for the voices that remind us that sometimes what passes as normal is pretty silly.----- i like noxema; i can't remember what's in it, but it smells nice and makes my face feel good...
by stacy @ 20/03/2004 10:04 pm • Permalink •
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I love the Bad Science column.
by Caitlin @ 21/03/2004 11:04 am • Permalink •
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john: Yes--four-bladed 'turbo' razors being the perfect example...
stacy: Noxema? I don't think we have that here--it sounds rather medicinal.
Caitlin: Me too, it's the first bit I read.
by bsag @ 21/03/2004 6:03 pm • Permalink •
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