Columbus Public Radio: Digging into the dirt on clean beauty
The University of Cincinnati's Kelly Dobos spoke with WOSU Public Media out of Columbus, Ohio about cosmetics that are labeled as "clean beauty" products.
Dobos said the term "clean beauty" is complicated because there is no regulatory or legal definition of what that means.
Some brands combine bits of information, or misinformation, about a product's chemical composition as a marketing ploy, Dobos said. For example, some brands tout being free of ingredients that would never be used in that product in the first place.
"A solvent-based nail polish that claims it’s paraben free is kind of silly in my opinion because we’ve never needed a preservative in that type of system for that product," said Dobos, a cosmetic chemist and adjunct instructor in UC's Cosmetic Science Program in the James L. Winkle College of Pharmacy. "So it’s an easy claim to make, but it’s not really a valid claim in my opinion, and I think it leads to more confusion in consumer markets."
Dobos said rather than saying a certain ingredient is good or bad, it is more helpful to conduct a risk assessment based on its potential to cause harm in a variety of levels of exposure.
"I drink several cups of coffee a day, safely, but we know that there are examples where if you have too much caffeine in a short period of time it can be dangerous and toxic," Dobos said. "So that hazard and risk assessment is part of what we look at with ingredients."
Dobos recommended the website CosmeticsInfo.org , a database operated by the Personal Care Products Council, as a resource to find unbiased information about ingredients and products.
Listen to the WOSU Public Media interview. (Note: Segment begins around 15:55 mark.)
Dobos also recently discussed factors to consider when deciding whether pricey skincare products are worth the cost with Her World. Read the Her World article.
Featured photo at top of makeup and brushes. Photo/July Ko/iStock.
Related Stories
Sugar overload killing hearts
November 10, 2025
Two in five people will be told they have diabetes during their lifetime. And people who have diabetes are twice as likely to develop heart disease. One of the deadliest dangers? Diabetic cardiomyopathy. But groundbreaking University of Cincinnati research hopes to stop and even reverse the damage before it’s too late.
Is going nuclear the solution to Ohio’s energy costs?
November 10, 2025
The Ohio Capital Journal recently reported that as energy prices continue to climb, economists are weighing the benefits of going nuclear to curb costs. The publication dove into a Scioto Analysis survey of 18 economists to weigh the pros and cons of nuclear energy. One economist featured was Iryna Topolyan, PhD, professor of economics at the Carl H. Lindner College of Business.
App turns smartwatch into detector of structural heart disease
November 10, 2025
An app that uses an AI model to read a single-lead ECG from a smartwatch can detect structural heart disease, researchers reported at the 2025 Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association. Although the technology requires further validation, researchers said it could help improve the identification of patients with heart failure, valvular conditions and left ventricular hypertrophy before they become symptomatic, which could improve the prognosis for people with these conditions.