Hey guys!
I want to introduce you to Alex.
My name is Alex and I am a genetics PhD student and a science blogger.
And she has a really great YouTube channel that you really need to go check out.
Here’s a taste.
What if you could store all the world’s data in the back of a car.
What is this thing?
What IS this thing?
You can also wear it as a science cape.
Very in this fall.
I took them back to the lab and took very careful samples of the fruit.
Break open cells, get DNA, wash DNA.
And it worked!
Nothing in lab ever works on the first try.
And that’s Alex!
Today we’re going to be talking about micellar water.
We love it!
We do!
We both love this stuff and it’s gained a lot of popularity recently.
And why?
Well for me, it’s because it’s convenient.
It is a three -in-one product that removes makeup, cleanses the face, and leaves you
feeling hydrated and refreshed.
I love it because it’s super portable, so I can throw it into my gym bag and backpack
and go,go, go!
So this stuff is great but, how does it work?
Well, according to the product it’s --- micellar technology!
Oooh!
Spoiler Alert!
Micellar technology is nothing new.
It’s been around for a really long time.
In fact if you’ve ever combined water, soap or detergent, you’ve been using micellar
technology.
That’s right.
Cutting edge Babylonian technology straight outta 2800 BC.
Oh yeah.
Slap!
So, what is this stuff anyways?
Micelles are these clusters or sphere of detergent molecules.
The role of detergent molecule is to clean, and micelles do that by trapping dirt and
oil.
So in here, there is a bunch of micelles floating around.
But you can’t see them, and that’s because they’re submicroscopic, meaning they’re
hard to see even with an ordinary visible light microscope.
But they are in there.
If we shine a beam of light Through both water and micellar water, you’ll
notice the beam of light is wider and more intense when it goes through the micellar
water.
This is because the beam is hitting those micelles and they are scattering the light.
This is called the Tyndall effect and it allows us to see those submicroscopic particles.
Hmmm.
So that’s the same effect you see on a cloudy night when the beams of a cars headlights
are visible.
It is.
Exactly.
So, what makes these detergent molecules special.
Well, if I were to pluck a detergent molecule from a micelle, I would have A) really tiny
hands but the second thing is I would have a molecule structure with two opposing chemical
tendencies.
It would have a hydrophilic head that loves water and a hydrophobic tail that fears water
and favors oil.
So if I were to take some of this micellar water and pour it onto a cotton pad, the micelle
would break apart and the water loving heads would orient themselves to the water saturated
cotton pad.
The water fearing tails -- they wanna be as far away from that water as possible.
So they’ll point in the opposite direction, towards the air.
When we bring that cotton pad to our face, these tails that favor oil are going to surround
the dirt and oil on our skin and trap it, where we’ll remove it away with the cotton
pad.
But these hydrophobic tails can can only pick up so much oil and dirt at a time, which is
why you might have to repeat this process, depending on just how dirty your face.
So… is this just soapy water?
Well, there is a lot of soapy water in it, but there are other qualities that make it
a really great product.
For example, they use milder detergents.
So there are a lot of factors that go into mildness, but one of them is the size of the
micelle.
So larger micelles are milder and less irritating.
Irritation can be caused by micelles that can disrupt the upper layer of skin.
To put that in perspective, something like an adult shampoo is going to be about three
nanometers and something like a baby shampoo or a mild facial cleanser will have a much
bigger micelle.
In the 6-8 nanometer range.
So this is going to be much more difficult to get in and disrupt the skin.
Makes sense.
Another thing is that they use less detergent.
So a typical cleansing formulation is going to have anywhere from 10- 30% detergent, but
micellar water uses a lot less.
I would say around 5% or less.
So if you combine having a milder, milder detergent, with having less of it, this is
why you can leave the product on your face without irritation.
Exactly.
Glad somebody’s paying attention.
I see, alright.
Now I’ve also noticed that these have humectants in them which are products that actually attract
moisture to your face.
They do.
They bring all that moisture in.
Yes, leaving you feeling lovely and refreshed.
And I’ve even noticed there are even more humectants in these than detergents.
You’re really good at reading these product labels.
So yeah.
One of the most common humectants in micellar water that I’ve noticed is hexylene glycol
and propylene glycol and the formulation, actually is very similar to baby wipes!
Oh!
So if you think about baby wipes their super mild, they are non irritating, and they use
less detergent, and that’s why you can leave it on a baby’s sensitive skin.
So I thought we would end this video by doing a challenge!
YAY!
Baby wipes vs micellar water.
Which one is better and can you tell the difference.
Alright, here we go!
Okay!
So this one felt a little softer, a little bit more creamy.
So I think I am going to go with this one being the baby wipes.
Okay, okay!
And this is the micellar water!
Oh my God!
She guessed it!
You are soo good!
She killed this challenge!
I gotta tell you.
They were very, very, close, but I have used many of these micellar water before and I
just may be a micellar water connoisseur!
Thank you so much for participating in this video.
I really appreciate it.
If you like this video, than give it a thumbs up.
And if you have questions about micellar water, either for myself or for Alex, put them in
the comments section below.
And you should totally check out Alex’s channel.
We made a video about the genetics behind freckles and you can check that out by clicking
the link right over here.