Sunscreen Gate 2025 Roundtable, with Michelle Wong PhD, Hannah English and Brian Ecclefield

By now you have probably heard about the sunscreen testing scandal. Earlier this year in June, CHOICE tested a bunch of sunscreen products in the Australian market, and many came back well under their marketed SPF. The one that really caught everyone’s attention was from Ultraviolet, with a claimed SPF of 50+, results came back at 4. What came next was some of the most bizarre behaviour I think I’ve ever observed in the beauty industry. First with some of the brand responses, then to the dynamics on social media. Things evolved quickly, where now the TGA has stepped in, a bunch of sunscreens have been recalled, and it looks like there may have been some testing fraud. To help us understand this mess, I brought together an expert roundtable with the people I thought were best positioned to do the topic justice - in conversation with Brian Ecclefield, industry testing expert who also has firsthand experience with PCR, the lab behind the scandal. Dr. Michelle Wong from Labmuffin Beauty Science, science content creator who’s pretty much the sunscreen science queen of the interwebs in my books. And finally, Hannah English, sunscreen and science content creator, also coming with the brand founder POV. Michelle and Hannah collectively did some of the best scicomm on this story on social media as it all unfolded, they were my steadfast voices of reason. If you work in beauty, this conversation probably should be a must listen! Interested in supporting the podcast? Please share, subscribe and write a review! If it's accessible, we also have a Patreon which you can find at patreon.com/theecowell

There are so many new trendy ingredients - from exosomes to PDMR, peptides to tranexamic acid… But do they actually work? In my first episode of the season, I thought it would be fun to kick things off with an ingredient trends vs science conversation, featuring PhD candidate and cosmetic scientist, Lanesa Mahon. What works, what's over hyped, and what even is "science based"? We explored all that and more! Interested in supporting the podcast? Please share, subscribe and write a review! If it's accessible, we also have a Patreon which you can find at patreon.com/theecowell

Beauty has a misinformation problem. In my latest podcast, we take a look at the issue from a behavioural science POV with behavioural neuroscientist and consumer researcher, Michelle Niedziela, PhD. How is misinformation influencing consumer AND brand behaviour, why has misinfomation snowballing been such an issue, how is misinformation impacting beauty innovation and business bottom lines, and more.   Interested in supporting the podcast? Please share, subscribe and write a review! If it's accessible, we also have a Patreon which you can find at patreon.com/theecowell

Last week I moderated the Truth in Beauty Panel, Surfactants Edition, at the 15th ICIS World Surfactants Conference, brought to you by the Independent Beauty Association. This episode features that conversation! How has misinformation impacted the surfactants sector? Disclaimer - surfactants are chemicals that are fundamental for much of what we have become accustomed to societally, from transportation to infrastructure and more. In cosmetics, they enable many of the different product formats, such as lotions and cleansing products. The panel included Dennis Abbeduto from Colonial Chemical, Claire Mcgahan from Stepan Company and Women in Chemicals, and Neil Burns, who put on the conference with ICIS. Big thank you to Colonial Chemical for sponsoring IBA to help make this conversation happen! Disclaimer, we had some recording challenges at the conference so this was a re-record - for those in attendance, worth a second listen since we covered a bit more! Interested in supporting the podcast? Please share, subscribe and write a review! If it's accessible, we also have a Patreon which you can find at patreon.com/theecowell

This conversation featured perfumers Christophe Laudamiel & Pia Long. We talked about some of the structural challenges that the fragrance sector currently faces; from intellectual protection, perfumery education, issues of plagiarism, duping culture and more.  Interested in supporting the podcast? Please share, subscribe and write a review! If it's accessible, we also have a Patreon which you can find at patreon.com/theecowell

This episode features a deep dive into the topic of greenwashing, featuring greenwashing researcher, Dr Wren Montgomery PhD. We get into the different forms of greenwashing, greenwashing specific to cosmetics, its impacts, how brands can avoid making greenwashed claims, how consumers can navigate green claims, and more. Interested in supporting the podcast? Please share, subscribe and write a review! If it's accessible, we also have a Patreon which you can find at patreon.com/theecowell

This episode features behavioural neuroscientist and academic sleuth with a seriously impressive resume spotting research fraud, Dr Mu Yang, PhD. The topic - research fraud and it’s many flavors. What’s the problem, why does it appear to be on the rise, what are the science factors driving it, can we trust peer review and… can science be trusted to self correct? And for that to happen, what else has to fall into place?  Interested in supporting the podcast? Please share, subscribe and write a review! If it's accessible, we also have a Patreon which you can find at patreon.com/theecowell  

Beauty myths multiply! My latest podcast episode features OG beauty myth buster, Michelle Wong PhD, aka @labmuffinbeautyscience. What’s the latest trending beauty misinformation, where is it coming from, how is it growing and how does it impact both consumers and the beauty sector writ large. Probably not great - probably important for the industry to get behind addressing. We also dive into the importance of scicomm, current barriers for good independent scicomm - from the fact that so many of us do it for no pay on top of full-time jobs, how it impacts us personally when we debunk, to the rampant issues of plagiarism that adds to scicomm burnout. And what can be done from the beauty sector to better support independent beauty scicomm. Interested in supporting the podcast? Please share, subscribe and write a review! If it's accessible, we also have a Patreon which you can find at patreon.com/theecowell

This episode features safety assessor Mo Kanadil PharmD, otherwise known as @Moskinlab, in a conversation about safety misconceptions. What are common safety misconceptions amongst consumers, where is the misinformation coming from, what are the challenges in addressing it, and more. Interested in supporting the podcast? Please share, subscribe and write a review! If it's accessible, we also have a Patreon which you can find at patreon.com/theecowell

There is currently a war on science. What’s happening, what are the impacts, and what can we do about it? This week I was joined by 3 POVs to try to do the topic justice, coming at it from the public health and independent scicomm POV, with registered dietitian Dr Jessica Knurick, the science journalist POV, with Melody Schreiber, and the academia and academic scicomm POV, with Elisabeth Anderson. Interested in supporting the podcast? Please share, subscribe and write a review! If it's accessible, we also have a Patreon which you can find at patreon.com/theecowell