261. Reacting To Allure’s LED Mask Advice: What To Know Before Spending Money On a LED Mask

Welcome to Biohacking Beauty Podcast. I am Amitay Eshel.

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And I'm Anastasia Hojaeva.

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We are the founders of of Young Goose, the world's premier longevity and biohacking skincare.

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We also are the hosts of Biohacking

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Beauty Podcast, which that's what we're here today. And what we're doing in this podcast is looking at the science of skin longevity and breaking it down for you guys to be able to digest it and use it.

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Yes. Amen.

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And like we're doing before every episode recently, because that's what Anastasia and Chelsea, the producer, make me do, we read

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a review, a listener's review. Listener's review, which we appreciate and appreciate so much. So I'm going to read this review.

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The title is five stars.

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The title is five stars Must listen. And then the body of the review,

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then just below the title, five stars Must Listen, there is the actual numbers of stars given in the review, which are three.

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Yes. So yeah, today we chose the three star review and this is what the person had to say. What really sets this show apart and why I keep coming back is the host's unique blend of science and personality. Should have kept the original intro for that. I love that they don't just list random products, but explain the specific ingredients and mechanisms like ceramides, barrier lipids, peptides, NAD precursors that truly support skin health during colder months. That's true. You guys got it. I also appreciate how they break down tiered protocols for different age groups. It's so helpful to hear nuanced guidance tailored to your biological skin age. And while the content is rich with evidence based information, the host's humor and natural report. Keep it super fun to listen. Report

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the reports they provide.

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Keep it super fun to listen to. Whether you're a skincare newbie or a longtime enthusiast, this podcast gives you clear, practical takeaways. Can't read today, you can apply right away. This podcast continues to be my go to for real anti aging insights. And then.

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And that's why I give it three stars.

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And then there's lots of loving emojis. So our guess is that the stars were given by accident.

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Yes, of course.

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And it was supposed to be five stars. But this we still will give you a gift and you still get a gift.

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You might get a lesser gift than someone that gave us five stars, but you get a gift. But anyway, listen, today is a very cool episode.

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Yeah. So if you wrote this review, please DM us on Instagram or email servicenows.com

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and we hope to, you know, we hope to give you a gift that benefits the three stars that you give. No, I'm kidding. Anyway, we have a really cool episode today because today we are. We're doing a reaction video to a post.

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Yes.

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Yeah. And this is a post by Allure magazine. And the post is called so you want to buy an LED mask. And, you know, I stumbled upon this post immediately in our. In a group chat with our team. I was like, hey, we gotta respond to it. Because I think, first of all, I think it's a sponsored post. I didn't go ahead and like, read their article.

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Mm.

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But it seems to me like there are a lot of inaccuracies here that kind of. They. That smell to me, like their conclusion somehow is gonna be like, to recommend a specific mask that they probably got paid to recommend.

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Okay, well, let's dive in. So the first page goes, does the price seem to be too good to be true? And so there is like, you ask if the answer is no, you continue. If the answer is yes and. And the price is too good to be true, then here's what they have to say. You get what you pay for. And our experts agree that most legitimate LED masks retail somewhere between 100 to 1,000. The number.

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Dollars.

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Dollars. Yes. And the Number of diodes, aka bulbs around 100 to 500, is standard. More than that is probably extraneous. And their quality, as well as the size and shape of the mask itself account for. For that range.

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Well, it's. There is there. There are some truths here, but here are the mistakes in my eyes. First of all, $100 to $1,000 is a. Is a. Is a crazy range. And I kind of. I suspect that they might be saying actually, like, if you, you know, you can have eye patches and you can have this and that, but let's say we're talking about LED masks. I would say like 3 to $500 is. Is the classic range. You see higher end masks, which obviously we're not fan of masks, but that's that. And I'm just going to say something about our experts. There are no experts in LED masks. Okay. Experts are, you know, you have like, I don't know, Professor Hamlin in like Harvard that's done it for like 50 years, and believe me, he doesn't have an opinion about LED masks. Okay, so they didn't consult even one expert.

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Yeah, I think they just wanted to say that if you bought an LED mask, that's under a hundred dollars. Okay, that's too good. To be true. So you already should consider getting a different one. But then as you said, they give way too wide of a range, you know, for somebody, I think they're trying to be like, okay, you bought a mask for a thousand dollars. Okay, don't feel bad. That's still within the range of reasonable. But probably what they're going to recommend is somewhere in the middle. And therefore that's going to seem like a really good option to go for because it's in the middle of that range.

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Here. Here are two things that if I were to write this blurb, I would say, first of all, yeah, the number of diodes does matter because it's coverage. Like if you have like five diodes there, like we know a mask pretty one more, one of the more famous companies, they have like 20 diodes in the whole mask. We actually got sent this mask month. But they have very low amount of diodes. So you get very low coverage of the, of the skin. So yeah, the amount of diodes matter and more are better. The other thing is, is that like the shape, the type that's very like, that's not constructive. What you should look for is output. It's very difficult to understand the outputs of masks. But masks come in 5 to 14 milliwatts per centimeter squared of outputs. Higher is better. So look for ones that have 14s. They don't come in higher than that, unfortunately. But look for 14 milliwatts.

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Yeah, that's a great advice. Okay, are you willing to use it daily? So then if your answer is yes, you may move on. But if you answered like, no, I'm not willing to use it daily, then basically they're saying, oh, then that's not going to work. Save your money. Experts, those same experts agree that if you don't use an LED mask nearly daily, you don't reap the potential benefits. And that it doesn't make sense as well. Because if you've gotten good enough signal from the red light therapy, if you stimulated the repair and regeneration process, you really don't need it constant. You don't need it twice a day, you don't need it every day. A really proper red light therapy device, even if you use it three times a week for 10 to 15 minutes, that's really going to give you the same results. If you were to use the same product every single day, twice a day. Because you do have a bit of a ceiling with the results you can reap.

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Because so again, reference, like panels, let's say you buy a panel A good panel, it's going to give you like four to six times more energy, more stimulation than the best LED mask. Okay. That's why you can use it like once or twice a week. I think the way you could rephrase, this is good news. If you're obsessed with LED masks and you wanted to use them daily, you can without damaging your skin.

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But you think with the panels they would damage their skin?

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No, they're not. But you might, like, over time, just like, not, you know, you're going to get to a point of diminishing returns if you use that daily. But. And you use, you want to use it every other day or something like that. But with masks, you can use it daily. Hopefully it creates some stimulation. And again, like, I haven't seen any expert in the field say anything about masks at all.

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So. And honestly, I mean, I think a person needs to be realistic. I don't think anybody can commit of any age to use a mask daily. So I mean, honestly, they should be like the end of the article.

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Yeah.

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Okay. Is the device FDA cleared? So then there, there is again, like, yes and no. If, if the device is FDA cleared, you may continue. If no, it says FDA clearance doesn't necessarily mean a device is better than what's already out there or has clinical research behind it, but it does theoretically mean it's safe. Look, look for a device that FDA cleared and know that seemingly similar terms like FDA certified or FDA tested are totally bogus. I mean, yes, there is no, like FDA certified of tested. That is an improper term. But honestly, I think at this point, like, I think all the devices are FDA cleared because they're using the technology that has been FDA cleared.

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First of all, most devices, the Chinese manufacturer already runs them through the 510k clearance, which means FDA cleared. That's number one.

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Yeah.

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So it's not the actual company that does it. They buy it kind of off the Chinese manufacturer's shelf. They've already done it. That's number one. It doesn't talk about efficacy at all. Like, FDA clearance has nothing. FDA clearance says we've supplied information to the FDA that they didn't even check. And if that is indeed the case that we've supplied them the correct information, this device is not dangerous. The FDA didn't deem it dangerous. That's what FDA clearance means. By the way, there are no FDA approved LED masks, which would mean there was a claim that it does something medical and then the FDA looked at it and said, yes, this is correct. Yeah. Other terms are bogus. But there it's just an irrelevant piece of information when you are thinking of buying a device or not. I mean, absolutely useless piece of information that is just used for marketing.

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I mean, you know, in a way. And now I'm thinking if indeed somebody is looking to buy an LED mask and somehow they don't have FDA cleared, maybe that that is actually a good enough reason to like abandon the whole idea. Yeah, maybe very small.

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And they didn't, you know, it's not a company that has invested, you know, that had the capital to begin with.

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Yeah.

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To you know, pay $100,000 to.

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Exactly. So then that has a lot of implications. Yeah, So I guess that's a good advice. All right, the next slide goes. Did the brand do third party clinical trials with at least five subjects? So if the answer is yes, you may continue, like that's a good, you know. But if apparently the brand did not do third party clinical trials with at least five subjects, then they are saying proceed with caution. Clinical studies are expensive and time consuming, so not all brands conduct them. But it's the only way to tell that the device you're using is capable of doing anything for your skin.

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That's bullshit. The reason it's bullshit is because if you first of all I, again, I'm sure they're actually aiming to sell specific,

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specific, specific device that did the five subject study.

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Five subjects mean nothing. It's, it's just it costs about 15 to $20,000 to, to run the study that they're talking about. So it's less than they would than that company paid Allure to talk about them for sure. That's number one. Number two, that also doesn't. Third party means you paid that party to do the study. Okay. That party is financially obligated to give you the results that you want or else you're not going to publish it. The questions 100% of the times are leading to a specific answers that they want and it's again a useless piece of information. No company would do a red light therapy study at a large scale that would prove any type of like, you know, like by the way like 30, 60 subjects that would prove any type of like specific protocols, protocol, something like that because it's, the technology is not patentable. Okay. So it doesn't provide a lot of like financial sense to do this because you're going to basically just show a specific wavelength that everyone else can use that did something. Okay, so again they are talking nonsense.

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Yeah, yeah.

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And that's not the only Way to know if the device that you're using is gonna do something. The way to know is to look at their data and to see that they're using the correct wavelengths that follow results like 630 to 660 nanometers of red light or you know, 850 nanometers, which is near infrared, or the two wavelengths that are the most efficacious as far as, you know, skin rejuvenation. Quality of diodes definitely matter, but I don't have, I don't know of a way to test that to check that. So I don't think you're going to be able to do that.

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Yeah, I think in order to wrap up this podcast episode because basically at this point the article is just saying like, oh, you made it so far. Can you. Congratulations. And here's a list of like, you know, click the article.

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Here's what our editors chose. By the way, the professionals are gone, the experts are gone.

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Yeah.

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And here's what our editors chose.

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Exactly. So I think in order to wrap up this episode, you already mentioned the power that people need to look for. We agree that the device should be FDA cleared. Anything else you want to recommend?

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Yeah, so it's going to be very difficult for people to figure out the output. The thing about one thing about FDA cleared is that you can go to the registration with the FDA and they actually list there the, the output. So that's, I mean, you're going to have to Google search it like, you know, let's say, you know, X company FDA 510K FDA clearance and the name of the LED mask and you're going to get a big file. You can ask ChatGPT, you can load a GPT, ask it, you know, to find the output there and that could be good. This is, you know, when people ask me, you know, why a specific brand that I'm going to mention now, I don't like it as a panel. I went to that and I said, well, here's the output. It's very low. But yeah, anyway, any, any red light therapy mask, even a 5 milliwatts per centimeter squared is, is going to activate ladder light activated DNA repair serum, which is Yangus's serum. The 10x is the effects of red light therapy. And that is your real, that's, that's the real driver of results when you use red light therapy. Use ladder with it and then you'll see a difference.

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Yes, but we still want 14 milliwatt per centimeter squared. If you guys are. Didn't buy your mask yet and searching to buy one. This is a good piece of information to kind of guide you. And that is something that is easily like, they mention it on their specs.

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That's what I'm saying. They don't. Most of them don't.

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That's how you do the search. Got it.

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We're gonna attach to this episode a list of like, I don't know, at least five companies that have 14 milliwatts. Wow. Yeah. At least. Well, I'm gonna do my research and we're gonna attach it.

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We've never done this before and people have been asking us to do it for forever.

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We're not for led, like, we don't like LED masks.

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That's the thing. I'm always cautious with recommending other brands because when me as a founder of a brand, I know how much work we do if things go wrong. To like, a brand's quality is also the, like, the customer service is a big part of it. And I just do not know like, I, as a, as a customer of other things, have experienced even like big brands in small brands experience so much bad customer service in the industry that I'm always very cautious to recommend someone because I, I do not like, I don't wish to recommend. And then somebody has a problem with something, you know, they will feel like they wasted their money and we recommended something. So I'm a little bit cautious of that. I hope you guys understand. I'm sorry to be a bummer, but, you know, I take, I have, I've learned my lessons with recommending some companies and then when other people were not happy, I'm just like, you know what, why I'm even, you know, putting myself in this position.

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Yeah, that's right. I'm trying to find if I have notes about like, you know, mask output, but I actually don't think I will. We're gonna, we're gonna attach it to this.

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But also, overall, guys, really, if you, if you own a red, red light therapy mask, then yes, using ladder will help you get much more results, much better results, and you can even see it for yourselves. And like, that's a no brainer. If you do not own an LED mask for the price of LNSD mask, you can actually a lot of the times find a panel and that's just so much better. It's better for your skin. Health panel is also something that you can potentially use on your knee, if it hurts on your elbow, if it hurts on your back. I'm recommending panels. And that's my closing thoughts for this.

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I agree. I agree.

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Okay. Well, thank you so much for for listening to tuning in to today's episode. We love you, you guys. Thank you so much for being with us.

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Share, like, subscribe and enjoy.

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Yes.

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Bye.

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See you here next time. By.

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