SCHOOLGIRLS have proved they really are “worth it” after being picked by cosmetics company L’Oreal to learn about the science of beauty formulations.

The 30 Oxford High School students have been scientifically analysing shampoo and other cosmetic products against company advertising claims.

After they contacted L’Oreal, they were invited to go down to its London Young Scientist Institute to speak to its science director and carry out further experiments.

Chemistry teacher Maria Whittington said: “The girls have really flown with this project in Science Critical Thinking, doggedly writing and writing again when they got no response to lots of cosmetics companies, questioning them how they got their data for claims such as “eyelashes look up to 3x thicker”.

“L’Oreal was magnificent and rose to the challenge, and have invited 30 girls to come with me to their Young Scientists Institute in London on June 4, to spend the morning carrying out experiments on shampoos and lotions.

“In the afternoon they are sending their science director down to bravely face a Q&A session with the girls.”

Belle Alberts, 13, said: “It’s been an eye-opener.

“When you really look at adverts for cosmetics and see how the companies can use numbers wrongly to make their products seem really good.”

Lucy Neyland, 13, said: “I’m really looking forward to asking them questions.”

Jessica Tang, aged 12, added: “If they didn’t use big sample sizes then the companies shouldn’t use their results in their adverts, it’s misleading.”

Mairi Franklin, 12, said: “It was such a great idea to use Science Critical Thinking lessons to write to different cosmetics companies and question how they got the data they use in their adverts.”

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