Changing the Status Quo
If you don’t know this by now, it’s a known fact that the majority of skin care companies and manufacturers simply copy their predecessors, from formulas to aesthetics to products, typically with no original concept or function that sets them apart.
Harsh words? No, this is my experience of more than three decades of seeing copycats and marketing-driven products, void of substance and effect. It is rare to see a company come around and challenge what is considered normal, to welcome a new way of thinking when it comes to our skin. It often takes attempt after attempt after attempt before a concept changes the status quo OR in current times, a celebrity influencer (paid for) to change how we think. Enter- trends good, and bad.
When I set out to create efficient, nutrient-rich formulas in the eighties and into the nineties, I had no support from the cosmetic chemistry industry. No suppliers in that industry understood why I wanted to change what was already available. I was told over and over that without plasticizers (petrochemical binders) and preservatives, there was absolutely no way the products would hold together or stay stable on the shelf. Well they were wrong.
Just like we were told some years ago that organic produce is not healthier than pesticide filled produce, now we have scientific data that demonstrates this marked difference in composition. In the development of Benedetta with a focus on a functional system of use, my attention centered on creating a foundational product first: a cream cleanser. It obviously needed to purify without stripping the skin of natural oils and hydration without harming the skin in turn.1
But in my pursuit of the perfect Cream Cleanser we now know as the Crème Cleanser for Most Skin, I found that I needed a more systemic approach, not a mere on and off one. I found in my own clinical work and observations, that the skin needed and thrived on nutrition-based purification as the blood carried these molecules to deeper layers of the epidermis. This demanded further research on how our blood and lymph transported these nutrients, where they went, and how the skin could benefit. It was evident in my 3 years of perfecting the Crème Cleanser for Most Skin that the need for toners, once considered necessary for skin cleanliness, was based in marketing rather than function.
The idea that we need an alcohol-based preparation, was conceived as a secondary part of the cleansing process to further purify and possibly close or tighten pores. However, this actually only caused further disfunction to skin's holistic reproduction and balance. It was also evident that the Crème Cleanser did everything and more in achieving its goal, which at the time was to cleanse, tone, and exfoliate the skin, gently and without harm. It has, since its inception more than 27 years ago, far surpassed its holistic ability to increase our overall immunity of the skin and become necessary to both our 5-Step Daytime Facial Regimen and 3-Step Nighttime Facial Regimen.
1. Skin care companies and ingredient chemists, like "Big Pharma", create chemicals that have a function of use that have side effects that are typically counterproductive to the point of use. Take for example, Vitamin A retinoid, reputed for the ability to exfoliate and regenerate skin cells rapidly and remove anything from scarring to aging and fine wrinkles.
The side effects are typically excessive drying that causes the skin to lose hydration (a cornerstone for youthful skin), and among other things become photo-sensitive or toxic, demanding the need to wear high numbered SPFs daily, creating more damage.