How to pick the best skin care line????? does anyone test professional lines?

I have done lots of research on different companies. the problem is, unless you know ingredients like the back of your hand, its hard to tell.

is their a company that tests and rates professional lines? if not , how do we tell?

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Jodi

Not to be direct but I do not believe that a skin care is trial and error.  How can it be?

A person walks in and has a skin issue.  There is a specific ingredient that helps; look to the medical books.  Its already been proven. Either the level of an Esty can or cannot help and then must go to a derm. If a skin care professional must have trial and error then maybe they do not know the skin as they should and the level care that they can give vs a medical dr.

If you buy a line that is convoluted with crazy formulas and crazy ideas because they are trying to be different and sell you the world then yes I can see how you would have to try every other line.  But if you truly understand the skin and what level of treatment you can realistically provide vs the time to say, "I have done all I can" or in the first place I cannot treat this skin issue then trial and error would not be needed.

When buying a car you know the end result right? What your looking for right?  This might be off a little but you have specific guidelines and it should apply to skin care as well. If no, then you are looking for the marketing of a skin care company to guide you and if that is the case then you would be right.

Marty

SkinCareScience.com

I meant finding a line you like.  It  can be trial and error, trying lines people recommend, but we all love different lines for different reasons.  Until you find one you love, you try ones others love.  Yes, I know ingredients and I resent your implication that I don't, simply because I said that.  I have my favorite anti-aging ingredients and lots of lines use them.  But finding the one I feel is most effective is down right trial and error (have to try them to see how they work). 

No offense Marty, but I have worked with products that have the same active ingredients and you get DIFFERENT RESULTS....-Has a ton to do with the delivery and composition of the product....when I say trial and error, it means you, the esty, try the product and sees which is best....not trial and error on the clients.....I know my boundaries and what I can and cannot do with certain skin issues....Not confused....And knowing ingredients is extremely important....it takes time..I am constantly learning....actually enjoy it.

thank you! 

Mariah - I think it is just too subjective to "rate" product lines.

There are just too many individual variable and quirks!

I know many esthy's that LOVE certain lines that I have no interest in using!

You have to look at yourself and your business FIRST. Waht are your values and your philosophy?

What kinds of products do you want to be using? Who are your clients? What do they need?

You have to know your finances too...it you are a solo with limited resources, you might find it difficult to bring in a BIG line with lots of different products. 

The look, reputation, and affordability of product is variable too...what do you want to present, what will your area support?

Each of us makes the best decision we can. Most of us bring on additional items or product lines as we go to supplement or replace.  You don't have to stick with any one line if your taste changes - or if you find something you like working with better.

Go ahead and ask for input from others - but in the end make the decision that YOU feel is the best one for YOU.

Kim

When you said:  delivery and composition of the product

What did 'delivery' mean?  I was confused on that...

Composition was directed at percentage of active? Yes I would agree with you on that point.

I should have said a few more words: It takes years to develop a skin treatment and most skin care companies can make a product and bring it to market very quickly and make just about any claim they want to. So my point was with that quickness and then all the different types of skin, trial and error based on those factors is what I was referring to.

Marty

SkinCareScience.com

Marty

Delivery system is common terminology for estheticians. It is the chemical component that allows an ingredient to be "delivered" to the skin. If your active ingredient is only 1 or 2% of the composition of the product, it stands to reason that the majority of the other ingredients are the vehicle to which allows that active to be delivered to the skin.

Many product lines have similar ingredient blends and similar actives, but all are composed differently. Then you add pH and percentages to the mix and it can make product lines very dissimilar even though their ingredients look so similar. Also, what delivery systems are being chosen (creams, gels, toners, serums) to introduce the actives to the skin vary by the preferences of the makers of the line. So yes, product preference for estheticians is determined by trying the products and figuring out what they feel most comfortable with. "Trial and error"

And let's not forget that while you can predict how a chemical/ingredient is going to interact with other ingredients in a bottle, you have no idea how it will be received by a clients own skin chemistry/body chemistry. So there is no "one line" that can be prescribed to cure all the skin care problems of the world, there are many lines to meet the diverse and challenging needs of the individual.

Samantha

Your answer or statement is very well said, but...

To your first paragraph: Delivery system = Base (Got it - Same page)

Second paragraph: It has taken the better part of a decade or longer to prove (since till this day there are areas of the skin and how it absorbs product that are not known) specific ingredients at specific percentages to do specific results.  And even then it is not 100% known.  How do we know this?  Because large pharmaceuticals firms patent very few skin care products vs what is actually on the market. So what your saying is I can sit down with a chemist and decide on a product base and just start adding whatever I want and then decide on whatever percentage I want in it, then make sure the cost is right -add or subtract to make the cost right, then claim whatever I want and start selling it?  Is that the "Trial and Error" your talking about?

Your third paragraph: Your right and all skin care lines have this problem.  So what I do is remove every single ingredient I can until the the formula will fall apart, that is if I continue to remove.  Only then do I know i am delivery the least amount of ingredients to the skin as possible.  So to your point if product 'A' has 20 to its base and product 'B' has 30 or more to its base then I would go with product 'A' based on your point.

Marty

SkinCareScience.com

Marty

Delivery....composition...go hand-in-hand....Composition of the products ingredients will determine how it is delivered to the skin....how well it penetrates...does it sit on top of the skin....yada, yada, yada....I do not know everything about products....or skin...If you have something  to teach me I'm not so ignorant that I'm not going to listen....So this is no debate (not in my opinion).....and sorry I am a little late writing back....I've been working/busy with clients!!

Kim

Ok.  The principles of percutaneous absorption is too big a subject really for this board but I get what you said now after reading your last post and the one before it. I was really asking cause maybe you had something to teach me but your over view thoughts I understand. I see now. :)

Marty

SkinCareScience.com

Remember climate also plays a role in what formulations will be effective.  Helping your clients avoid inflammation means making sure they are neither under-hydrated nor over-occluded.  Most lines have a heavier and a lighter basic moisturizer, but the functional ingredients they use to deliver the specific actives in products like serums and leave-on treatments will have a particular "flavor" of being heavier or lighter, often depending on the climate where they are developed or tested.

Marty'

You said: So what your saying is I can sit down with a chemist and decide on a product base and just start adding whatever I want and then decide on whatever percentage I want in it, then make sure the cost is right -add or subtract to make the cost right, then claim whatever I want and start selling it? Is that the "Trial and Error" your talking about?

No I'm not sure where i said that. The trial and error that I'm talking about is on the part of an Esthetician and the process of working/training on various lines until we find that favorite line that we feel most comfortable with and that works within the scope of our practice. I'm not sure of the exact process by which companies develop their products but I'd bet its similar to what you're describing except with much more research and application of their philosophy. Brands over the years constantly introduce new product, change formulations, or discontinue product that is not doing well.

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