Like many things, EpiDerm NZ began to fill a need, and became an outreach from the heart. Being involved in health, preventative medicine and beauty collectively for over 4 decades, promoting information is not new to us. We found out we were not alone in our quest for products that really do have the good without the bad. When we first began to study the effects of free radical damage on cellular structures 15 years ago, we thought medicine was looking at the origins of numerous disease processes. Remember, it took over 100 years for medicine to accept, and confirm germs as the cause of infection. It really shouldn't be a surprise to us that over 100 years has passed since the first studies on free radical damage were done. When one of us, who is a RN, suggested the comparison to her friends and relatives who are MD's over 10 years ago they actually laughed at her! They aren't laughing now. More than one has said," Remember that CoQ10 you told me to take 10 years ago for my heart disease? My cardiologist just said the same thing." ...and so swings the pendulum.
The results of free radical damage are never more evident than on your face. Each time you look in a mirror, you see the cross linking of collagen fibers caused by free radical damage ; wrinkles, brown spots, saggy skin ~ lovely. When you put lemon juice on an apple slice, you prevent the occurrance of free radical damage. Lemon juice is full of numerous antioxidants that sacrifice one, or several oxygen molecules. They bind to the loose, unpaired electrons that otherwise would have ripped through the apple cells, turning the apple brown, and later, to mush. The same process occurs inside your body, and outside on your face, and skin. A simple little reaction. A violent destructive reaction. In 1:20,000th of a second, it is able to rip through a cell and render it useless! Once the damage occurs, it cannot be repaired. Worse yet, is the damage it can afflict upon your DNA, causing mutagenic changes. Different antioxidants and compounds protect different parts of the cell. For example, Vitamin E protects the fat components like cell membranes. Vitamin C and bioflavanoids are protectants for the water compartments of the cell, Grape Seed is one of the few that will work in both. Hence the need, for multi-faceted antioxidant protection. The need for nutritional supplementation was firmly established in medical literature years ago. Of course comprimises don't just occur with skin care products, they occur with nutritional supplements as well. We are developing a line of nutritional supplements. Our skin is an organ, we know what happens when we neglect the care of our organs.
As we began to investigate cosmetic chemistry and product ingredients, we had many surprises. For instance, we did not know that all colored cosmetic, food and drug products sold in the
US are mandated by law through the FDA to be certified. Certification requires a fee. Of course only FD&C colors are certified in the
US, thus making it illegal to color cosmetic products with natural sources. We'd like to know how a couple of companies out there who are doing it are getting away with it! Not fond of attorneys (sorry), we have chosen to operate within federal guidelines and the bath and body line does contain colors; it does not contain artificial fragrance. When we use colors, we choose the best. The skin care line is free of artificial color. All of the product lines are devoid of artificial fragrance. Rest assured, when we can alter our color additives for the bath and body line we shall! As for now, color has it's place. We also choose to use the mildest plant source preservatives we are able to find. Natural preservatives are wonderful, until you look under the microscope at week 6, and months 2,8 and 10 and see bacterial growth. Some of the bacteria that are fond of these types of products will cause blindness. We are not willing to put ourselves, our families or you at risk.
We also noticed several oddities. It appeared that some of the most expensive products, had the highest amount of bad ingredients. Many products with bad ingredients were formulated, and/or promoted by MDs or Dermatology organizations for use on post laser, peel and plastic surgery patients! Consider the toxicity of some of these ingredients. If you were to look at the MSDS (Manufacturer Safety Data Sheets) on parabens, propylene glycol, phenoxyethanol, mineral oil or petroleum you would notice the safety recommendations for people who work with these ingredients. The MSDS sheets on these ingredients say - Do not ingest, Easily absorbed into the skin, Minimize skin contact, Wear gloves and protect open skin, Do not inhale, Known toxic substance - Known mutagenic compound. Yet these same compounds are recommended heavily by these doctors for use on raw, open skin and unprotected skin cells. SCARY!
As we say at Epiderm NZ ~ You do have a choice ~
~You don't have to compromise on quality, or performance ~
We welcome your prescence. We thank you for your patronage.
