Monday, January 30, 2012

Mass-Produced skin care compared to hand crafted skin care


Mass Produced Skin Care Line vs. Atypical Hand Made Skin Care Therapies

Big brand skin care lines aren't all they are cracked up to be.

A large skin care company/corporation uses their massive amounts of cash to produce fancy packaging design and television/magazines campaigns often featuring movie stars. Place the high product prices with slick advertising and big name actresses and the consumer can discover their products are of low quality and their effectiveness, according to consumers, is often dissapointing. The products are often costly and, as many consumers discover, these much vaunted products often contain low quality ingredients. And worse, some of these chemicals have been identified as carcinogens, yes, they can cause cancer.

Some time ago, I experienced sticker shock when I saw the prices visiting my local chain drug store. A 1.7 oz jar of moisturizer was on sale for $54.00. Testers were provided and when I placed some of this creme on top of my hand I immediately determined it would never touch my face. Naturally, the next step was reading the ingredients. The big name high price skin care contained cheap synthetic substances and miniscule quantities of quality ingredients.

After having extensively researched the constituents of mass produced skin care products, it has become apparent that they can lead to skin irritation, cause problematic skin (acne), and premature aging.

We all love something for free. The consumer is lured to department stores for the ambience of the store and the visual appeal of the bottling and corrugated boxes provided with the products. Here's the trick: the consumer really pays for the marketing ploys, the cardboard, the cellophane, the nice music and the parfumed atmosphere.

Lots of people are animal lovers and won't use products tested on animals, and that's great. Ironically, they unknowingly use household name products, that are tested on animals. PETA has the list of these companies. Some people ask, how bad can it be to test a cleanser on an animal? One example, the product is sprayed into the animals eyes. If the animal's eyes burn a lot it's an indication the product may not be good for sensitive human skin. The first person to test Motion Medica is me. If or when it passes my skin standards I then ask clients to test the new product with their feedback. Most companies consider this a big risk and have their employees test and not the consumers-the ultimate decision maker of a product.

So how can small ethical skin care companies manufacturers afford to make a good product with high concentration of expensive ingredients that actually works for positive results? We use a tiny advertising budget, unadorned plastic bottles/jars and labels; and purchase ingredients from local farmers (botanicals and herbs) and suppliers rather than China, while using these resources to make a truly good product that won't dissapoint the consumer or hurt their budget. Grow a company from nothing with no big advertising and word of mouth by clients gives credibility to the product line.

Use a skin care line that is botanical based and chemical free. However, there are skin care lines popping up that claim "all natural" and organic when they are not. Mainstream vs. Atypical. I'll let you decide who is the winner.

By Sandy Alcide
Founder of Motion Medica skin careCo-Author Dr. John Daniels Redfern, Australia
Copyright 2011 Sandy Alcide

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