This guide is to advise buyers: beware. There are many skin care products sold for which YOU are the guinna pig. They have not been clinical tested, though the company may cite clinical studies done on some of the kind of ingredients also in their products. That does not mean they did the studies, nor that studies were ever done on their specific product. It does not mean that they have enough of that ingredient to make a difference for you, nor does it reveal how much of ingredient X was used in the clinical studies performed by someone else.

Dateline NBC recently did us all a big favor when their investigative report on infomericals revealed that women will spend as much as $50 on a small jar of capsules or tablets (advertised as helping the skin) which have no clinical proof of doing anything good for you!

There is only one company I am familiar with that I trust for skin care and nutritional supplements, both of which the FDA do not regulate for either pesticides, efficacy, or product claims, and that company is Shaklee. For those of you who do not know why, please read on.

Shaklee actually pays the big bucks for clinical trials done by independent researchers on the actual product(s) they are marketing to the public. For instance, they do not cite Vitamin C as being shown to be helpful, and then just say: so buy our vitamin C. They are marketing a particular supplement product, and that product has had clinical trials. Not only does Shaklee have clinical trials, they have had as many as 70 articles published in medical and technical journals! These are the kind of articles your doctor reads when he can find the time! It is very difficult to get articles published in such journals, as so many researchers submit their findings, and the publishers have limited room and standards for their selections.

It is the same for all their skin care products. There are many skin care products which claim to have C and E in them to help with anti-aging, and it may be true that their product contains some. However, vitamins C and E are very unstable and easily damaged by light and air. It was not possible until recently for those nutrients to be effective when applied to the skin. How many other companies have since caught up with the Shaklee technology, I do not know, but I know Shaklee has several patents on their skin care line, Enfuselle.

Just after they introduced this product, Paula Begoun released her new book in which a university (Tufts, I think) dermatology researcher was quoted explaining why vitamins C and E are not really effective (due to being unstable). He goes on to say, that if that problem is solved, we should all go out and buy stock in the company which produces the product because it would be a miracle product!

I wrote Paula Begoun and told her about the new Shaklee "miracle" product. She phoned me! She asked for the ingredients. I sent her empty boxes which listed all the ingredients, but it is not just the ingredients that make Shaklee's skin care so good. It's the patented process they developed which successfully delivers the potent vitamin C and E to the skin, and is received by the cells; not activated until it is applied to the skin.

She did not reply to me ever, and when I checked her website I did not see the Shaklee Enfuselle products listed in any of her reviews. Not surprising, since she markets her own line of skin care....This is not to say she does not have some worthwhile information at her website.

Moisturizers help hold moisture in; drinking plenty of water will help. Also the skin is helped by essential (meaning you must get this through your diet, i.e., the body does not produce this) fatty acids, along with vitamin A (in supplements as beta carotene, vit A or just food), and zinc, which helps the skin heal - it's the major active ingredient in Desitin (zinc oxide 40%).

I am not selling Shaklee on ebay, but lots of people are. I hope you will check out their offers, often great bargains, by doing a search: Shaklee!