By Hannah Sivak, PhD
Biochemist
Skin Actives Scientific LLC

The FDA regulates cosmetics. All products that follow FDA regulations are safe: they contain only safe ingredients (out of an list of permitted ingredients), and they are clean and free of bacteria or mold. Regulations are different for medications, and are different for over-the-counter or for prescription medicines.  A very important point: manufacturers of cosmetics are not allowed to use prescription medicines.

Do it yourself (DIY) skin care can be as safe as commercially available products, as long as you use good ingredients and work "clean", just as you do when you are cooking.

Although they should be, not every commercially available product is completely safe. Occasionally, big companies do not follow FDA regulations. For example, Jan Marini's eye lash product was confiscated by the FDA because  a prescription medicine for glaucoma has been used to "spike" the product.  One of Perricone's  products contains "neuropeptides", not included in the list of ingredients allowed by the FDA. Why is this important? It is a very bad idea to use products extracted from mammals because of the possibility of infection by viruses or prions (the agent believed to be the cause of mad cow disease).

The important thing is that there is no reason to use unsafe ingredients. Why sell ingredients of mammalian origin and dubious activity when we can provide high-tech, pure and safe actives? Scientific advances make it unnecessary to use unsafe ingredients.

Sometimes even ingredients allowed by the FDA are not a good idea. For example, we at SAS don't sell unnecessary ingredients like bergamot essential oil. It smells nice but it can lead to photosensitivity.  We cannot be sure that all our clients will remember to avoid the sun soon after using it. So, why risk it?

We at Skin Actives want effectiveness, this is why we sell only the best actives anywhere. But there is a few, very effective actives that we do not sell. Why? Because we also believe in safety and health, and some ingredients should be left in the hands of professionals.  For example, we do not sell trichloroacetic acid (TCA), a chemical I have used for almost 40 years in the laboratory during research. TCA is used routinely to precipitate proteins in assays that determine protein concentration in solutions. It is also used in chemical peels, and I have seen (on my own face!)  how effective a TCA peel can be. But we only sell TCA to our clients with professional training (mostly dermatologists) and legal certification.

We do not sell lactic acid or glycolic acid either. After decades of teaching my students about pH and its effect on living cells, the last thing I want to see is an acid misused on the skin.  We do however sell ready mixed products that contain acids, like our salicylic wash and the alpha/beta exfoliator. These have been formulated with care and great regard to safety. Use as indicated and you will have great results.

Our copper peptide is sold in such quantities that the concentration on mixing the tube with 4 oz. of cream will be perfect for collagen synthesis. Our vitamin C serum contains MAP, a stable vitamin C. We tell our clients to make fresh ascorbic acid every day or every week.

My decades of academic research and training, plus constant consulting with medical and scientific professionals provide you, our customer, with excellent actives.  Only the best will do. No hype, no myth, no gossip. Just science.

People think that the main advantages of DIY skin care is in the fantastic savings. There is the huge different in cost but the good news is that instead of losing in quality, you actually get more and better activity. Why? You will know how much  you active you have in DIY your cream, because YOU added to it.

Safety, effectiveness, and the best science and nature can provide, it is all yours at Skin Actives.