Including medicine?
Yes, so it started off with your pharmacy products, supermarket products, they didn’t work, I visited the doctor, I was put on certain prescription medications and they didn’t work. And eventually I was referred to a dermatologist and he couldn’t help out either, so in the end I basically resorted to applying a 10% benzoyl peroxide cream to my face every night thinking that was the only option I had. Until that is I came across a clinical paper during my undergraduate studies and that’s what started the path to PuraSkin.
So what did you do then?
The clinical paper showed that vitamin B3 applied topically was as effective as some pharmaceutical products. So I ran into my laboratory and started experimenting with different vitamin B3 formulas and I started experimenting on myself. I would apply my gel to the right side of my face and continued to use the benzoyl peroxide on the left, just to compare how they worked and I found that they worked in a very similar way to reduce the acne but the difference was that the gel that I was applying, that I created, was resulting in soft and smooth skin where as the benzoyl peroxide side was still dry and irritated. So for me that was a great first step to finding a great solution.
And then what did you do?
And then I went on and studied a Masters of Herbal Medicine and came to realise that to treat acne effectively you can’t just focus externally, you really have to look internally and really understand what’s going on with the body mechanisms and how you can take things internally to assist with clear skin.
And again I used myself as the guinea pig and started consuming individual ingredients to see what effects they had on skin. And it was only then when I started the internal/external products system together that my skin completely transformed and nothing could clear my skin the way that these products did.
What was it that you were taking that helped the internal system?
I did some research and found which vitamins, which minerals were really good at promoting healthy skin. So it was things like zinc, vitamin C, vitamin B6, vitamin A, also flaxseed oil which is really good because it contains omegas 3, 6 and 9 which is great for skin texture and appearance.
So is there something to take as well?
It’s a three step process. So step one is a cleanser. I had to develop a cleanser as well because everything I used out in the marketplace was either not effective or was overly drying on the skin. Step two is the topical gel that I mentioned that contains vitamin B3 and Australian sandalwood oil as active ingredients, which are fantastic ingredients for reducing inflammation and killing bacteria that cause acne. And the third step is this oral capsule: you take two capsules a day and you do that daily and then you see your skin clearing.
And what hurdles did you have to get over in terms of getting these approved?
It’s taken me about five years to complete the research and development for PuraSkin and trial and error trying to get the products to be stable and getting all the formulations right. From there we obviously embarked on some clinical testing and listing with the Therapeutic Goods Administration.
How are you marketing this, are you going to be using yourself as the person who’s demonstrating this?
Yes, yes definitely. If you remember back in the early days when we first launched with Nad’s it was always telling the story, about why we created these products. And I guess it’s just history repeating itself but in this case rather than my sister having an unwanted hair problem it’s myself having an acne problem.
What’s the third sister got?
I was actually having this conversation with her the other day. I said we’ve both had these problems told to the world. What are you going to have?
Now last time around TV was very effective. Are you going to be using any social media or online video? How are you going to use the new marketing techniques available these days to spread the word?
We have a website that we’ll be doing a lot of online communication with. We are going on television as well, so people can get to see the product and understand how it works and why it was created and then link back to our website where they can order online or call a number and order over the phone.
And will you be setting up any kind of skin care clinics? Or will you incorporate the two (hair removal clinics) in the one retail presence?
That’s something that we are looking at but I think at this point in time our clinics are Nad’s hair removal clinics and Nad’s will always be about hair removal. PuraSkin, while it’s under the Sue Ismiel & Daughters umbrella, is a separate brand. So if we were to roll out with skincare clinics down the track, they’d have to be separate from Nad’s so that we don’t confuse people.
You could always go under “troubled skin” or some brand that combines the two. Don’t forget women have no time and might like a one stop shop. Do you do much exporting overseas?
Yes we do. For our Nad’s products we certainly do. We export to the US, the UK, to Canada and to the Middle East.
And are you expanding your retail shops overseas?
Yes. PuraSkin will be direct to consumer though. So we will use a similar strategy as Nad’s when it was direct to the consumer by television infomercials. But in this case there will be online sales as well.
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