New and improved moistuizer: I’ve been in and out of the lab a few times and we’re making some fantastic progress. I’ll hopefully be sending out samples to moderators and product testers soon to see if they prefer it to the current moisturizer. I prefer it quite a bit myself. The samples I’ve been developing have no tack, take care of flakiness, and feel amazing.

Spot treatment: I’m on the second round of spot treatment now and I’ve sent it out to some moderators and testers to see what they think. I’ll let you know when I get a response from them. I’m not settled on this sample, but wanted to get some feedback before taking it back for improvements.

SPF: I’m waiting to nail down the new and improved non-spf moisturizer first in the hopes of using that base for the SPF. The SPF is still a ways away.

Hey you guys. I’ve been in the lab helping formulate a new and improved non-SPF moisturizer. While our current moisturizer is my favorite, it’s not perfect, so I’ve been trying sample after sample. I’ve tested 39 new samples in all and we’re getting some awesome stuff. I’m bursting at the seams to get the new, improved moisturizer into distribution. What has changed? We’ve moved from glycerin to methyl glyceth-20, which is a glycerin derivative with less tack and less sting. Also, we’ve added some cutting edge Japanese moisturizing ingredients that have me basically falling in love. I’m hoping to finalize a new formula soon and start testing it for stability. Best case scenario would probably be 6 months or so from now to get it out.

10% AHA: It’s been finalized and I am super in love with it. It will have 3 uses; as a spot treatment, as a body acne treatment, and as a hard-core AHA moisturizer. I’ve been using it every morning instead of the usual moisturizer and my skin is ridiculously perfect. I am going to place an order tomorrow for the tubes and product and will launch this product in a 6oz. size. Eventually if you guys are as in love with it as I am we can fill it in other sizes. I’ll put it in a tube because, um, I guess you guys like tubes better We’re looking at probably three or four more months to launch. Sorry it’s taken so long. I wanted to get it exactly perfect. My best guess is it will cost between $12 and $15. The stuff is crazy expensive to produce because glycolic acid is so expensive and we have other expensive ingredients in there (lichochalcone for instance is $6,000 per kilogram), but as usual I’ll price it as low as I can.

Jojoba: I’m also ready to place an order tomorrow for the organic jojoba oil. I will launch this in an 8oz. size. I’m hoping this will be out before the AHA. I’m aiming to price it in the $12-$15 range as well. Again, if you guys really want it, I can start to fill it in smaller and larger sizes as well.

Salicylic acid + anti-inflammatories + sebum reducers: It’s good to go as well. I’ll order it up in a small quantity most likely and launch it in a 4oz. tube. This one is more of a wild-card. The vast majority of people who I have asked to try it have reported that it’s the best sal acid they’ve ever tried, but can it approach the efficacy of benzoyl peroxide? Benzoyl peroxide is so good that I don’t expect anything to match it. But then again, it may meet a need for people who don’t like benzoyl peroxide for some reason. I am also excited to see how you guys fit it into your own regimens. Launch date: 3-4 months. Price: Hopefully I can keep it under $10.

SPF: Your guess, as usual, is as good as mine. I continue trying samples and I am not loving anything. Most recently I tried a powder sunscreen–pure minerals. I hated it. It made me flaky and left a kinda weird feeling on my face all day. I’m so frustrated that I decided I am going to start working “on the bench” as they call it in the formulating world. What this means is I’m going to visit a local renown formulator and trial samples right there on the spot and ask him to change things as I watch. I am setting an intention to produce the world’s best sunscreen for acne prone skin, and gosh darn it, I don’t care how long it takes. We’ll do it!

New and improved moisturizer: More samples are on their way. I will keep you posted.

New and Improved Moisturizer: After many iterations of our moisturizer with increased moisturizing ingredients (humectants) and with little improvement, I’ve decided the best way for us to move forward is to keep our current moisturizer just as it is minus the stearic acid. The stearic acid is only in the formulation at .4% however, so it will stay remarkably similar. So what do people do who want more moisturization? Add a few drops of jojoba oil. I do this myself from time to time if I want more moisturization on a particular day. I found us a fantastic local, organic jojoba supplier so I’ll be able to offer that in the coming months once I order bottles and get them filled. In the meantime, because I seem to be unable to stop myself , I’m working on another few moisturizer formulas with our chemists which will include alpha hydroxy acid. I’ll keep you posted on that.

SPF Moisturizer: I sampled a micronized titanium dioxide moisturizer because it is supposed to be “translucent”, but these words are really just thrown around. It is not translucent. It goes on white. The bottom line is we’re going to have to deal with some whitening if we want full spectrum protection. I’ve got several more samples coming my way.

Salicylic Acid: I am a little obsessive and decided to do further research on the best options for each of our ingredients, and changed a few things here and there. I should get sampled on the final batch Wednesday. I’m hoping it still has the great feel everyone loved when we tested it.

10% Glycolic: People are loving the glycolic so it is good to go. I gave the final OK and got pricing. It is eye-poppingly expensive to produce, but the product is pretty darn great. I’ll try to keep the price as low as I can. Buy a lot of it so we can keep prices low.

Organic Jojoba Oil: I just need to order bottles and caps and we’ll start filling. Bottles and caps take a couple of months to produce.

Brandy let me know that a bunch of people are asking her what’s up with the new products. Here’s a quick update:

New and Improved Moisturizer: I got a new sample with the addition of twice the jojoba (10%) and lichochalcone (powerful anti-inflammatory, imparts yellow color). We removed stearic acid and are in the process of switching out the preservatives (to reduce any possible sting). I tried the latest sample and it is great, but I wouldn’t mind it being even more moisturizing. Therefore, we are adding an extra humectant (perhaps MP Diol) and I will try that sample soon. RELEASE DATE: Several months away. COST: Hopefully the same.

SPF Moisturizer: I tried another sample of a zinc oxide based SPF. We may be between a rock and a hard place with the SPF. I am committed to zinc oxide for its broad spectrum support, but it goes on white, and can sometimes leave the skin feeling a bit tight. I asked them to bump up the humectants again, and add more jojoba to the mix. They’ll resample me on this soon. RELEASE DATE: Your guess is as good as mine. COST: The same as the non-SPF moisturizer.

Salicylic Acid: Stability testing will be completed in early November. If it passes, we’ll print labels and put it into production at that time. RELEASE DATE: A couple/few months. PRICE: Probably about the same as the benzoyl peroxide, perhaps a bit more.

10% Glycolic: I sent out a bunch of samples to the moderators. If they approve of it, I’ll put it into production. I am in love with it. RELEASE DATE: A few months. PRICE: Probably about the same as the moisturizer.

Organic Jojoba Oil: Our testers are liking it and so am I. I am getting clear bottle samples in the mail hopefully early this week, and I’m trying to finalize what kind of cap they should have. RELEASE DATE: A few months. PRICE: Organic Jojoba is very expensive but as always I will try to keep the price as low as I possibly can.

Also, we are going to small/medium/large for all of our products. Everything will now be in 2oz. (trial and travel size), 8oz. (medium size), and 16oz. (bulk size). Acne.org will be much more open in the future to different people’s regimens, so having small/medium/large will allow everyone to mix and match as needed for whichever regimen they choose. The products will all be in curved bottles instead of tubes, and have really cool looking new packaging that Paul, Kent, Joel and I have been working on. I hope you like the new look. I promise I’ll try to stick with this look for a while.

OK, so this stuff is pretty awesome. Except it stings.

The awesome part: goes on very nicely, spreads evenly, absorbs quickly, leaves no residue, matte finish which is very hard to find in an SPF, zinc oxide based which may actually be good for acne.

The stings part: upon application I get a warming/stinging sensation which can last for up to two hours or so. I am relatively certain this is due to one of the sunscreen ingredients.

Bottom line: this is the best sunscreen I have tried to date aside from the stinging. I am going to discuss this issue with our manufacturer and see if we can improve upon it.

danielkern.com

Woohoo!