Comments of the personal care industry, by Bob Root, Keys CTO

Bob Root, Keys CTO

“The world is a changen,” is an old southern phrase.   It generally means that new things continue to appear at a little to fast a pace.   The concept of safe cosmetics does not fit into that phrase.  I believe we are actually returning to the basics and our roots from not a too distant a past.

Our first lotion was a refined version of one my grandmother created.  She taught me to make a very fine lotion that she used to simmer on the pilot light (Google ‘pilot light’ if you are under 40) on the stove. She had long since passed-on by the time I started Keys, but I remembered the formula and process. Very emollient, Tortuga rivals the department store brands at a fraction of the price. Why, because it is all natural whole ingredients and not 50+ chemicals designed to mimic a real natural lotion.

This week I will, once again, be the target of verbal abuse when Keys attends a major trade show in Las Vegas. Most there will be chemists! Engineers like me are generally not welcome. .    Already, the show prospectus contains meeting after meeting talking about this “new trend to natural.”  Sorry to say, it is not new and it is the chemists beginning in the 1950′s that took us off the natural path for our food and care products…especially home care products.

As the old rock sound says, ” So we just keep on keepen on!”

Most chemists hate the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics! The reason is that the effort to return to a natural lifestyle thwarts their innovation…in their minds! Creating a simple product that works to help people is far more difficult for them because it seems like going backwards in time. I believe that it is that backward motion that will help the 63% of Americans that claim to have a skin disorder. Further, I believe that many of the skin maladies are actually caused by these products by making our cell walls more permeable and in the case of parabens, kill the probiotics on our skin designed by nature to protect us.

So the war lingers on! Today, Free Range Studios (The Story of Stuff people) and the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics (which Keys is a member) aiedr a 7 minute video about The Story of Stuff – Cosmetics. Below is the video that I have not yet seen. We have published it here on the 21st so that we can all see what it is about. I will offer comments.

Bob Root Comments: The Story of Cosmetics Video

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

As a Keys follower, you already get the majority of this video. Don’t let that deter you from realizing how important this seminal presentation is in the effort to inform people that they have a choice. You “Get It” and it is time to help someone else “Get It!” Getting it is a relative thing because somewhere along the way each of us got it because someone shared their ideas, thoughts and feelings about safe cosmetics that caused a question in our minds. Then as we research, we learn,we know and then we are supposed to teach. It is all of us to be teachers, right!

The content of the video is the same thing that I have heard for many years and it fulfills a need to begin to get the center of the knowing public to understand. When I am speaking in California or doing an in-store demonstration, the conversations are quite different from the rest of the country. Seems like all the advocacies start or impact California first. Said, I am pleased with the video mainly because it does address the masses in a simple and understandable way.

So, when your friends ask if you have seen the video, you can no add to the content based on your knowledge as someone who gets it. Like my experiences in California, it is really nice to begin a speech with an audience that “Gets It” already.

Bob

KEYS TV   Sun and UV Avoidance

Wendy Steele, Keys CEO

UV “B” Chic and UV “A” Wise

Wendy Steele Keys CEO and Ten Year Melanoma Survivor

After the shock of being diagnosed with Melanoma Skin Cancer and the aftermath of dealing with all the chemical in my life that cause my skin disorders, the reality set home pretty quickly.   My skn could never again be exposed to prolonged UV events.  Growing up with a golden tan every summer, sailing the Chesapeak Bay and living in San Diego on a boat caused me to rethink my lifestyle.  Moreover, it caused me to become a advocate and spokesperson for UV and sun avoidance.

Yes, we make one of the finest sunblocks in the world. Consumer Reports said it was the most effective. The Environmental Working Group said we are the safest.   Still, my advocacy is education to stay out of the sun, wear a UPF rated hat and clothing, wear sunglasses and then cover exposed skin with sun protection.  Strange that a sun protection company would say cover-up…not really! Every day throughout the world, people die from Melanoma. Many do not realize it until it is too late.   I dress the way I do and take the sun seriously because my life depends on it.

90% of all visible skin aging comes from UV exposure.   So, if you are not afraid of the cancer potential, think of how you will look when you get older. Don’t think you have sun damage?   Hold your arms out so that you see the tops of your arms. Look at them carefully.   Any brown spots, freckles wrinkles or dry spots?  Now turn them over to see what no sun looks like.   If there is no difference, then good for you.   You are part of the <1% of the population that does not have sun damage.

Watch my video to see how to protect yourself from skin cancer and againg. It is all a matter of covering up!

Click the Arrow on the Video Player  See the Video

KEYS TV About Keys

Simple, Effective Pharmaceutical Grade Products for Skin Health

Bob Root Keys CTO and Co-Founder at White Sands NM

Many people have asked how we started Keys and why.

This short video overview will give you a sense of who we are, why we started and our purpose.

As an overview, Wendy Steele, Keys CEO was diagnosed with Melanoma Skin Cancer a little over ten years ago. She survived the cancer, but was terribly afflicted with skin disorders that were diagnosed by doctors as adult acne, eczema, psoriasis,l contact dermatitis and a myriad of other incorrect bad guesses. What she found was that it was the chemicals in prescription skincare and the sunscreens she had to wear to protect her skin.

Her husband an co-founder, Bob, engineered some simple effective products from ancients recipes as well as ones that he created to create chemical free skin health products that used pharmaceutical grade ingredients in therapeutic proportions.

This overview video introduces you to Bob & Wendy, Keys and our products. What you see is what you get!

Click the Arrow on the Video Player  See the Video

by Bob Root

Keys Technologist

Clean, Caring, Concerned and Diligent!

It was about six years ago that Keys burst on the scene of the Natural Products Industry when we exhibited at the Natural Products Expo trade show.  It was synergistic that about the same time that many well known “natural products” manufacturers were exclaming that they were going to remove the Dirty Dozen chemicals from their products over the next few years that we showed up with none of them.  When the show opened, many were shocked to see that we created stable functional products that had none of the Dirty Dozen.  In fact, we never had them in our products.

Keys cause and mission was to create products for people with sensitive skin, post cancer recovery and for people with chemical based skin disorders.  We simply could not use the Dirty Dozen as well as hundreds of other chemicals and fragrances that were commonly used.  Our mission at the show was to not out-do others in what seemed to be more of a PR race.   We were there to provide niche market products which we labeled as Chemical-Free Skin Health®  We presneted ourselves, not just as a natural product, but skin health products that competed with pharmaceutical products for efficacy and that are natural…chemical-free! Read the rest of this entry »