Ooooooh, the two magic words that make people just jump out of their skin! Synonymous (but not quite) would be 'dermatologically approved.' Or, how about this one: 'dermatologically recommended.' But, do people ever take the time out to think about what those phrases REALLY indicate?
Okay, so the typical consumer believes that any product labeled with these words will work wonders for them! Right?
Wrong! People really need to bring out that dusty dictionary (or Google) to clarify what approved, recommended, and tested are defined as.
When a product is 'tested', the outcomes can be good OR BAD, or even somewhere in-between. Just because a company slaps on that phrase on their product labels does not mean that it'll cure you of every skin ailment you have. Hmm, see where I'm going with this?
What about 'recommended'? Okay, imagine if I approached 10 Math professors and asked them whether or not they would recommend a magical book that would help each and every student become a pro at calculus. Let's say 9 out of 10 of them would 'recommend' SUCH a product but 1 of them would despise the idea because it would mess up the distribution curve and he would either have to pass or fail all of his students (If your class is on a curve system, you know exactly what I'm talking about).
But 9/10 isn't too bad, right? That's 90%! Of course it isn't bad. But the numbers aren't the issue here. Instead, it's the context. Their recommendation could be based on the 'idea', not the actual product. Aha!
Hmm...... So if a company thought their product MATCHED the idea, wouldn't they be right to say that it is dermatologically recommended? Just food for thought. I'm not trying to claim that companies NECESSARILY do this, but as a critical thinker, it wouldn't surprise me if they actually did.
Okay, your probably thinking: Di, that's all fine and dandy, but what about 'approved'. Surely you can't approve something if it's not any good. Pshh...of course you can! Here's an example. Let's say you have a friend that has 2 ideas for her 21st birthday party. One may be spectacular, while one may be just plain and ordinary; but, they're both doable. You approve of both ideas, though you would rather her choose the spectacular one. Same goes for products. They may be approved, but this doesn't equate them to being spectacular. If something is 'approved', it's not a direct indication of its quality level. Also, what criteria are they approved on? Could they be approved on safety vs performance? I dunno- you tell me!
The reality boils down to this. Companies have done their part on defining their products; it's now up to you to determine whether their definition matches what YOU're looking for.
Alright, with that being said, I'm not anti-skin products. In fact, I'm an extreme product junkie. But these are gimmicks I've fallen for and I just hope you can learn from my mistakes and avoid repeating them. People often wonder why they've invested on a zillion skin care products that say "dermatologically _______", yet they are left with sub-par results and less money!
If you fall for such marketing ploys, don't despair. Don't ask yourself why a product that came so highly recommended didn't work for you. Don't feed into the idea that it's your fault. Rather, realize that certain things work well for others and you just happened to be one of those that it didn't work for. Simple! What's left to do now is to find something that DOES work for you, but as we all know that's the not-so-simple part.
All I'm asking is for you to become selective and critical of products that are being shoved in your face (pun intended). Then you won't wonder why there's a hole in your pocket and nothing to show for it.
Di out!
