Prudence key to skin care

BEAUTY AND BRAINS: Bridget van Herk.

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Tired of ineffective and expensive skincare products, Bridget van Herk decided to make her own. Now, the Australian chemist is using her range to help other women understand what they're really putting on their skin, writes Christina Kuntz.

Many of us are suckers when it comes to skincare products. All it takes is a woman behind a cosmetics counter telling us that some fancy cream/lotion/serum will give us flawless skin and we'll buy it - no matter how ridiculous the price.

But if it makes you feel any better, Bridget van Herk admits she's guilty of it, too. And she's a qualified chemist.

"Before I started my brand, I was spending $200 on a cream that my therapist prescribed for me. But when I looked at the ingredients and the way it felt on my skin, I thought it was wrong for that sort of money to be charged on a product that I wasn't seeing any results from," van Herk says. "I got really frustrated at being misdiagnosed and sold products I didn't need, and I just thought I could do a better job."

So she did.

Working out of her kitchen in Perth, van Herk began to use her science background to develop the kind of products she wanted for herself - effective and well formulated, but still affordable.

Her first Bridget Black product was a rejuvenating serum, which continues to be the brand's top seller. Five years later, the range includes more than 40 products for the face and body, as well as candles and a Bridget Black Sheep product range for babies.

In Australia, van Herk has two retail stores and her products are used at 25 salons, and the brand has recently launched in New Zealand, where it is available at selected Auckland salons and the bridget.black.co.nz website.

Yet the Australian chemist, who describes herself as a bit of a girly girl, has not forgotten what it is like to be on the other side of the counter and perhaps that is why her brand continues to grow. The company follows a philosophy of truth and beauty, which applies to everything from pricing points to recycling programmes, and van Herk is more than happy to talk about her products and the cosmetic industry in general.

She believes most women buy too many products when all they really need is a good three-step programme - cleanse, exfoliate and moisturise - with products suited to their skin type. And she says those products don't have to be expensive to be effective - hers range from $15.50 for buffing beads to a $121 antioxidant concentrate serum.

"Affordability is a huge part of our brand," van Herk says. "I think it's important that women feel good about themselves and have quality products that don't cost a fortune."

To get those quality products, van Herk says you need quality ingredients, which is where her science background comes in handy. She believes the most effective products come from a blend of synthetic and natural ingredients and that is what features in the Bridget Black range. But van Herk says the cosmetics market can be misleading and she is often frustrated by the misinformation women receive, particularly when it comes to "natural" products.

"Because the word natural is not a legal term, you can use it and manipulate the marketing however you want, so I think there really needs to be some regulation on the use of that word," van Herk says. "But the other problem with 'all- natural' products is that they don't last and they can grow some really horrible bugs and fungus. I have parabens in three of the products in this range and I still get heavily criticised for it, but for a water-based formulation, it's the only thing you can use that will preserve it properly. And the other preservatives that I use are globally approved for safety."

To help non-chemists understand where she's coming from, van Herk includes detailed ingredient lists on her products as well as her website. She also encourages women to do the research themselves by checking out the websites of regulatory bodies such as the United States Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Working Group.

"There have been some horrible things going around about certain ingredients that just aren't true. So, my advice would be to have a reference point that you can refer back to if you're looking for more information," van Herk says.

When she's not re-educating women about cosmetic ingredients, van Herk still lectures in environmental chemistry at a university in Perth, simply because she enjoys doing it. But she also has plenty of future plans for Bridget Black, including a range for men and further expansion throughout New Zealand and Australia and perhaps even further afield.

"We really want to grow the brand organically and stick to our philosophy of truth and beauty," van Herk says. "I think we all just need to be a bit more down to earth and have a bit more common sense about what we put on our skin." CHRISTINA KUNTZ

- © Fairfax NZ News