The Rationale Skin Care range was developed by a cosmetic chemist, Richard Parker, who wanted to create a skin care range that was going to address the specific skin concerns that Australian’s face because of our unique sun-drenched lifestyle. The difference with the Rationale range is that before purchasing the products you are given an hour long consultation or skin analysis and diagnosis in order to identify which of their particular products is going to you suit and your unique DNA. Personalising your skin care products to suit you makes so much sense…
Trish Hammond: Hey listeners, it’s Trish Hammond here again from Transforming Bodies, and I’m here today with Richard Parker, who is a cosmetic chemist, and he’s the founder of Rationale Skin Care, which is basically a cut above the rest. He’s going to have a chat with us today about the Rationale Skin Care, ’cause you don’t just rock up and buy your skin care, it’s actually a process that you got to go through, so we’re going to find out all about that today. So, welcome, Richard.
Richard Parker: Thanks, Trish, it’s a pleasure to be here.
Trish Hammond: Thanks so much for taking the time, I really appreciate it.
Richard Parker: My pleasure.
Trish Hammond: So tell us first of all, how did Rationale start? What’s it all about? What’s the buzz?
Richard Parker: Rationale started in medical dermatology about 25 years ago with an awareness that Australians were facing the biggest skin challenge of anyone in the world and that is the sun because we know that 80% of facial ageing is caused by the sun. So as Australians we have an enormous amount of experience in terms of understanding the sun’s effect on the skin but also how to prevent it, and how to revert it.
So Rationale focused 25 years ago on looking at products that protect the skin from the sun and reverse sun damage. So our model is quite different to other skin care companies, we only sell through dermatologists, plastic surgeons, cosmetic physicians and our own flagship clinic.
So when clients come to see us it’s not like another cosmetics store where you just look around and try, and think, oh I like this one, or take that one. It’s all about us doing a medical skincare consultation on your skin. So we take an hour, we do all sorts of diagnostic tests and imaging, and very importantly we do a DNA test which is very non-invasive. We just take a swab from the side of the mouth, and we analyse your DNA, we look at your skins genetic history. So we know what your strengths and weaknesses are and then we construct a skincare regime around what we call the essential six, which are the six products that everybody should have, but that’s customised according to your DNA, and what we need to do to get your skin in great shape and keep it that way the rest of your life.
Trish Hammond: Okay, and a consultation takes an hour?
Richard Parker: It takes an hour yes.
Trish Hammond: Well it makes sense because I get asked all the time, “what’s the best skin care?” It’s like, well actually I don’t know what’s the best for your skin.
Richard Parker: Your skin exactly, and it’s very difficult because everyone’s skin’s different, and we all face different environmental challenges, physical health challenges, mental health affects our skin of course as well. So it’s important for us to get that full medical history and DNA, UV testing. All these diagnostics that help us understand your skin and help us understand how we can help you have the best skin possible.
Trish Hammond: Yep. So tell us about the six, what’s that about? Just a little snapshot about what’s that about?
Richard Parker: Yes, the essential six is I guess Rationale’s trademark philosophy and regime. So the essential six represents everything you need to have luminous skin for the rest of your life. So in the morning there are three products, there’s a serum that boosts your immune system, there’s an antioxidant serum that protects from free radicals and of course there’s a sunscreen serum. Now the sun screens are unique because they block all of the sun’s energy, not just UV. It’s important for consumers to know that UV protection is only a little part of sun protection. We need protection from visible light, which we can see, and infrared light which we can feel as heat.
So that’s the daytime regime, at night we need to cleanse the skin gently but also rehydrate the skin, put moisture back in. We need to rebalance the skins PH so there’s a serum for that, and then there’s a DNA night cream which helps repair DNA damage that’s happened during the day. Those six products constitute everything you need for healthy skin, but the way we start you on those products differs for every individual, and it can take some time to get on to the full regime, up to 12 months.
Trish Hammond: Okay, so it’s not just there you go, here’s the six-
Richard Parker: No no, no not at all.
Trish Hammond: Okay well as I said I do get asked all the time about what’s the best skin care, and one of the things that … really early on in the piece since getting into the aesthetic industry about five years ago, is the most important thing to look after your skin is actually sunscreen. Looking after skin, staying out of the sun, or whatever. That’s the number one priority.
Richard Parker: Yes.
Trish Hammond: I was listening to Dr. Tanaka’s talk this morning.
Richard Parker: Yes amazing.
Trish Hammond: Yeah talking about what you said the UV, which we’ve got some protection for, and he did say there’s only one product that he’s been able to find in Australia and the world so far, which is one of your products, that actually protects from the near infrared and the-
Richard Parker: Visible light.
Trish Hammond: … visible light. So explain that to us. So UV is only like 7% or something?
Richard Parker: 7%. So the sun’s energy is comprised of 7% UV which we can’t see or feel but it does an enormous amount of damage, including skin cancer and premature ageing. So all of the medical research has focused on the effects of UV on skin up until this point, but we’ve seen for example that certain skin cancers, even if you use conventional sunscreens every day, certain skin cancers still occur, and photoaging or sun damage induced ageing still occurs.
So we knew that there was more that just UV and our company’s been working very hard on developing products that protect the skin, we call it beyond UV, so into the visible light which we can see and infrared which we feel as heat. Both of these have an effect on skin, and our product, our sunscreen is the only one in the world that contains the formulation of the ingredients to protect against all of the sun’s energy.
Trish Hammond: Wow, that’s got to be … I mean that’s exciting.
Richard Parker: It’s very exciting, and it’s where Rationale’s focused. Rationale’s focused on the fact that 80% of facial aging’s caused by the sun and we are the world leaders in understanding the effects of sun weathered skin and being able to prevent it and reverse it.
Trish Hammond: Yeah totally. Do you use your range?
Richard Parker: Oh yes.
Trish Hammond: You look pretty good.
Richard Parker: That’s kind of you, thank you so much. Well I grew up in Southern New South Wales, I was a competitive swimmer as a kid and a young man. So at 25 I had premature ageing from too much sun and acne, and I inherited those genes from my parents. So I was obsessed with having healthy skin. So it really drove my choice of career, so I decided to become a cosmetic chemist and a dermatologic formulator based purely on my own skins needs, which was to treat my sun damage and prevent and treat my adult acne.
Trish Hammond: So one thing I’ve noticed because I live in Byron Bay and there’s lot of people, my husband included, he’s a swimmer, and I’ve noticed a lot of the swimmers tend to have … their skin is a problem. I haven’t seen one swimmer with particularly great skin, so that could be probably because they’re using sun block that’s not actually stopping the natural light and near infrared light as well.
Richard Parker: Yes that’s right. So swimmers and surfers have a particular problem in that chlorine and salt water remove all the barrier protective lipids from the skin. So we need to make sure that we build that barrier up again and that the skin’s able to protect itself.
Also I do believe that a lifetime of using sunscreens that don’t block from visible light and infrared could be causing the kind of sun damage that we see in people who do swim and are outdoor athletes, and swear that they use sunscreen every day.
Trish Hammond: Yeah, my partners the exact … he uses sunscreen all the time.
Richard Parker: But there’s so much more to protecting your skin, and repairing the skin other than sunscreens. So you need something, as I said with the essential six, you need something to boost your skin’s immune system, you need antioxidants. Then you have your sunscreens but at night you’ve got to repair that barrier that’s removed by washing and water, and again the sun damages it. You’ve got to balance the skin’s PH, because as we get older our skin PH becomes more alkaline. So the gut needs to be kept more alkaline, but the skin needs to be acidic to be healthy. So as we become more alkaline the sun damage becomes more pronounced, so we need to rebalance and bring the skin back to an acidic state every day, and then we need our DNA repair enzymes and vitamin A working together to repair any sun damage that occurs. So it’s much more than just sunscreen.
Trish Hammond: Yeah totally. I think that’s why I always have people saying to me, “your skin looks really great, what are you doing?”
Richard Parker: Beautiful.
Trish Hammond: But I’ve been obsessed with skin from the age of about 12. Cleanse, tone, moisturise. I don’t tone anymore, but cleanse, tone moisturise every morning and every night and I’ve just always looked after it. And now I started using a sun-
Richard Parker: Sunscreen every day.
Trish Hammond: Every single day no matter what.
Richard Parker: It’s interesting. I think if you’ve had skin problems, or you’ve had sensitive skin, or fragile skin when you were young you really value perfect skin. When I was a young man I put myself through university working as a makeup artist and I worked in fashion in Sydney and it was really interesting because I saw the models that had good skin usually did nothing, they just took it for granted. The models that had terrible skin were obsessed with it, and would just do anything to have healthy skin. So I think if you haven’t had healthy skin, or you’ve had sensitive skin, you pay so much attention, and time, and invest money in having the best products available. I just want people to understand it really is about understanding your skins genetics and your skins relationship with the sun.
Trish Hammond: Yep that’s awesome. Well thank you so much for your time today.
Richard Parker: It’s a pleasure Trish, thank you so much, it was really wonderful.
Trish Hammond: So it looks as if you’re after a practitioner or to go one of the Rationale flagship stores you can just Google it or you can drop us an email to info@plasticsurgeryhub.com.au. Thanks Richard.
Richard Parker: My pleasure, thanks Trish.
By Trish Hammond
