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- [00:00]
A
We don't think of ourselves like a cosmetic skincare company. We think of ourselves as a skin health company that's on the clinical medical side of things. We didn't want to come out with just a little one, $200 serum that had hyaluronic acid. We sourced a really high quality hyaluronic acid from Italy. The cosmetic side just doesn't have much regulation. Hypochlorous acid, it's one of those molecules that stabilization really matters. And you have to understand ours is a proprietary medical grade formulation that goes through FDA clearance would be the same formulation that you used in a surgical procedure. So we have high level of regulation and efficacy that we need to be able to show before our product gets released. I always tell people, go read the reviews on Amazon. We have over a million customers now and 5,000 plus five star reviews.
- [00:45]
B
Hello friends. Welcome back to another episode of the Real Foodology Podcast. Today's guest is Justin Gardner from Active Skin Repair. This is a really fascinating episode. If you are looking for something that really helps with wound repair, baby rashes, bug bites, I mean, the uses are endless for this product. Active Skin Repair Repair is a great replacement for Neosporin. We talk about neomycin and why you don't want to be using this synthetic antibiotic on your skin and why something like hypochlorous acid is going to have so much better benefit for your skin and overall wound healing. We also talk about some of their other products, something that I'm using for my pregnant belly right now to prevent stretching. Really excited about this episode. I hope you guys love it. I hope that you got a lot of information out of it and they have so generously shared a code with us. If you want to get 25% off all active skin repair products, go to ActiveSkinrepair.com and use code Real Foodology as always, if you're loving the episode, please, if you could take a moment to tag me on Instagram at Real Foodology. Take a moment to rate and review the podcast. Tell me in your review what your favorite episode has been so far on the Real Foodology podcast. And thank you so much for your support. Justin, thank you so much for coming on the podcast today.
- [02:01]
A
Well, thank you for having me, Courtney.
- [02:02]
B
Yeah, this is going to be a really fun conversation. So I want to first dive into Neosporin because this is actually what helped me understand Active Skin Repair. Just a little backstory and context. I have a girlfriend who is using Active Skin Repair in replacement for Neosporin for her Kiddos. And that was the first time I'd ever learned about your product. I was like, oh wow, this is a non toxic essentially version of Neosporin. And I also learned around that time that Neosporin has an ingredient in there that actually causes allergic reactions for a lot of people, which is something I had never heard before. So let's talk about why would someone maybe not want to use Neosporin?
- [02:39]
A
So Neosporin was invented in 1950, so it's kind of a really archaic technology. It uses synthetic antibiotics. Neomycin is one of the antibiotics that up to 20% of people have an allergic reaction to. It is an antimicrobial, but it's also not that powerful of an antimicrobial. And so essentially you have these synthetic antibiotics in a petroleum that has a high rate of allergic reaction. When you can go to. There's just way better things out there that are even more multifunctional, like hypochlorous acid that have no allergic reactions, have no toxicity, don't use synthetic antibiotics and don't use a petroleum base.
- [03:23]
B
So this is really, this blew my mind because I feel like I've been in the natural space for a long time and Neosporin had just been one of those ones I'd never thought about until my friend brought it up to me and I was like, oh, wow, I'd never thought about that. Yeah. Why would we want to be putting an antibiotic on our skin, especially when you want. Because we know our skin has this ecosystem of bacteria on there and we want to make sure that we're not just completely, completely destroying everything. Right. And I believe with neomycin it just, it, it disrupts the whole ecosystem, right?
- [03:50]
A
It does, yep. And with a molecule like hypochlorous acid, which we can talk about, you're going to get that antimicrobial, that ability to kill bad bacteria without impacting the skin microbiome. So just again, way better from healthy, non toxic wound healing and skin healing. And I mean, I think a lot of people who are really into non toxic products just kind of skip over wound care, first aid. It's just not first in mind. But if you think about what you're putting in, open skin should be probably one of the most important things that you're looking at in terms of clean ingredients. So yeah, I don't think it's one of the things that people jump to right away, but I hope they are now.
- [04:34]
B
Yeah, I think hopefully now people, it's coming to the forefront of their minds and Also too, Neosporin. Similar to other things like, what is it, Aquaphor. What is the jelly that everybody uses? I don't know why I'm completely blanking on the name. Vaseline. Similar to that. It has a petroleum base to it, which when I learned that, I was like, oh, my God. So we're essentially putting oil on our skin. Petroleum on our skin.
- [05:00]
A
Right. And we know petroleum to be a hormone disruptor. So it's one of those things. I say, if you can kind of avoid it, why not, Right?
- [05:08]
B
Yes. It's.
- [05:09]
A
It's not terrible, but it's also. There's way better products out there.
- [05:14]
B
Yeah. And I find it really fascinating. So I want to talk more about hypochlorous acid because I find that some people get a little bit nervous when you. When you stray away from conventional practices. Right. But from my understanding, they use hypochlorous acid, which is one of the main ingredients in active skin repair. They use it in medical settings too, Right? In hospitals, sure.
- [05:36]
A
So my journey goes back over 10 years, and I helped launch the technology into the hospital side of things. I was working in regenerative medicine and we were launching a whole bunch of really kind of advanced biologics and dermal engineered skin. And that's when I got introduced to hypochlorous acid. And this light bulb went off because it's not this really expensive biologic engineered tissue. It's at a very addressable price point. But it also had over the counter FDA clearance. And so that's when I created Active Skin Repair. It bringing that same medical grade formulation to the consumer over the counter.
- [06:20]
B
That's so cool. And I think for people listening, it probably gives them peace of mind because again, like I said, there is this hesitation in the more natural and alternative world, are these replacements going to work just as well? And when you're in a medical setting, for example, if you're dealing with wound care, for example, and there is potential to get something like a really horrendous staph infection. People want to have that comfort knowing that this is actually going to help them. And so hypochlorous acid has some scientific backing showing that it does, right?
- [06:50]
A
It absolutely does. So hypochlorous acid, it's the same molecule our white blood cells produce. So if we get cuts, great. Any type of skin damage, body's natural immune response is to send white blood cells to that injury. And inside the white blood cells is hypochlorous acid. That is the same active ingredient that's in active skin repair. So we're able to replicate that molecule and you're able to apply it topically the same way your body's working internally because it's an eight tier immune system. No toxicity, no allergic reactions. It's your body's natural mechanism to fight off bacteria, viruses and fungi. So you get this really powerful antimicrobial that your body already produces. And the clinical data behind it is robust. When you look at it, it has a 99.9% kill rate within 15 seconds. So it's actually 100 times more powerful than bleach. But again, no toxicity to it. In the hospital side, a lot of times we didn't sell the non toxic side to the doctors as much. But on the consumer side, it's a really big benefit to get away from toxic antiseptics and these synthetic antibiotics. But what you also get is it helps reduce the inflammatory response from that injury. And when you think about anything that's inflammatory, it can be bug bites, sunburns, rashes, and chafing. It works amazing on that. So it's not just as a first aid product, but you get something that also works on everyday skin health.
- [08:21]
B
Yeah. Okay, that's so cool. And I feel like we kind of glazed over this, but I really want to reiterate this. So neomycin causes allergic reactions in up to 20% of the population, correct?
- [08:32]
A
It does, yep.
- [08:33]
B
And aren't a lot of doctors now saying, don't use Neosporin because of this?
- [08:39]
A
You very rarely meet a dermatologist who would tell you to use Neosporin anymore. The medical community has definitely moved away. You might get some old primary care doctors who are stuck in their way, but for the most part, I think modern medicine, especially from a dermatology side, has moved away from Neosporin because of those allergic reactions.
- [09:00]
B
Yeah. And this, like you said, it works with your body's. It works with your body, and it works with it in its ability in order to attack the infections or the bug bite or whatever it is, in order to help heal. And what does it do as far as. So do you see that it helps wound healing increase?
- [09:18]
A
It does. So you're going to speed up the natural healing process. And there's a few reasons for that. One is the most important thing, whenever you get cut or scraped, is to make sure that that wound is clean. And so by putting hypochlorous acid, by putting active skin repair on it, you're able to get that abrasion or that cut clean very quickly. And then it's also helping reduce the inflammatory response. And by doing that, it's not killing any of the healthy growth factors that your body's producing. So if you put like a peroxide or something on an alcohol, you're killing bacteria, but you're killing the healthy growth factor. So your body's not generating what it needs to help heal with hypochlorous acid. We're not killing those healthy growth factors. So we're able to help facilitate that healing process by removing all that bacteria and still speeding up that healing.
- [10:09]
B
This is what I love so much about this product, is that you're not causing harm to other mechanisms in the body while also promoting healing. Whereas with products like Neosporin, for example, with the neomycin and the petroleum and everything else, it's like you're harming some processes while also trying to heal. And this actually has this whole mechanism that supports the body's ability to really heal itself, which is what you want.
- [10:38]
A
You're harnessing the power of the human body, right? You're harnessing our immune system. It's tough, I joke. It's tough not to say, oh, it works on this, it works on this, it works on this. But if you think about it, you can understand the mechanism of action and how the molecule works and how our body works. It does start to make sense. And especially when you get into things like pediatric skin issues where you have diaper rash, it's bacterial, it's inflammation, you have hand, foot and mouth, it's viral. So all these things that are caused by bacteria or inflammation just are everyday things. And it's a perfect first line therapy. It has the same safety profile and a saline solution, you can spray it around your eyes, ears, mouth with no risk there. You can put it in these sensitive areas and it doesn't do any harm.
- [11:28]
B
I was going to ask what are some things that people may not think about that they could use active skin repair on?
- [11:35]
A
So the pediatric one, I think is a big one and we've seen that grow a lot because of course you don't want to be putting anything that's toxic, synthetic, steroidal on your newborn baby. Our formulation will get used in neonatal icu. So, you know, it's safe and efficacious when you're putting it on, on your baby. And then it can just work on with kids. There are just hundreds of issues. I mean, start from day one and all the diaper rashes and baby eczema and baby acne. And then I have a 4 year old daughter now, right now it's all the cuts and scrapes at the playground. It's. Oh, we were outside a little bit too long, so a little bit too much sun. And she gets destroyed by mosquito bites. And so it's an everyday thing with the mosquitoes.
- [12:24]
B
Yeah, yeah. It's becoming an issue for us too. We just moved to Texas and my husband and I were living in Colorado and then I was in California before that. And the mosquitoes, it's the only thing about living here that we're like, oh, yeah, it's been tough.
- [12:37]
A
It is. And I. I feel for my wife and my daughter because they get bit way more than I do. So I can be standing there, I'm like, I'm fine. But then, you know, they come away with 20 bumps on their legs.
- [12:46]
B
Yeah, what is that? Because I'm actually that way like you. My husband's the one that gets really attacked and then I just sit there and I feel so bad because he's. I mean, I'll get one or two and then he'll just come back and he's covered.
- [12:56]
A
I've heard a bunch of theories. I haven't. I think it's blood. I've heard blood type. I have no idea. But I think we're on the fortunate side somehow. We are.
- [13:03]
B
Are you negative blood type by chance?
- [13:05]
A
I actually don't know.
- [13:06]
B
Okay, we got to find that out. But I wonder if maybe it is a blood type thing. Okay, that's so interesting. Okay, so, yeah, bug bites, cuts and scrapes. I'm due in June and so I'm going to have this fully on, you know, my. On my table for diaper rash and all of that. So I think this is a great option for that. Have you heard any really cool stories of skin healing? Like, really? Maybe somebody had a staph infection or something, was really pretty serious, and they were able to find healing with it.
- [13:37]
A
We get them almost daily and it's really cool. I mean, we get people who email us in all the time sharing their success stories. Some of them have been really bad accidents that maybe their child got in a bike accident and it was on their face and they wanted to show us how the healing didn't leave. The thing about healing too, the faster you heal, the less chance of scarring. And so something like this is going to help reduce scarring. So we've gotten a lot of those unfortunate accidents. We get it a lot too, in elderly patients, especially anybody with reduced vascularity, where wounds just won't heal. And a lot of times. The reason why they won't heal is they're getting a bacterial colonization on them and they'll get a biofilm that forms and active hypochlorous acid can come in there, disrupt that biofilm, help kill that bacteria, and then that body can start to heal itself. So we get a lot of those from chronic sides. We get it a lot with eczema as well. Any atopic dermatitis, people have tried multiple things they're looking for, for natural alternatives before going to more steroidal creams. And ACT has been able to help him there.
- [14:47]
B
That's awesome. We need to start spraying this on my husband's scalp. My husband's been really struggling with psoriasis and we're working with an integrative doctor to figure out what's happening internally. But I wonder in the interim if spraying this on his scalp might help a little bit too.
- [15:03]
A
Right. And you know what's causing it is happening on the inside. Right. It's going to be addressed in different ways. Where active and hypochlorous really come into play is on the flare ups. And so that's usually an inflammatory response. And especially with eczema, you'll get that bacterial colonization on it. And so it helps with flare ups to reduce the symptoms that you're getting.
- [15:26]
B
Awesome. Okay, I'm going to start. I'm going to put a little spray bottle next to his sink. If it's not right in front of his face, he won't use it. I'm like, you need to use this on your scalp. Also, you brought up some, something really interesting about wounds that won't heal. So my dad actually had knee surgery last year and I, I was really concerned for a while there. I started finally, like, literally forcing him into the hyperbaric chamber because it would not heal for like five months. It was scary, honestly. And now he's totally fine and everything's great. But I wish we had had this conversation while that was happening because I would have gotten him on active skin repair.
- [15:59]
A
Yep.
- [16:00]
B
Because he was probably using Neosporin or something, you know, neomycin.
- [16:04]
A
Well, what's so funny too about the technology is when that was where we were using it a lot in these types of surgical procedures and things of that nature when we launched it in. And hypochlorous acid has become very popular as an ingredient over the last like two years, which is really cool to see because I think it's only recently have we been able to stabilize the molecule and get it into a bottle with A two year shelf life. So it's, it's cool to see it finally taking off and getting the attention it needs. But I never imagined where it's being used a lot in the cosmetic space is a facial spray for acne. And just kind of post workout where I go back and you're like, wow, I never saw that progression all the way into a cosmetic product.
- [16:53]
B
Yeah, that is really cool. I've been actually noticing that too. And I was gonna ask you your thoughts about that. And also I noticed that yours have is medical grade. Can you tell us a little bit about what makes yours stand out versus maybe just some random cosmetic that we're going to find on the shelf?
- [17:08]
A
Sure. And it's a great question. So on the cosmetic side, again, it's a great molecule. It really does no harm like we talked about. So always a big proponent of people using hypochlorous acid. The cosmetic side just doesn't have much regulation to it. And so as hypochlorous acid became more popular, there became a lot of contract manufacturers that just don't understand the science behind hypochlorous acid. And it's really, it's one of those molecules that stabilization really matters. And you have to understand like ours is a proprietary medical grade formulation that goes through FDA clearance would be the same formulation that you used in a surgical procedure. So we have a high level of regulation and efficacy that we need to be able to show before our product gets released. On the cosmetic side, you just don't have have to do that really. They can put it out there. And with hypochlorous and the key to stabilization is you want to keep the percentage of hypochlorous at a very specific amount. So you don't want it to be too high. You don't want it to be. If it's too low, then it's just not going to work. And being able to keep it in that right range and then you want to keep it into a very specific PH range. Do you want to be at a between a 5 and a 7? And what we see on the cosmetic side, because we will test them when we bring them back to our research and development lab and you just see that hypochlorous acid usually drops below an efficacious level. You see the PH also drop a lot of times even to a place where it might be irritating to the skin. So if it's post workout facial spray, probably not a big deal. But when you're using it in more pediatric things, more open Skin things. And I think maybe if you are using it as a facial spray, you just want to know what you're using is working and is formulated correctly.
- [18:56]
B
Absolutely.
- [18:57]
A
Every. Every lot that we produce too. So we'll have an expiration date on it, a lot number on it. We have full traceability to that. We have a unique device identifier. And so then we test every lot that comes out so that we know that it has antimicrobial properties, that it's at the right ph, that it's at the right parts per million, and we know it's going to stay there for two years. So you just get that insurance and that's what you're getting with a medical grade.
- [19:22]
B
That's really good to know. Especially, you know, like I said earlier, if we're dealing with wound healing and you know, especially it's really sensitive topic with parents, for example, if they're looking for something to help with their kiddos that, you know, God forbid they have a really big cut or maybe they had a surgery or something. They want to have that comfort knowing that this is actually something that is medically backed and really will work.
- [19:44]
A
Yeah, yeah.
- [19:47]
B
So what is the difference between the spray and the gel? Is there any sort of difference in the component of it or is it really just the delivery mechanism?
- [19:54]
A
It's just delivery mechanism. So both have hypochlorous acid. Both are using the same medical grade formulation. Hydrogels have their own benefit as well. So it's an alternative to like a petroleum. So you're getting more an ointment. And if you're putting it into a wound and you're using dressings, we find it works great there. That's what my daughter prefers on bug bites, so But a lot of times it's just preference. Do you want a liquid mist or do you want a gel? That's more akin to like an ointment with. Let's take diaper rash. What parents find really helpful sometimes is you actually don't need to touch the rash, you don't need to touch the bottom. So you can spray it, let it sit and you're not having to rub anything in there.
- [20:36]
B
That's so nice. Okay, that's really good. Yeah, like I said, we already have that on hand for, you know.
- [20:41]
A
Oh yeah, you're about to get. You wait, you might not use it that much now until you have kids and you're going to be using it every day.
- [20:48]
B
That's so funny. That's what my friend said too because I obviously I've had it on hand for years, actually, because I got really lucky. My friend got me onto it a couple years ago, but I just. I don't really get a lot of cuts and scrapes. I've been like, okay, you know, randomly. I'll need to use it here and there. But my friend was like, just wait until you have kids.
- [21:03]
A
Until you have kids. You know, when I started the company, I was a. I surfed a lot. I was really into outdoor sports. And actually, that's the origin. We did a lot in outdoor sports when we first started the brand. But I would use it every once. You get caught on a reef or you fall, mountain biking, of course, and get a little too much sun. You spray yourself down. And then I had a daughter, and it is like. It's a daily. She calls it the Boo Boo spray. It's everywhere. It's in all our cars and bags and everything. But it changes a lot once you have kids.
- [21:32]
B
Yeah, well. And I can imagine. Cause we're having a boy, and everyone's like, oh, man, just wait. Well, we see. It's so funny to. Everybody talks about the difference between having a boy and a girl, and they say that the girls are really easy in the beginning, and then they get harder later as they grow up. And then they say the boys are really hard in the beginning. And we're seeing that with our friend group. We were actually just out with some friends last weekend who have a couple girls, and then they have one boy, and the boy is just, like, making laps. He's jumping off things. He's, like, throwing trucks around. And the girls are just, like, coloring and, like, super calm. And I was like, like, are you ready, babe? Because we're about to have a little monster on our hands.
- [22:09]
A
Yeah, but it's fun.
- [22:10]
B
Oh, it's so much fun. I'm so excited. I'm so excited about it. It's just so funny. I'm like. I can already picture him, like, jumping off things and getting cuts and scrapes. And I'm like, well, yeah, we're gonna have one of those, like, in the car, in my purse and the diaper bag. Just everywhere. Yeah, they're active little buddies.
- [22:26]
A
They are. And, you know, that's what you want out of a kid, though, don't you? You want them out there playing. You want them, you know. Oh, yeah. Outdoors on playgrounds. And it comes with a little bit of skin damage here and there. But that's. That's part of childhood, right? We don't want them sitting inside.
- [22:41]
B
Oh, no. Oh my gosh, no. I'm like, I want him to be outside as much as possible, exploring, I mean, and that's what I did as a kid. And I think it really helps build their imagination. It's so good for them.
- [22:50]
A
I know, yeah.
- [22:51]
B
And it's, you know, it's all a part of the learning experience of, you know, life and growing up. So, yeah, I'm curious about. So I've had a couple friends that have dealt with dermatitis on their skin. It's not something I personally have dealt with, but it seems to be kind of this common thing that people are dealing with now. Would active skin repair be something that would help with dermatitis, do you think?
- [23:10]
A
It does. What I, I always say is a first line therapy, it can't hurt. So I can't guarantee it's going to dermatitis. And so many chronic skin conditions can be so complex and there's so many different things going on. So there's no magic bullet that anybody has. Right. But as a first line therapy, as something that has any toxicity, you're not going to have any adverse reactions to it. So it works great. If it doesn't work, then move on to something else. But it does no harm. One of the things I always encourage people to is there is well over 100 peer reviewed clinical journal articles written on hypochlorous acid. So if you go into PubMed and you really want to understand the science and you really want to see kind of credible medical journal articles, you can read about hypochlorous acid and how it works on dermatitis. So it's not just me saying it, but it's been researched and studied and you can go find that research online.
- [24:12]
B
Yeah, I just, I figured that maybe it would be something that would be helpful because from my experience I found that it seems to have some sort of bacterial or fungal component to it. And so I would think hypochlorous acid would help.
- [24:26]
A
So many of these are bacterial issues, right?
- [24:28]
B
Yeah.
- [24:29]
A
And so. And that's it. The real magic behind active and hypochlorous acid, you have that really powerful antimicrobial with no toxicity to it. And so again, so many skin issues, again, bacterial or inflammatory, what's causing them is probably happening internally too, a lot of times, but it's kind of the symptoms that you're getting on your skin are a lot of times bacterial.
- [24:53]
B
So we talked a little bit about skincare and I meant to ask while we were on the subject of it, but so I actually I have like a face mist from a skincare product that I just really love and I think it has hypochlorous acid in there. But I was wondering, would I also be able to just use active skin repair to spray on my face too? I would assume you could, yeah.
- [25:10]
A
I mean it works the same way. You're getting a medical grade formulation. So you know what you're getting is going to be working with this. One thing I say on the cosmetic side is too, we haven't, we've done, we have a great PhD. I'm part of our team who's been working on hypochlorous acid for 15 years. He's probably one of the foremost experts in the molecule. He has tried everything to be able to recipe this. I know a lot of other scientists have as well. And because it's such a finicky molecule, you can't add ingredients to it. So anytime I see a hypochlorous acid spray with added ingredients, every time we've brought it back and tested, there's no active hypochlorous in it. So you just have to be careful. Again, they're non regulated. It's probably not doing any harm, but you're not actually getting any of the benefits of hypochlorous acid.
- [25:59]
B
Yeah, that's really good to know. So this would be a good one. And I feel like people that are really active and work out, maybe it would be good to do a spray after you work out because I know a lot of people are concerned about the bacteria from sweating on their face. And I don't personally struggle with acne, but maybe someone who's really acne prone, maybe it would help them.
- [26:16]
A
Those are some of the best. Like we get a ton of before and after pictures with acne. I think you get a lot of, I would assume maybe 10 to 20% of our customers are using it kind of more in that daily facial acne post workout. What I would recommend is it's always kind of that first, first step. So when you use hypochlorous acid for the molecule to work, it takes about 15 seconds to get all that, the antimicrobial power. And then after that you can just go on to whatever regimen you have. So whatever serum or moisturizer that you use, you can just use it after that.
- [26:51]
B
Awesome. And is there a concern because I know with synthetic antibiotics like neomycin, there's a concern for disrupting your body's natural microbiome. Is there a concern with that? With hypochlorous where it will kill off too much of the good bacteria.
- [27:06]
A
So it's kind of a magic molecule. And again our bodies kind of really intelligence working here in the hypochlorous acid seems to be selective. So what it's doing is it's killing the bad bacterias like staph without disrupting the skin microbiome. And it's not like it could kill off some of the good bacteria. But when you're killing that bad bacteria, it's actually helping the skin microbiome flourish. So I've been using AI a lot too. You can kind of go in and ask AI this and it's. It will reference you back a whole bunch of journal articles and stuff like that. But I think that's one of the really cool things. The other cool thing is from a how it kills the bacteria. It's attacking it in like a multi component way where synthetic antibiotics take one pathway and that creates antibiotic resistance. Where hypochlorous acid doesn't create antibiotic resistance.
- [28:00]
B
Awesome. Okay. Because I know that's a big concern for myself and many others that live a more natural alternative lifestyles that that we really like to try to keep the antibiotics for just very, very serious situations where you know that's the only route you have. But otherwise if we can maintain and keep our microbiome intact and hold on to all that good bacteria that we know is really good for us, we want to do that as much as possible.
- [28:23]
A
And I think that's especially with children for me too. I carry that same belief. Like I want that's a last stage resort is antibiotics for us. Right. I want my daughter to have a really strong immune system. So with something like active skin repair, especially like we use it while we travel, we use it because you can just do it as a facial mist. Right. And so you're helping make sure that it's just a better sanitizer. Let's, let's say that. And then. But everything we can do to create a healthy environment where you're not getting sick or you're not getting any type of systemic infection. Right. Where that would require antibiotics.
- [29:00]
B
Yeah. Which just triggered a question about that I've never thought about. With active skin repair, could you potentially use the spray? I see people wipe down their seats and their trays and everything in the airplane before they sit down. Personally, I don't do it because I think we're over sanitizing everything. But knowing how amazing hypochlorous acid is, could you potentially use it as a Something to wipe down, you know, seats. And yep, it will have the same
- [29:26]
A
effect that it would have on a hard surface that it would have on your skin. We don't have EPA approval, so that would be on the EPA side. But it essentially is working that way. It just would be a very expensive topical cleaner. So I don't think you're probably going to be wiping down your counters with it. They do make hypochlorous acid. We don't do hard surface, but they do make hypochlorous for hard, hard surface. You can actually get like an at home generator that makes it and it works as an amazing non toxic cleanser and you can get it at a much higher volume for a lot cheaper. The difference is between like a medical grade one that's approved for skin is I would never recommend putting a hard surface cleaner on your skin, around your eyes or insensitive area. You don't know where that PH range is. You don't want the parts per millions. It's not stabilized. So it's just very different. For a counting top though. Fantastic.
- [30:19]
B
That's a really good differentiator. I think, I think I know the company that you're talking. Is it force of nature maybe that makes one where they.
- [30:25]
A
At home generator? Yeah, yeah, I think it's great. I mean it's an amazing non toxic cleanser and yeah, if you can make it at home all for it.
- [30:33]
B
Wow. I had never even thought about using it as a sanitizer for cleaning countertops and you know, various things that people do. I, I personally, I don't do any of that. I feel like we over sanitize everything.
- [30:44]
A
I'm with you. I like my dog to lick my daughter's face because I think it builds the immune system up and I'm not. But one of the things is I'm joking about how expensive it would be to use on a hard surface. But when you are traveling and this is TSA approved and you're trying to be as minimal as you can, you do get all that multifunctionalness. So if you do want to wipe down a airport seat or something like that or a table, it does work well on that because obviously you're not, you know, bringing hard surface cleaners with you on an airplane.
- [31:18]
B
Yeah, exactly. You're not going to bring your force of nature whole like kit. Okay, that's cool. Wow, that's so cool. I never thought about it. Can you use it on pets too?
- [31:27]
A
Yeah, we get used on pets all the time. It's used A lot. Especially in the equine space, where you're dealing with very expensive horses who have a lot of skin issues. Issues. But hot spots. Dogs suffer from the same stuff we do, and cats do, too. And so, yeah, anytime there's bacterial, it's safe to use around the eyes, too. And dogs get a lot of stuff around their eyes. Or cats do too. Any pet does. The other one for pets is like a Neosporin. They'll really tell you never to use that on, like, a dog, because dogs will lick if they have a skin irritation. They'll lick like you do. That's toxic to a dog. You don't want a dog eating petroleum and synthetic antibiotics. So, yeah, we. We get used all the time on pets.
- [32:10]
B
Awesome. Okay, that's good to know. For our doggies also, we have two dogs, so. Wow. There's so many amazing uses for active skin repair that I had never even thought about, which is really, really cool. I want to talk about your. The Face and Body hydrating serum for a second. I really want to hype you up on this. And I'm truly. I'm not just saying this because it's your product. I. I'm kind of weird about using, like, body serums and lotions and oils and stuff, because I just. I don't personally have the patience to sit around for 20 minutes before I get dressed. And then I've stained so many of my clothes using oils and lotions and serums and all this stuff, and so I just, like, I kind of avoid it sometimes. But your body serum is the goat. It is seriously the best body serum I've ever used. It goes in so smooth. It makes your skin look so beautiful and hydrated, and you don't feel, like, sticky, oily. You don't feel like it's gonna stain your clothes. I love it.
- [33:06]
A
Well, thank you. And it was. It took us a long time to formulate and figure out. And it took a lot of thought, too, because we. We don't think of ourself at all as, like, a cosmetic skincare company. We think of ourselves more as a skin health company that's more on the clinical, medical side of things. One of the things that we'd always get, though, is hypochlorous can be a little drying. And so we just kept getting asked, what can I use after it? And hyaluronic acid was always kind of my go to, just because it's a great molecule as well. It's a super hydrating molecule. And so we started to play around with Formulating a serum. But we didn't want to come out with just a little 1 ounce, $200 serum that had hyaluronic acid. So we sourced a really high quality hyaluronic acid from Italy. But we were able to do it in a way that provides it. It's a little over 3 ounces. Right. So you get a large volume of it. So you can use it on your face, but you can also use it on your body as well. And that was kind of the idea is how can we create a high quality serum that just doesn't have to be used as a little dot here and here, but used all over your body. And then we were really conscious about what ingredients we put in it and went through the ewg, which I'm sure you know, ewg, they have a really high bar. I mean, the highest bar is their verification program. And so all of our products that aren't medical devices, we're putting through the EWG verification program.
- [34:34]
B
Awesome.
- [34:35]
A
So you get a really high quality hyaluronic acid with really clean ingredients. So I'm glad you like. Yeah, it works. I personally use it daily as well. And it just, it goes on without any fragrances, without the stickiness. It just absorbs real quick. So.
- [34:52]
B
Yeah, yeah, it absorbs so quick. And I've never. I can't put it into words. Like I just, whenever I put it on my hands, my hands instantly look hydrated and beautiful and they don't feel sticky, they don't feel like there's any residue at leftover. I really, really like it. And actually my girlfriend, one of my best friends, friend Celeste, who has had babies before me, was really on it for putting it on pregnancy bellies. So she's gotten me to do that on my stomach for stretch marks.
- [35:19]
A
Yeah. You know, for all the things that we were just talking about. Hypochlorous acid, antimicrobial. Then you have hyaluronic acid is just really hydrating. So what are all the benefits that you're going to get from having really hydrated skin is what you're going to get on that side.
- [35:33]
B
And then there's one more thing I want to talk about, which is your sunscreen, which I know you just came out with recently. Right.
- [35:38]
A
Yep.
- [35:38]
B
Yeah. So I actually, Dr. Tina is a good friend of mine. Oh, yeah. And I had listened to your episode with her, actually. And she brought up a really cool point that I had never heard before. She did a deep dive into mineral sunscreens and found that anything that has less than I believe it's 18% of zinc in there. Doesn't actually give you the UV. Was it the UVA or the UVB protection? I can't remember.
- [36:01]
A
I can't remember.
- [36:02]
B
It was one of them. She did a really deep dive and I believe it was UV. UVA protection. You need over 18% of zinc. And yours has, I believe, 19% in there.
- [36:12]
A
It does, yeah.
- [36:12]
B
Which is awesome.
- [36:13]
A
Yep. Also went through the EWG verification. So again, at that kind of really high tier on that. And same idea is like our sprays and gels work great if you get too much sun, but we felt like we should come out with a clean sunscreen to help, you know, on a daily side. We are coming out with two more that the one we have on the market now isn't water resistant. So it's made more as like a daily facial. But we have two coming out that will be a stick and a lotion that are water resistant. Also EWG verified. So really kind of family friendly sunscreens for the beach and summer days that are coming up.
- [36:51]
B
Awesome. Okay, cool. I'm very excited about that product too. Also, I didn't even think about this. So if you accidentally get sunburned, you've spent too much time in the sun, which we don't advise and don't do it.
- [37:01]
A
Yeah, yeah.
- [37:01]
B
It happens. Happens to everybody. I would assume active skin repair would be good for that too.
- [37:05]
A
It does, yeah. I mean, that's, I would say probably the two most common issues that we get, especially in spring and summer where people are like, oh my God, I love your product, is sunburns and bug bites. Yeah. So when you, when you get too much sun, your sun's. Your skin's inflamed from that, from too much uv. Right. And so it's just helping reduce that, that inflammation of the skin and also hopefully prevent any blistering or anything like that. And again, of course we don't want people to get too much sun, but a lot of times it's just inevitable if you're outside.
- [37:38]
B
It happens sometimes. You know, we don't condone it, but you know, it happens to the best of us. So even with the best intentions. So. Awesome. Well, is there anything else that you feel like we didn't cover over active skin repair that you wanted to mention?
- [37:51]
A
You can find us@activeskinrepair.com we're on Amazon. I always tell people that go read the reviews on Amazon, especially if you're looking for a specific condition. I'm sure everybody knows how the Amazon review. But you can go in the reviews, type in whatever you're looking for, and you can see all the reviews.
- [38:09]
B
I didn't actually know that. That's cool.
- [38:11]
A
Yeah. So if you type in, you go into our Active skinny spray and you type in eczema, you can read all the reviews on it. And again, we have over a million customers now and 5,000 plus five star reviews. So I think you can go. And those don't lie. You know, that's just thousands and thousands of people. But it also gives you a good idea of how people used it.
- [38:31]
B
Active skin repair has actually given us a really generous code code, which is awesome. So 25 off all the active skin repair products. If you go to activeskinrepair.com and use code Real Foodology. So make sure you guys get on this. I would have all of this on hand, especially if you have kids or if you plan on having a surgery. I wish I'd bought this for my dad after he had knee surgery. There's so many amazing uses for it. If you get a lot of bug bites. If you live in Texas like we do and we're dealing with mosquitoes, I mean, there's so many uses for it, like everything that we went through in the episode. So definitely stock up. And thank you so much for coming on the episode, Courtney.
- [39:07]
A
Thank you for having me.
- [39:09]
B
Thank you so much for listening to the Real Foodology podcast. This is a Wellness Loud production produced by Drake Peterson. Theme song is by Georgie. You can watch the full video version of this podcast inside the Spotify app or on YouTube. As always, you can leave us a voicemail by clicking the link in our bio. And if you like this episode, please rate and review on your podcast app. For more shows by my team, go to wellnessloud.com see you next time. The content of this show is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for individual medical and mental health advice and doesn't constitute a provider patient relationship. I am a nutritionist, but I am not your nutritionist. As always, talk to your doctor or your health team first.