Some of the very best ideas are born out of adversity. Suffering from skin problems for years, local woman Kate Dyer had tried every dermatological treatment imaginable to no avail. “I estimate I spent over ten thousand dollars attempting to solve my skin problems,” she says. “When my son was born, the rashes around my eyes and mouth made me so self-conscious I couldn’t even bear to have any photographs taken.”
Spending several hours a day breastfeeding, she decided to use that time to research everything she could about skin and skincare. Having a head start as a microbiologist, albeit in food science, she was well able to make sense of the research and scientific papers she uncovered relating to what leads skin to become damaged and how skincare ingredients work to either help or harm it further.
“The more I read, the more I realised why the products I had tried previously weren’t working and were, in fact, causing even more damage to my skin,” says Kate. “I began to understand that our skin is being bombarded daily with pollutants of all kinds and is constantly trying to repair itself, but healthy skin is dependent on the trillions of good bacteria living in our bodies, our microbiome. Most of the skincare products on the market today are based on old scientific thinking that doesn’t take this into account and they include a range of damaging antibacterial ingredients, fragrances and preservatives such as parabens and ethanol, all of which actively work against skin health and, as in my case, can cause further skin damage.”
While Kate breastfed for a year and a half, accumulating a colossal amount of knowledge, she wasn’t done with her research. In the meantime she met local entrepreneur Cindy Boote who had experienced skin problems of her own. They made the decision to team up and create Eunoia. “We are super proud to be bringing a radical new type of skincare to the world based on up-to-date science, sound clinical trials and, most importantly, to bring real solutions to people like us who have suffered for years with problem skin,” she says.
“As well as working really hard on the actual products, we have actually managed to do something that the big skincare companies have said couldn’t be done,” Kate continues. “Thanks to a grant we received we were able to work with the Callaghan Institute to develop an airless vacuum pump bottle that eliminates the need for preservatives so the product that comes out is pure goodness and doesn’t have anti-bacterial ingredients that are harmful to the skin.”
Kate and Cindy are excited to be able to incorporate New Zealand ingredients, but only those that have survived strict clinical trials. These include Kawa Kawa, traditionally used by Maori for healing, an algae extract from our native red seaweed and leaf extract from the Black Fern.
Only launched last December, the sky is the limit for Eunoia. “The feedback so far has been really exciting,” says Kate. “We are thrilled to finally see all the research and hard work we have done going to help others like us for whom a healthy skin really helps a positive self-esteem.”
P: 021 447 727 | W: eunoiabeauty.com
