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No. 9 Body is now in the prototype phase

No. 9 is the foundation for the OUMERE System. It exfoliates and in doing so renews the skin. How No. 9 exfoliates is an advancement on the prior, wrong ways of exfoliating. The one such wrong way to exfoliate is with a scrub, which clumsily and haphazardly scrapes off skin cells, creating microlacerations, disruption of oil glands, destruction of the... More

Notes on Africa

A journey through East Africa and lessons on skin care in nature More

Examining the cellular changes in skin from using OUMERE Skin Care

The results from my experiment on the effects No. 9 had on human skin in just one week were surprising. If you note from my earlier post, this first round of the experiment was mostly to make sure my embedding techniques were proper for this kind of test. However, upon looking at the difference between the experimental and the control,... More

3 skin "brightening" ingredients that damage and age the skin and body

Last week I needed to clean out my glass knifemaker in preparation for examining my specimens I wrote about last week.  Its an LKB knifemaker which was made in the 1980's so its all mechanical and no computers. So when it needs servicing, I just do it myself. With any methods in electron microscopy, its all done in house. So... More

For my best skin I don't take vitamin supplements. Except for one.

You can't fool mother nature and there is no tricking a billion years of evolution. Despite advances in medicine and technology, your biology hasn't changed much and biology doesn't know what year it is. That means that you can't substitute a pill for a healthy lifestyle, and that also means that vitamin/mineral supplements are ineffective and can make you unhealthy in the long term. ... More

10 foods I eat and 10 foods I avoid for my best skin

A common thread amongst those with good skin is a good diet. And a bad diet will beget bad skin. The problem most people have is that they are not aware that their diet is bad because a lot of foods that are unhealthy are not obvious.  When studying the biology of cancer while earning my degree, we learned quite a... More

Why Skin Care Cannot Remove Eye Bags

99% of skin care products on the market today are bad products. They either do nothing for the skin or they cause damage. What makes matters worse is that they are marketed in a convincing way by a reputable company, and this causes customers to believe they are doing something healthy when they are actually doing something destructive. Selling a... More

6 Reasons why your skin is red and how to fix it

Skin redness is among the top skin concerns those who read the Mask of Vanity blog write in about, and for OUMERE customers, it is one of the top issues they want fixed with their skin.  The reason why skin gets red is because you have blood in your body, and blood is red. But what causes the blood to... More

Ten million labels, one formula.

From celebrity skin care brands, doctor skin care brands, influencer skin care brands and everything in between, the label may be different but it is all the same formula. Welcome to the world of private label skin care. More

Sheet masks are unsanitary and unsustainable

    The skin care industry is hypocritical. Brands claim their products are "non-toxic" yet contain cytotoxic essential oils. Brands claim that they are "clean beauty", yet house their skin care in unwashed, unsanitary, plastic-leeching bottles. And brands now claim that they are eco-friendly and sustainable yet create metric tons of plastic waste, environmental toxins and pollutants from the mass production... More

How fillers make you look older and cause you to age faster

People don't look the same anymore. And I am not referring to how people who live today don't look like people who lived in the 1500s. I am referring to how different people look now compared to 10 years ago. There is a disturbing trend of body mutilation that is seeping into our population and it is becoming accepted as... More

A Quick Word of Caution About Those Jade Rollers

There isn't much new in the world of skin care, so when something different arises that allows us to "spice up" our routine, we need to have the discerning ability to delineate between helpful product and marketing gimmick. Jade rollers are an applicator tool to help spread skin care products without tugging on your face, or transferring the bacteria from... More

IS WATER IRRITATING TO THE SKIN? IS BACTERIA-INFUSED SKIN CARE BENEFICIAL? AND DOES THE SUNSCREEN IN YOUR MAKEUP PROVIDE ENOUGH SUN PROTECTION?

ASK A SKIN CARE BIOLOGIST Ask a Skin Care Biologist is a recurring Bioluminescence post where OUMERE's CEO and CSO, Wendy Ouriel, M.S., answers your skin care questions. Wendy is a cellular biologist with expertise in cellular aging, extracellular matrix biology and the biology of skin care. QUESTION: WHY IS WATER IRRITATING TO THE SKIN? - Carrie L. It’s a... More

The McDonald's Effect: Skin Care Trickery

The skin care industry can be summed up in a metaphor: It is 1970, and you live in a house that was built 50+ years ago. The house has asbestos in the drywall and walls coated in lead paint. You read an article in the Times written by a scientist who founded a company that sells asbestos-free drywall. He states that from... More

The 10 Ways Microneedling Destroyed Your Skin, As Reported By You

Microneedling is among the most dangerous skin care fad I have seen in a long time. By far. There is nothing safe, scientific or sane about stabbing needles into your skin for the sake of skin improvement. It is neither sanitary or smart and it is completely devoid of scientific merit.   When I wrote of the dangers of microneedling/ dermarolling some... More

DIY Skin Care: A Recipe for Disaster

by Wendy Ouriel   Aspirin is easy to make. The ingredients are cheap and everything you need to make aspirin can be bought online. If you're one of the millions who take it everyday you can save thousands by making it yourself. And if you make your own aspirin you are going to do it wrong and make yourself sick.  The... More