Very few skin care lines claim to be so pure that you can actually eat all of the products. Dr. Alkaitis holistic organic skin food is one of those rare brands, meant to feed the skin with ingredients that are completely edible.  Dr. Alkaitis’ comes from an extensive background in plant studies, including work with, count ’em, four Nobel Prize winners. Since creating his namesake brand, his products have become a cult obsession with many models and celebrities for whom reliable skin care is an absolute essential.  We happen to know some of the best modelling agencies in the world recommend the line to soothe the overworked skin of their clients.  Here Dr. Alkaitis shares some of his thoughts and insights on skin care with us and we’re more than thrilled to share them with you.

TCM: What inspired the creation of the Dr. Alkaitis brand?
DA: “Over the years, my wife would bring home a variety of personal care products from numerous sources, including health food stores, and ask my opinion about them. After looking at the ingredient label, invariably my response was, ‘I wouldn’t put that on my skin.’ Having had more than a passing scientific and sociological interest in skin, our most social of organs, one day I said, ‘I will make you products for which your skin will be eternally thankful.’ After five years of effort, the core products of my line were born.”

TCM: People really respond to your skin care. What product do customers get most enthusiastic about?
DA: “I think most of them have one or two favorites. We know which ones sell the most, the Purifying Facial Cleanser and the Facial Creams, and coming up strongly is the Nourishing Treatment Oil.”

TCM: Dr Alkaitis brand uses many wild-crafted ingredients. What does wild-crafted really mean?
DA: “Wild-crafted plants are those harvested from unpolluted, virgin wilderness areas that constitute their native habitat. The ethical part applies to the manner of harvesting. The plants are harvested in a sustainable manner and only those at their peak potency are considered. Sustainability means that there are always enough plants left behind in the wild so that the maintenance of a healthy population is never in doubt.”

TCM: Dr. Alkaitis products are ‘edible’. Why is that? Are other beauty products ‘inedible’?
DA: “The simple answer is that whatever is put on your skin is absorbed into your body, it is ‘eaten’. So if one is interested in maintaining a healthy skin and health, then they should follow this simple guideline: ‘If you can’t eat it, don’t put it on your skin.’ According to this straightforward guideline, the vast majority of beauty products on the market are ‘inedible’.”

TCM: What does your unique scientific background bring to the Dr. Alkaitis brand?
DA: “My approach to the making of my products is a synergy between our modern scientific approach (a PhD in Physical Chemistry) and the holistic approach (in depth study of living plants and their interactions with other living organisms, such as humans). The most profound results are achieved when technology is adapted to intimately fit into nature – to complement and serve life, not to change or supplant it.”

TCM: Your scientific background includes studies in enthopharmacology. Can you tell us more about this fascinating field?
DA: “Ethnopharmacology is the study of how indigenous people worldwide use[d] plants in their traditional medical practice.”

TCM: What does Dr. Alkaitis take into account that most other beauty brands do not?
DA: “I really did not start out with the purpose of making ‘organic’ skin care products. My aim was to make skin care products that promote and support a healthy skin in a holistic manner, products that anyone’s skin would be absolutely thrilled to interact with and visibly express its satisfaction. These products are designed to simultaneously help bring the skin to homeostasis, a state unique to each individual, and to help maintain it.

Your skin is a living organ. Our bodies evolved interacting with complex living food. Living food is necessary for the promotion and maintenance of optimum health.
  Your skin is also a two way street; it absorbs materials as well as excretes them. Just about anything that is put on your skin will be absorbed and therefore go into your body. This leads to the second of my foundational guidelines in formulating my products: ‘If you can’t eat it, don’t put it on your skin.’

This approach necessitates that I use the healthiest ingredients available. These are certified bio-dynamically and organically grown materials and ethically wild-crafted materials sourced from virgin wilderness area and harvested in a sustainable manner. These materials will possess the maximum therapeutic potential. These are then processed in a manner which preserves their ‘personalities’.  Nothing is taken out of its biological or living context. Throughout the whole process, temperatures are kept below body temperature in order to preserve enzymatic activity.

Being consistent in this approach to formulating and manufacturing the products that I make in this manner makes them ‘holistic organic skin food’ and ‘therapeutic raw health food for the skin’. In today’s marketplace, a multitude of marketing approaches are being employed to satisfy the public’s growing desire for ‘greenness’. One can narrow down one’s choices by looking at the quality of ingredients, but ultimately the critical factor will always be: ‘How does my skin respond? How happy is my skin with this product?’.  If I am to get results, I must 
use the healthiest of ingredients available, which are certified biodynamic and/or certified organic and my processing must preserve their therapeutic potential (health giving properties).”

TCM: Beyond skin care products, what advice would you give people wanting to improve the health of their skin?

DA: “Your skin is the mirror to your digestive tract, so for a healthy skin it is essential that the digestive tract is cleaned up. This requires the establishment and maintenance of a healthy mix of microorganisms (probiotics). That can only be accomplished by eating healthy living food (organic whole foods) and living a healthy lifestyle. In spite of what may be promised, there are no shortcuts.”

TCM: Many people with sensitive skin love your skin care. What are other things that people with sensitive skin can do to protect themselves?
DA: “Sensitive skin is a skin condition. Usually there is a past history as to why their skin became sensitive. Typically this includes the use of any combination of topical antibiotics, harsh chemicals in skin care products, at some point having taken an acne medication, extreme exposure to extreme weather, medication and/or food allergies. What they can do is use products such as ours that are completely organic and soothing. Sensitive skin should not be aggravated – especially not with exfoliators, or any aggressive treatments such as microdermabrasion. They can wear a wide brimmed hat in place of a sunscreen. Sunscreens usually contain chemicals that could further cause sensitivity. The key is to nourish and soothe the skin and to build it back up with nutrition, internal and external. I don’t want to sound like a broken record – but again, a diet rich in vegetables actually will tone the skin’s texture and build up cellular protection.”

TCM: If you could advise readers of just a few things to avoid that will improve their skin, what would they be?
DA: “Eat only whole living organic foods. Stay away from soy. Use only virgin cold pressed organic oils – coconut, olive and sesame oils. I have consulted hundreds of women over the years and brainstormed skin issues from acne to hormones to all different kinds of skin aliments and challenges relating to them. Every single time someone is at their wits end – I’ve proposed this: stop using everything for 3-4 days and only eat organic vegetables. No fruit, no wheat, no refined foods. Just raw and or steamed vegetables morning, noon and night or three organic vegetable juices a day.

This has drastically improved every single person’s skin with in one-week’s time. After this period has passed, I recommend they re-examine the ingredients in their make-up and skin care. Investigate these ingredients. Make sure they don’t contain silicone, the number one pore clogging ingredient out there and in almost everything. Avoid smoking, excessive alcohol intake, refined sugar, any drink in a can and coffee.”

Dr. Alkaitis is offering one lucky reader a generously stocked Dr. Alkaitis Travel Kit with 8 travel-sized products.  Simply leave us your comments below on your favorite insight from the interview and we’ll select the winner!