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| This is like 0.1% of Garden of Wisdom's catalog. Where to begin! |
Your skin is your body's largest organ (yes, it's an organ!) and like the rest of you it's at the mercy of a number of factors, from the environment to diet to genetics. Even when you think you've found the "right" routine, four months down the line when the seasons change you might find yourself back at square one. You've sat through countless Youtube "guru" videos and read a zillion useless Livestrong articles online, but nothing seems to be working. Eventually you feel disenfranchised and view all skincare marketing with a cynical, critical eye. You crave an understanding of the why and how things are happening with your skin, a knowledge that runs deeper than the promises all that pretty packaging makes.
Okay, so maybe you aren't as a compulsive perfectionist on a quest for Absolute Knowledge like I am, but even so, I imagine you're at least curious, right? It's easy to tell yourself that your face decided to break out on the same night as your romantic date just because it has a personal vendetta against you, but the root of the trouble is more than just skin deep (har har).
Garden of Wisdom Skincare Consultation
In a perfect world, everyone has access to a professional and attentive dermatologist who takes into account your entire medical history and helps you arrive at the right skincare choices. However, for some people this isn't practical, and for others it's a last resort. If you're not able or ready to waltz into the dermatologist's office, the Garden of Wisdom (GoW) Skincare Consultation easily sounds like an appealing choice. Or, if you're like me and totally overwhelmed by their extensive catalog of products and figure you'll be buying something anyways, it's definitely a viable option.What is it?
GoW offers a "personalized consultation" where they work with you one-on-one to learn more about your skin in order to make informed decisions about which products and/or routines would work best for you. This is not a medical evaluation, and none of the advice given should be considered a suitable substitute for a visit to the dermatologist.What does it cost?
A consultation costs $40, but the entire fee is put towards a store credit. In other words, you commit to spending $40 on GoW's site and receive more in-depth advice than what you'd find on their Delphi forum.How does it work?
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| A sample of the questionnaire |
You receive an in-depth questionnaire to fill out regarding your current skincare routine, any medications you may be taking, environment, diet, etc. and are also encouraged (but not required) to send along a clear, naturally-lit photo of your face for evaluation.
Once your questionnaire is filled out and submitted, you schedule a window of time to chat. GoW's website originally had an embedded chat client, but they now chat through email and Google Talk. During the chat you'll go over your questionnaire answers and receive feedback. Since everyone's different, there's no one-size-fits-all experience. While they will also recommend certain products in their catalog to choose from, other things such as routine and environment come up as well (so it's not like a glamorized marketing session masquerading as a consultation).
After you complete your consultation, you'll receive an email containing a transcript of your chat for your own reference. This is really helpful because it's so easy to forget all the details, plus it gives you a way to go back and check over what advice and recommendations you received, even if it has been months since your consultation.
Does it work?
That depends. Everyone is different, so no two consultation experiences are the same.
Is it worth it?
That also depends. If you're already envisioning dropping $40 on GoW products in the first place, it doesn't hurt to get some extra TLC, and it opens up an interesting dialog regarding your personal skincare. However, if you're going in blind and can't see yourself spending that much on their products, it might be prudent to test out the forums first. Also, if you've already completed a consultation you can follow up months later if things have changed. My Thoughts:
When I first had my GoW consultation, I knew I was probably going to spend $40 anyways - I had already sampled several products with mixed success, and I wanted more tailored recommendations. I wasn't looking to 100% solve my skin issues (although that would be nice, this wasn't an expectation), I wanted to know which GoW products in their enormous catalog were the ones I should be checking out.My consultation was really helpful at the time - I was experiencing some redness and occasional acne and blemishes, and I was looking for products I could incorporate into my routine specifically for these areas. I received some good targeted feedback, and we went over certain ingredients in the current lineup of products I was using and identified a few that could present some problems. To finish it off, I was recommended a few products that might work well for my skin (all of which I nabbed in sample form to test out).
A year later, I don't use any of the products GoW recommended in my initial consultation. Does this mean it was a failure? I don't think so, since it initially got the ball rolling and got me thinking more about what was in the products I was using. Ultimately, I had the most success with cutting the irritants out of my routine, not from adding GoW products. For example, I was experiencing random out-of-the-blue blemishes in areas that are uncommon for me to get blemishes. During my consultation I was told the culprit could be my sunscreen. This struck me as odd because I'd been using the same suncreen for over a year and the blemishes were very recent. Eventually I went to the dermatologist and started using a retinoid product (which zapped my problem away almost instantly). So even though it wasn't a wild success, my consultation got me thinking more critically about the ingredients in my products and how they could be interacting with my skin.
As I've learned more about my skin and skincare in general and look back on my consultation, there were a few things that felt a bit off. I was forwarded several articles regarding comedogenicity and exfoliation. However, none of them referenced any peer-reviewed journals or studies, and all of them were authored by Jen herself. Some of the information was useful, but some contradicted what I've read in peer-reviewed studies (for example, Jen's Comedogenic Nature of Ingredients and Products article argues that certain comedogenic [clogging] ingredients are misunderstood and is based on outdated interpretations of data from animal and human testing models).
Is this a deal breaker? Not for me, although I take what I was suggested with a grain of salt. So long as you recognize that the GoW Skincare Consultation is not meant to be a replacement for a professional medical opinion, it is a good place to start if you're looking for more tailored recommendations on GoW products.
Valentine Adds:
I've also had a Garden of Wisdom skincare consultation and did not ultimately find it very helpful, although since I was already planning to spend $40 to stock up on some things I wanted, I felt there was nothing to lose aside from some time.There was some confusion regarding our different time zones (as far as I can tell from looking back over our emails, I was sent the chat request an hour earlier than I should have received it), so we got started a bit late, and I felt like a large percentage of the conversation was actually about how we'd gotten off to a late start and might run out of time, rather than about skincare questions.
I was also put off a bit by the self-published articles Jen forwarded me to read, and her judgment of an existing GoW product I was planning to purchase as potentially comedogenic and one to avoid. I felt that it was odd that they would formulate and sell a product that they would not endorse even for someone with fairly normal, non-acne-prone skin.
My sunscreen, which I am quite happy with currently, and which is fairly well-regarded from what I can tell from reviews/skin care forums, received a shocked response from Jen when she looked over the ingredients list (she felt it had some undesirable ingredients), making me feel a bit defensive about my choice. I also felt obligated to purchase at least one of the recommended items from the consultation rather than just going ahead with my previous shopping cart (like when you ask a waiter what he recommends and then order the opposite of what he suggested, and you feel like a jerk!)
Based on my experience, I wouldn't personally recommend the consultation, but I had been reading up on skincare and researching the Garden of Wisdom Catalog beforehand, so I'd already narrowed down what I wanted to buy. I think it might be more helpful either to a complete beginner or someone with good background knowledge about skincare but who needs help navigating Garden of Wisdom's catalog.
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