No more troubled skin
From baby care products, Buds Organics has expanded to include treatments for specific skin conditions, writes Meera Murugesan
WHAT do acne, eczema, hair loss and dandruff have in common? Well, besides being very uncomfortable and potentially socially embarrassing conditions, all these problems tend to be aggravated by the use of conventional, chemical laden hair and skincare products.
Most of the time, as consumers, we can’t even make sense of half the ingredients listed on the label of a shampoo or lotion.
If you happen to be one of those unfortunate individuals who grapples on a daily basis with troubled skin, knowing what goes into your personal care products is crucial. Looking for options which help, rather than hamper your condition, is equally important.
KK Soo, co-founder of Buds Organics, understands this situation well. As a teenager, his suffering with acne was further frustrated by the lack of visible improvement no matter what he tried.
But this early experience and his training as a chemist set the foundation for his goal to create safe personal care products.
Buds Organics was born in 2003 with natural baby care products, created from plant-based ingredients and designed to be extremely mild and protective on the skin.
The brand has since expanded to include many ranges. Its latest is Dr Buds Organics which follows the same philosophy of being safe, mild and natural but targets older children, teenagers and adults with troubled skin.
The products in the range use certified organic ingredients to treat specific skin conditions namely eczema, acne, hair loss and dandruff.
“We decided to target these four conditions because they are the four most common skin conditions. We combined organic ingredients into the range to help resolve these skin and hair problems,” says Soo.
GOING GREEN
The range contains tried and tested as well
as new and unusual plant-based ingredients.
There’s plankton, willowbark and shiso leaf extract, as well as old favourites like tea tree oil, licorice extract, aloe vera, virgin coconut oil and shea butter.
Soo explains that one must keep in mind that just a single ingredient or a single product cannot effectively address skin problem.
“With acne, for example, you need something that will kill the bacteria but also something else to clean and soothe the skin.”
What’s needed is a range where a few different products containing a combination of different ingredients work well together.
“You basically need quite a few components for it to be effective,” adds Soo.
Sensitive skin can affect a person’s quality of life so finding ways to address it is crucial and selecting organic, plantbased and safe personal care products play a huge role, says Dr Amir Hamzah Abdul Latiff, consultant clinical immunologist/ allergist at Pantai Hospital, Kuala Lumpur.
“As an allergist and immunologist, I know only too well the kind of frustrations my patients face when using commercial personal care products. They lament that they can’t find any solutions that work without negative side effects.”
In people with bad eczema, for example, even plain water can hurt the skin, what more chemical laden, harsh personal care products which can be very abrasive on the skin.
“It might be just itchiness but it can disturb your ability to work, to sleep, go to school or study,” says Dr Amir.
Parents who have children with eczema also deal with the stress of seeing their children in great discomfort and waking up frequently at night to tend to a child who may be scratching until he or she bleeds.
Helping these people find effective solutions to their problems can improve their day-to-day lives.