Our founder, Harvard-trained dermatologist Dr. Iris Rubin, started her career as a pediatric laser surgeon treating kids with disfiguring birthmarks and scars—and never intended to create her own line of products. That was until she noticed that she would break out after getting her hair done at the salon.
Acne is not just a teenage issue, so many adult women experience acne, including Dr. Rubin, who is still acne prone. Dr. Rubin knew she was doing all the right things with her skincare for acne, but came to realize that her haircare might be getting in the way. That’s when Dr. Rubin started looking at haircare as an extension of our skincare regimens.
To be sure her hair products were in fact contributing to breakouts, Dr. Rubin kept a lab notebook. She noted any new products (including skin and haircare products), and how her skin responded–paying particular attention to breakouts. She made sure to only change one variable at a time, so if she was going to the hair salon she wouldn’t change any skincare products, and monitored her skin for days after. Dr. Rubin came to realize that even if she only used rinse-out products like shampoo and conditioner, she would also experience breakouts.
That’s when Dr. Rubin decided to take a closer look at why haircare products were contributing to her breakouts, and how this could happen even with products that were rinsed out of the hair. She suspected that haircare could leave a residue on her hair that then made its way onto the skin, so she initiated a clinical study and discovered that both rinse-out and leave-in hair products can leave a residue on the scalp, face and back for hours.
This study proved that haircare should be treated like skincare–and prompted Dr. Rubin to start developing SEEN. Her goal was to create a line of skin-safe, salon-quality haircare that is clinically proven to be safe for sensitive skin, non-comedogenic (acne-safe), and non-irritating–and deliver stronger, smoother, healthier-looking hair.
This initial formulation process took four years, and Dr. Rubin reviewed the available comedogenicity and irritation data for over 400 ingredients. This research also helped Dr. Rubin avoid many common irritants and pore-clogging ingredients while maintaining SEEN’s commitment to clean, vegan, and cruelty-free products.
All of SEEN’s final formulas are tested to ensure they won’t clog pores and are safe for sensitive skin. SEEN’s fragrance-free products have also received the National Eczema Association Seal of Acceptance™, and our fragrance-free Shampoo and Conditioner have received the National Psoriasis Foundation Seal of Recognition.
For those who are acne-prone like Dr. Rubin, it’s important to use non-comedogenic products that won’t clog pores from head to toe. This includes skincare, makeup, sunscreen, and haircare. In fact, a dermatologist-graded clinical trial showed that 52 percent of participants with face acne and 70 percent with body acne improved after eight weeks of using non-medicated SEEN.[1]
As it turns out, your haircare may be contributing to more than breakouts, and can also contribute to eczema flare-ups, irritation, skin sensitivity, dry scalp, and even hair shedding in those with female pattern hair loss. We’re proud to offer a full range of dermatologist-designed formulas, because when your skin and hair look and feel their best, you feel more comfortable being SEEN!
[1] In a dermatologist-graded clinical study, 27 subjects with mild to moderate acne used SEEN Shampoo and Conditioner as a regimen for 8 weeks. SEEN is non-medicated and can help those for whom hair products are contributing to acne.
