In the June issue of Retail Pharmacy Assistants e-magazine, we speak with Judy Cheung-Wood, founder of SkinB5, a brand that is revolutionising the acne management space, helping many customers along the way.
Tell us a little about yourself and your background. What’s your role within SkinB5?
I inherited my father’s oily skin and suffered from acne and other mysterious skin issues from time to time as a teenager and young adult, and I tried everything, but nothing worked until I came across a medical paper about a trial using high-potency vitamin B5 as a supplement to treat acne with significant results. I didn’t take any supplements at the time, but I thought there was a glimmer of hope that this might be the holy grail I was looking for, so I bought a heap of vitamin B5 capsules from a health store in Sydney’s Pitt Street Mall, which sold them to bodybuilders for energy and stamina, and tried it myself at the dosage described in the medical paper. Two months later, my acne was gone and people around me started to notice that my skin was clear and glowing.
Then I founded SkinB5, an award-winning global company that offers natural skincare treatments for acne control – through my journey to heal my own acne. I owe a lot to my wise grandfather, who was a chemist and manufacturer of natural skincare products. His expertise in traditional and nutritional medicine taught me that natural skincare products are not only highly effective in healing the skin, but they also help to restore us, so we feel better about ourselves.
I wear many hats in the business, but my most important role is in research and product development where I work with many high-calibre experts to make my product ideas a reality.
What’s your vision for SkinB5, and its mission?
My vision is for everyone to feel confident and well because they have healthy acne-free skin. I know what it’s like to suffer the pain of teenage and early adulthood acne. You feel so isolated and alone. You want to hide and not show your face to the world. I founded
SkinB5 to help acne suffers overcome this pain, and gain their confidence again to thrive.
Our mission is to transform lives through innovative, effective and ethical skincare products that enable wellness and confidence.
Talk us through the launch of SkinB5 and how you came to where you are today.
SkinB5 was launched in 2006 with a single product, which was a mango and strawberry flavoured multivitamin powder drink containing high-potency vitamin B5. It worked well but it wasn’t easy to drink, as vitamin B5 is quite bitter and very hard to mask with flavouring. Within 18 months, we added skincare products as well – cleanser, moisturiser, clay mask – to create an inside-out treatment system.
We listened closely to customer feedback, and in 2010 we improved our flagship vitamins formulation and launched tablet and capsule formulas. In 2015, we further refined and reformulated our vitamins, and successfully obtained a patent for this highly efficacious product [SkinB5 acne treatment].
We continued to improve our formulations based on user feedback, and in 2019 we launched the current Next-Gen SkinB5. We also extended our range to include the highly active Australian Botanicals skincare products and an all-in-one clear skin superfood complex with 63 ingredients, including marine collagen, hemp and adaptogenic herbs such as ashwagandha and ginseng.
You mention on your website that your customers tell you SkinB5 products are “game changers” and “life changers”. How do your products achieve the effectiveness to attract such endorsements?
Since 2006, SkinB5 has successfully treated thousands of acne sufferers and we’ve rapidly grown to become a thriving global brand.
SkinB5 is trusted by an increasing number of health professionals as a workable alternative to prescription acne medication. Unlike other mainstream acne products, SkinB5 addresses underlying nutritional deficiencies and stops acne before it starts, from within. SkinB5 is a patented, vitamin B5 nutraceutical acne treatment program that’s proven to effectively eliminate and prevent all types of acne, and even other skin issues, including blackheads, whiteheads, oily skin, and scarring.
We’ve had so many customers tell us that SkinB5 products are “game changers” and “life changers”, not only because they heal the skin, but also because the products heal how people feel about their skin. I know these are strong words, but they’re true and came from our customers verbatim. I know first-hand what it’s like to feel that you have the confidence again to show your face to the world.
If you had three words to describe your success within the brand and in business, what would they be?
Care, integrity, progressiveness! These are the core values that bring me success within SkinB5 and in business. But if you insist on a description, then I’d say: persistence pays off.
To read the full feature as it appears in the June issue of Retail Pharmacy Assistants e-magazine, visit: rpassistants.com.au/magazines/retail-pharmacy-assistants-june-2021/
