How gendered marketing harmed my brother's skin—and why we're building therapeutic cosmetics for everyone.
My brother and sister both developed rosacea in their twenties. Today, my brother's condition is significantly worse—not because of biology, but because of marketing.
When my sister's rosacea appeared, she immediately started using moisturizers, gentle skincare, and coverage products. Were they perfect? No. But daily barrier support and sun protection from foundation slowed her progression.
My brother? He suffered in silence. The beauty industry had convinced him that skincare and coverage were "for women." He'd wash his face with bar soap, skip moisturizer, and avoid anything that felt like "makeup"—even when his dermatologist recommended it. By the time he got over the stigma, his rosacea had progressed to persistent erythema and visible telangiectasia.
Gendered Marketing Has Medical Consequences
This isn't just about hurt feelings—it's about health outcomes. Rosacea is a progressive inflammatory condition. Early intervention with barrier repair and anti-inflammatory actives can slow or prevent progression. But if half the population is told these products "aren't for them," we're creating worse medical outcomes through marketing.
The data bears this out: men are diagnosed with rosacea later and at more severe stages, not because they have worse disease, but because they delay treatment and avoid preventive skincare.
The Vicious Cycle We Saw
Here's what happened to both my siblings:
- Redness and inflammation appear
- My sister: applied products (imperfect but protective) → slower progression
- My brother: avoided "gendered" products → barrier deterioration accelerated
- By the time he sought help, significantly more damage had occurred
Why MAAD Is Different
We refuse to gender skin biology. Rosacea Rescue is formulated based on dermatological science, not marketing demographics:
- Oil-free base reduces Demodex proliferation (affects all genders equally)
- Niacinamide (3%) repairs barrier function (not a "feminine" ingredient)
- Azelaic acid (10%) reduces inflammation and microbial load (works on all skin)
- Green optical correction neutralizes redness without looking like "makeup"
The finish is skin-like, not "beauty filter." It doesn't read as traditionally "feminine." It just looks like healthier skin—because that's what it's doing.
Our Clinical Commitment
When we conduct clinical trials in 2026, we're specifically recruiting across gender, age, and skin tone. We're measuring:
- Barrier function improvement (TEWL)
- Erythema reduction
- User comfort and daily compliance
- Whether gendered stigma affects product adoption
If our formulation can prevent one person from experiencing what my brother did—progressive disease because products were marketed "wrong" for his gender—then we've succeeded.
Learn more about Rosacea Rescue →
Product Stories
October 2025
The Eczema Paradox
When your skin needs the most help, conventional makeup makes everything worse. Why people with eczema deserve better than "just don't wear makeup."
Eczema affects over 30 million people, causing visible rashes, flaking, and redness. And here's the impossible choice they face: cover the rash with makeup that will inflame it further, or go without coverage and face the social stigma of visible skin conditions.
The Stigma Is Real
People with visible eczema report:
- Strangers asking "what's wrong with your skin?"
- Assumptions about contagiousness or hygiene
- Professional disadvantages in client-facing roles
- Dating anxiety and social withdrawal
- Constant unsolicited skincare "advice"
The psychological burden is documented: people with visible skin conditions experience rates of anxiety and depression comparable to other chronic illnesses. Coverage isn't vanity—it's quality of life.
Why Current Solutions Fail
Dermatologists often say: "avoid makeup until it heals." But for chronic eczema, that could mean never. And conventional makeup actively makes things worse:
- Sensitizing preservatives trigger allergic responses
- Fragrances and irritants inflame already-compromised skin
- Heavy oils disrupt the microbiome and trap irritants
- Drying alcohol increases TEWL (trans-epidermal water loss)
- No barrier repair – coverage without healing
So people are stuck: suffer visible stigma, or suffer worsening skin. It's a false choice.
The False Promise of "Sensitive Skin" Products
Most "hypoallergenic" or "sensitive" foundations focus on what they don't contain (parabens, fragrance), but still contain:
- Comedogenic oils that feed pathogenic bacteria
- Emulsifiers that strip the barrier
- Preservatives that sensitize compromised skin
- Zero barrier-repair ingredients
They're "less bad" – not actively good.
What Eczema Skin Actually Needs
Eczema involves profound barrier dysfunction: depleted ceramides, elevated pH, increased TEWL, and microbiome imbalance. Effective coverage needs to address all of this:
- Barrier-identical lipids (ceramides, cholesterol, fatty acids in 3:1:1 ratio)
- Anti-inflammatory actives (niacinamide, colloidal oatmeal, allantoin)
- Microbiome-safe formulation (oil-free to prevent pathogen proliferation)
- pH-balanced (5.5-6.0 to support skin's acid mantle)
- Breathable protection (blocks irritants without occlusion)
Eczema Care: Coverage That Heals
We built Eczema Care around barrier science, not just sensitivity claims. It:
- Actively repairs the lipid barrier while providing coverage
- Reduces inflammation and itch with clinical-dose actives
- Protects against environmental triggers without suffocating skin
- Works with dermatological treatment, not against it
Early testing shows measurable improvement in barrier function (reduced TEWL) and user-reported comfort. People shouldn't have to choose between visible skin conditions and worsening disease.
If you have eczema and want effective coverage without compromise, join our beta testing program. We're specifically seeking participants with atopic dermatitis to validate our formulation.
Learn more about Eczema Care →
Technology
September 2025
Pigment Science 101: Why Most Foundations Look "Off"
Understanding the physics of skin color and why achieving a true match is harder than it looks—plus how we're solving it with precision chemistry.
The Color Matching Problem
Human skin color is incredibly complex. It's not just about "light" or "dark"—it's about:
- Melanin distribution (eumelanin vs. pheomelanin ratios)
- Hemoglobin (blood flow creates redness)
- Carotene (yellow undertones)
- Surface texture (how light scatters)
Why Traditional Shade Ranges Fail
Most brands create shades by mixing three base pigments:
- Titanium dioxide (white/lightness)
- Iron oxides (yellow, red, black)
But they use the same ratios across all depths. This creates two major problems:
- Ashiness in deep shades: Too much TiO₂ creates grey cast
- Poor undertone matching: One-size-fits-all ratios don't account for individual variation
The MAAD Approach
Our Diamond System solves both problems:
- Depth-specific formulation: Deep shades contain zero TiO₂/ZnO to prevent ashiness
- Precision adjusters: Four calibrated pastes (White, Yellow, Blue, Black) allow micro-dosing for exact undertone
- Objective measurement: ΔE00 color difference math ensures matches within perceptual threshold
What is ΔE00?
It's a standardized measure of color difference. ΔE00 ≤1.0 means the colors are visually indistinguishable to the human eye. Traditional shade matching achieves ΔE00 of 3-5. We target ≤1.0.
Interested in the technical details? We'll be publishing our k-value calibration methodology in a future post.