Latest / Skin Anarchy / Kayleigh Christina & Danielle Gronich, Founders of Clearstem Skincare

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Kayleigh Christina & Danielle Gronich, Founders of Clearstem Skincare · Skin Anarchy

• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Hi guys, welcome back to Skincare Anarchy.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: This is your host, Ekta, and I have two fabulous guests for you guys today.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: Their line is truly extraordinary and has gotten so many great results for so many people.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: But um, without further ado, I want to introduce you guys to Danielle Gornich um and uh Kaylee Christina, who are the co-founders of ClearStem Skincare.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: So welcome to the show, guys.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome, thank you.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: It's Danielle Gronich.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: Gronich, yes.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_01: My last name's ugly enough as it is, but we can just keep it as Gronich.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: No, I'm so sorry.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um I want to, by the way, I will edit all of that.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so let's get started.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Danielle, maybe you can get us started by um, you know, kind of talking about how you and Kaylee got together and created this amazing concept for ClearSTEM and just the whole journey.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I want to know all the details.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: All the details, yeah.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_01: So um I suffered with acne, like really bad cystic acne all over like my entire body for over 10 years, just runs really bad in my family on both sides.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: So I did years of antibiotics, three separate rounds of Accutane, lasers, peels, antibiotics, all the things you can imagine through a traditional dermatology route.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: And it literally all came back within like three months of stopping anything.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: So at the age of 29, I was like almost 30.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: My last round of Accutane had failed.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: My acne was already coming back like two months later, and I was like, this is ridiculous.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: I happened to have a biology background.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: So I was like, I'm gonna go back to school, figure out all the information I need, apply my understanding of biology and science to this.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's what I did.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: I left the corporate world and I went to beauty school at night, found out everything I needed to know, shadowed under a bunch of people, took all the acne trainings, all the chemical appeal classes, and just learned about nutrition and functional medicine and eastern medicine and just all the missing pieces that you don't get through traditional dermatology.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so did that journey, started San Diego Acne Clinic when I was like 31.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: So I've had the clinic for about six years now.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so it's it's been fantastic.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_01: We have an insanely high rate for success.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: We we clear like 95% of people and we significantly help pretty much everyone else.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: So um people come to us when traditional dermatology fails.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: So people have come to us have already been on antibiotics, they've already done Accutane, they've already done everything and they're at a loss.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: And we piece the puzzle together for them holistically with no toxins and get them and get them clear.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: And that is how I met Kaylee.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: Kaylee was actually a patient.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, wow.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: Kaylee, I would love for you to uh take it over from here and tell us more.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so I met Danielle when I was suffering from painful, painful cystic acne.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_03: It had I I had had acne on and off all growing up.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_03: Um done all the traditional solutions that are prescribed by dermatologists and heavy and harsh creams that made my skin peel off and red and irritated.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and and nothing really worked.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_03: I still had just you know breakouts through my years, but in my mid-20s, um again, I started to have extremely painful cystic acne.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, to the point it was so debilitating, I didn't even want to leave the house.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_03: I was packing on like theater makeup and you could still see it.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_03: It just completely crushed my confidence.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_03: And I at this point, I'd gone to every doctor and dermatologist and esthetician there was, and the only solutions I was given were to go on antibiotics, to go back on birth control, or to go on accutane.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_03: And my background, I'm a holistic nutritionist, and I knew I knew there was something going on in my body.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_03: I knew that no three of these things would fix actually the root cause, but I didn't know where to turn.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_03: I was going to so many different estheticians, and they would just try to get me on whatever line was in their clinic, and my skin just kept getting worse and worse.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_03: And as a last resort, I did one more Google search and I found San Diego Acne Clinic.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_03: And when I met Danielle, I happened to be her last client of the day.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_03: And we spent like three hours talking about everything.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_03: We were talking about all my hair products, skincare products, makeup products, talked about pore clogging ingredients, different triggers of acne, things like excess vitamin D, excess B12, zinc, um, biotin, eggs, dairy, all the things.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_03: And so we're gonna be able to do that.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: All the important things, yeah.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I learned I had 11 different acne triggers going on.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_03: And so we removed all the acne triggers from both my diet lifestyle, and then also um any pork long ingredients that were in my skincare and makeup and hair conditioner.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_03: And within a matter of two months, my skin was completely clear with no scar damage.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_03: We actually have a before and after of my skin on our website.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_03: I believe it's the first one under before and afters.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and it was, yeah, it was incredible.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_03: And so um, that's I'm looking at it.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: I'm actually looking at it right now before the interview, I was like looking at all of the results.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, for everyone listening out there, by the way, make sure you go to clearstemskincare.com and really look at these reviews.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: These are just beautiful reviews in the sense that I mean the change is dramatic.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: So obviously, you know, Danielle, what you did and all of your learning, I mean, it shows it really shows.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: You guys have some you know amazing testimonials.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: So I I want to actually dive in more, Danielle, with your background because I think um I love what you said, you know, from a fellow biology major, I can tell you that that degree does not teach us jack about skin health.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: And and so I am so proud of you for going out there and really doing your own homework and you know, kind of being a pioneer in this.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: So um, can you tell me a little bit about how it was like finding uh or like you know, starting that acne clinic?
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, was it hard?
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: Was were there hurdles you got, you know, had to deal with from like dermatologists or anything?
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: Or how was that?
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like getting that off the ground?
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's a great question.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so starting the clinic, I I knew of a model that I really liked, and I knew what I wanted to talk about and what I did and didn't want because I shadowed under a bunch of people.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: And normally you go to a spa or a you know, some like a skincare person, and all they do is do a basic treatment.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: They don't really answer any questions and they just want to sell you product.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: That's literally the business model of a spa.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I knew I didn't want that because as a consumer, I hated that and it didn't get me any results.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: So, and then when I would go to a dermatologist, and I'd been to like 12 at this point, they would just recommend more prescriptions.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: I would come with a list of questions about like, hey, when I eat this, I notice my skin gets worse, or when it's summer, my skin gets worse.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: I would come with questions and they wouldn't be able to answer any of them.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, and it was just ridiculous.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_01: So I knew from a consumer standpoint what I didn't want.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: And then I had also started learning um about functional medicine, eastern medicine, things like digestion and gut health and food sensitivities, um, and just like piecing together the missing components that you don't get in a Western medical office.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: So uh basically what we did is we created this movement called alternative dermatology, and that is what at San Diego Acne Clinic is like the pioneer of.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: So people come in and I spend 90 minutes with them.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: You never get that much time with a dermatologist or like anyone else.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_01: You pop in for 12 minutes, they're literally running through a checklist in their head of what prescriptions to write you, and that's your appointment.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_01: And there's no follow-up in the meantime to be like, hey, how's this going?
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_01: Did you try any dietary changes?
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_01: Like, they did you they don't look at your vitamins?
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: Like, so all this stuff.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_01: So, um, in the process that it created, we have a checklist.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: We go over what they're eating, when they're eating it, what vitamins they're taking, because people don't know this, but so many regular vitamins can cause hormonal acne.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: Can you go through some um examples?
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: Because I this is so fascinating to me.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: Because honestly, for me, like for I'll give my example, I have Hashimoto's, and so I'm completely vibing with everything you're saying because honestly, like being a doctor myself, I've gone and said to doctors that I'm seeing, I'm like, you are not approaching my health correctly.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you why.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like I would love to talk about that.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: And for me, with Hashimoto's, one of the vitamins that's always low is vitamin D.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: So I know that vitamin D plays a huge role, you know what I mean, in overall health.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: But I would love for you to give us some, you know, some shining examples that you noticed that were obviously, you know, contributing.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: Definitely.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, vitamin D is definitely one of them.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_01: And most people are legitimately deficient in vitamin D.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, that that is for sure a thing.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we all sit inside, we're wearing sunscreen, we're not getting as much sunshine as we normally should.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: So everyone's a little deficient, and that can manifest in different immunity type challenges for some people.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: For some people, it doesn't matter all that much for their immunity.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it really just depends.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: But there is a lot of talk traditionally about vitamin D being used for acne, and I find it to be problematic more than anything else because as you probably you may or may not know, vitamin D in excess raises testosterone.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_01: And that is a well-documented thing.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_01: Like men, when they get older and they start getting low T, the first thing they start doing is vitamin D therapy.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_01: So it does have a well-known relationship with testosterone and light bulb, testosterone is the main hormone that causes an acne flare.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: That's why we break out during PMS.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_01: Like, so it's these two things are very well known in the medical community, but they're not put together in a way that makes sense for people struggling with acne.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_01: So someone's like, Oh, your vitamin D is low, take vitamin D.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: Well, they go and get a supplement and it'll be like 800%, like eight times what they're supposed to get at a daily amount.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_01: And that surplus compounds, compounds, compounds because it's fat soluble, and suddenly their testosterone is raised and they're getting acne all over their chin because the dosage wasn't right.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_01: So uh, you know, it's the devil's in the dosage for sure.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I see these discrepancies in vitamins all the time, and this topic never even gets discussed in a drug.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: No, this doesn't get discussed in the medical community in general.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's really, really fascinating, everything you're saying, because yeah, you're absolutely right.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, I want to actually um discuss like what the process was like for you, Kaylee, as you were, you know, you were watching your skin improve, and like, you know, what was like can you walk us through your routine with Clearstem?
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we know what what did you well well not?
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: I guess not Clearstem, but it was the clinic at the time, right?
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, just what you went through, what were the steps that Danielle laid out for you, and like, you know, how how was the whole journey?
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, this entire process brought us to what Clearstem is today and all the education that we put out there is because of all of this.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_03: And so, I mean, a few of the very first things that I changed was cleaning up the supplements I was taking.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_03: And so I was taking excess vitamin D, B12, zinc, biotin.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so check through all my vitamins because those ones are those ones are sneaky, they'll be they'll they'll hide in some things.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_03: I was taking this one um, uh, was like a I think it was a collagen supplement and it had biotin in it as well.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and so you'll you'll see these like you'll see them hidden, even if you're not taking a vitamin D supplement or B12 supplement.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_03: If you're taking some type of nootropic of any kind, 99.9% I'm positive B12 will be in it because that's how it stimulates energy and and um binds well with caffeine.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_03: So like taking different nootropics, and the the percentage of vitamin B12 is like 40,000 percent in those nootropics.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_03: Um my vitamins, cleaned up all of those, um, kind of went back down to the bare basics and made sure I wasn't taking excess of anything.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I was having egg bowls every single day for breakfast, like eggs and veggies.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_03: It was like my go-to breakfast, and eggs is um right next to dairy with one of the top acne triggers as well.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_03: Um, really?
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_03: I didn't know that.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, eggs is a big one.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_03: A lot most people know dairy.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_03: Um, it's it kind of depends who you're talking to, but um, but I eliminated dairy a hundred percent.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_03: I was still having it every once in a while.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I eliminated eggs for a while.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_03: I'll bring them back in every once in a while now, but I was having them every single day.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, um, so those were the big changes diet-wise.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_03: Um, next step, I had no idea about pork clogging ingredients and really the purpose of them and like the meaning.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_03: Like I'd heard pork clogging, I heard non-communogenic, but what's not explained in the media is like pork clogging ingredients cause acne.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_03: They physically claw like it's never laid out for people, it's just like a marketing term thrown around there.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: Or they use words like, you know, cometogenic.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like, what do you mean?
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: Like, can you explain what cometos are?
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: You know, yeah.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_03: You have no idea what non-communogenic means, like barely anyone does, unless they've gone down the acne journey and had to figure it out.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_03: But other than that, people still don't know what it means.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_03: And so, um, and there's also it's it's an unregulated marketing term, and so companies can put non-communogenic on their labeling and still have some poor clogging ingredients in there because there's a lot that's kind of a gray area, and so there's no like rule book for following.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_03: And so you really have to be the pioneer of your own health and check the ingredients, which is why on our website we have a poor clogging ingredients list and that like your holy grail for cross-referencing all your skincare products, makeup and hair conditioner.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_03: So we found out my hair conditioner had coconut oil in it, a huge poor clogging ingredient.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_03: So that was how to get rid of that one, replace it.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I was using makeup.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: I love, I love that you just said that, by the way.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry to interrupt you, but like I love that you brought up hair care because hair care is like, you know, and I think I've addressed this on some of my other interviews.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: People don't realize that hair care is a huge contribu, like contributing factor to how your skin behaves overall.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, yeah, like I was, I think I was talking to like uh co-founders of a really nice uh hair care line, and I was like making that point because for me it was Panteen Pro B.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: I could not rub me up.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: I could not for the life of me.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: And my mother was always like, Well, it works fine for the rest of us.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, Well, I I don't know what it is, but it made me break out in terrible cystic acne.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: So I like that you brought that up, the hair care.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, conditioner is the number one, like most important one to check when it comes to hair care because that's like the really, really thick, silky substance that like clings to the barrier of your hair.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and you know, so it gets on your face when you sleep, you touch your hair, you touch your face, it you sweats on your back, all the things.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_03: The hair conditioner runs down your back, it goes in your pores.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_03: So um, so I went through, we went through all my skincare makeup and hair care products, um, removed any that had pork clogging ingredients and found amazing replacements for.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_03: Um, that was step number two.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_03: And then the third step is there is a lot of miscommunication out there when it comes to a proper skincare routine.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_03: You have people in the non-toxic community telling you just wash your face with coconut oil and then douse your face in oil, and then you have the dermatology range that's you know, it has you using cetophil from CVS and then retining.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, oh my god.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and then and then you have like the Korean skincare system that's like a 10-step system, and then you add like you just have so many people trying to sell you on their model.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_03: When at the end of the day, like skincare is simple, it comes down to ingredients and a process.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_03: And so I had no idea about like the proper art of exfoliation and where exfoli, like where exfoliation actually serves a major purpose because some people are like, you have to exfoliate, others will tell you it'll destroy your face and cause more acne and spread bacteria, like all the things.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_03: And so um, I got well versed on proper exfoliation, both both physically and chemically.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_03: So the physically, like obviously more of a scrub, and then the chemically, learning all about like AHAs and how those help with both acne and aging helps with like wrinkle, um, helps with wrinkles as well.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_03: And so getting on a proper routine of you know, washing my skin, physically exfoliating it, using an acid, um, hydrating properly, like it is so simple.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_03: It just comes down to the active ingredients that you do need and all the ingredients you don't need that you don't want in it.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, you know what?
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm actually I'm loving this.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: This is one of the best conversations because honestly, people need to realize that there are skin experts beyond a dermatologist.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: There really are.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's it's coming down to a point now in the in this community and the skincare community where I'm noticing that people are either saying, yeah, you know, our favorite dermatologist on TikTok knows everything, or it's my favorite influencer knows everything.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: No, you need to go to the person who knows about your condition.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_03: If you have psoriasis, go to a dermatologist if I for my moles and for skin cancer and things like that.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_03: But on for acne, they don't address the root cause and it's a prescription model.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_03: So it's not like an adjustable model.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_03: Someone's gonna sit down and ask, How are your stress levels?
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_03: What are you eating every day?
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_03: What supplements are you taking?
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_03: Like, that's not gonna happen.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_03: Let's go through all of your products and address pork lugging ingredients.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_03: Like, that's not what happens at a dermatologist's office.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: And so Well, it's not even the scientific model being utilized at this point.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it what's happening is that, you know, for me, I have a very uh research heavy background.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I really question my colleagues and I ask them, well, what about the what about all the you know the possibilities?
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you're saying something like, well, this does nothing for your skin.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: Well, what about tomorrow if tomorrow someone publishes a paper and says, you know, whatever it was that you were saying doesn't work, it actually does have some sort of, you know what I mean, statistic statistical significance.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: And then what are you gonna change your story?
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like, so you have to be open-minded when it comes to these concerns, and that's why I'm even saying this.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, no, no shade towards my dermatologist friends.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: I love all of you, but like, you know, like it's really like it comes down to being an expert in a specific type of problem.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I think, you know, when you said the acne clinic thing, that's brilliant.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I love that you you got, you know, you Danielle, you chased after the one thing you knew you could help people with, and then that's you know, you weren't promising any claims that you can't live up to.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: You know, that's really where I'm trying to get to with this.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: So I I like that.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's been really rewarding.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_01: And the thing is, is when you go through the checklist of like what someone's eating, what vitamins they're taking, what they're using on their skin, and how often they're exfoliating, there is room for improvement.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_01: Those are like the four main categories like diet, vitamins, what they're using, whether it has pork cloggers, and then how much they're exfoliating.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_01: Those four categories, there's room for improvement in all of them.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: All of them.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_01: Even if it's something as simple as drink water before coffee and start exfoliating at night, tiny little changes like that make a huge difference in someone's skin.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_01: So that's why we have such a high success rate in this approach and with ClearSTEM is because when people come to us for advice, whether it's through our Instagram lives or just on our website, taking our quiz or just looking at the products that like the descriptions of why they're being used, like they learn so much.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_01: And every single one of those categories that matters gets improvement and then they all come like compound off of each other, and it's just it's really cool.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_01: So we actually like pretty much not guarantee results, but like we always get results.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_01: Like there is never a case where we don't get results for people.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: No, and I I love that.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: I love that you're, you know, a you know, facts-driven company.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: I I think that's more important than anything these days.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I actually would like to shift focus a little bit and talk more about uh clear stem and and really the nitty-gritty behind the brand.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: Because I want I want everyone to learn about, you know, when you were first uh looking into formulating your products and stuff, what were the the key things that you wanted to keep in mind in terms of finding a lab, or you know, um what were the ingredients that you really wanted to, you know, not compromise with at all, those kind of things.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: So if uh you guys could walk us through that.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_01: Definitely.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_01: So we started as a single SKU company.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: I was literally getting people clear at San Diego Acne Clinic, and then I have a lot of ethnic clients, you know, a lot of like Filipino skin or African American or Indian skin, basically anyone who's able to tan very easily scars very easily.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_01: So that not only if they get a tiny breakout, they have a scar that lasts for like six months.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_01: And the things that I would normally do to peel off a scar, you can't do with certain skin types.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm like, how do we heal scar tissue from another angle?
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_01: How do we actually heal it rather than try to like physically take it off with like an aggressive modality?
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_01: So there's a there's a stem cell serum um called the TNS serum from Skin Medica, and it's like a$250 item.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_01: I loved that item, but it had some ingredients that weren't ideal for acne.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: So I found the lab that makes the that same like key ingredient, like the stem cell epidermal growth repair part.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: Found that lab, literally met with them.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_01: They happened to be in California at the time.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_01: They may have a different lab now, but this is in California at the time, convinced them to meet with me, drove up there, and told them what I was trying to do.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: And the owner, the owner of the lab, the main chemist, she was amazing.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_01: And she her son battled at me and she's like, I love what you're doing.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_01: Hell yeah, you're you're a tiny little client compared to what I normally work with, but let's do this.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_01: So we made a stem cell serum.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: So I had the active ingredients for the stem cells to repair the skin, and then in order to heal skin, you have to calm it down.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: You have to do anti-inflammatory things like turmeric and willow herb um and just other things that actually calm it down because skin that's in that's inflamed will not heal.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm like, wait, we need to calm it down, give it skin food, make it hydrating, and put it in a viscosity in a formula that actually absorbs and that can be massaged in.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_01: Because when you massage your skin, you activate wound healing from the inside out.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_01: So I wanted all those criteria to be met, and that is our original OG stem cell serum.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_01: It's called cell renew now on our website.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: I love that you started with one product that's amazing.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, I think like the stem cell, like the the word stem cell really confuse a lot of people.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, um, I can you explain that a little bit?
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: Because I know I've gotten a lot of comments from people.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: Well, how did they put stem cells in skincare?
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, no, no, that's not the concept.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's not prionic stem cells.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_01: Everyone gets a little, a little weirded out by that, understandably so.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_01: So basically, this is donated fat tissue.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_01: So it's stem cells that come from like the collagen fibers in donated adipose tissue.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_01: So it's um it's almost like if you're a cancer patient and you're going to get a wig that's made from real human.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Hair.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: It goes through a purification process.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_01: Nobody's harmed.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_01: It's still vegan.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_01: It's all kosher and above the board.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_01: And it's highly purified by the time it gets to you.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_01: But the point is that it's more friendly and recognizable to the body.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_01: And in science, as you know, with your biology background, like attracts like.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_01: So you want to use actual collagen material.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: That's why this serum is so effective.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: I love, yeah, I love that.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I think also, you know, from like I always think of this, and I don't know if you agree, Danielle, but like when I think of skincare, I always think of like a petri dish.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: And like, you know how we have the broth to grow ourselves.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: And like, you know, and I think of that.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: And it's so I know it's so nerdy and silly, but it's like that's what I think of.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, if we if we bathe our skin and what it needs, you know, for proper growth and and good, like you said, wound healing and you know, whatever we really need is going to react to it.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: Our cells are going to respond to that.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: So I think it's really like, you know, really echoing what you guys were saying earlier, and you know, finding what's best for you and what's best for your own health inside and out.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that, you know, especially the nutrition aspect, you know, I love that you guys started off with that because the, you know, um, in terms of just what we eat, how much of it we eat, when we eat it, all of that matters.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: So totally.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_01: And if you go to any other country whose medical system is more than 200 years old, that's where they start.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_01: That's their starting point.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_01: Like, okay, people trust America, like, if you're having a stroke or a baby or say some complicated surgery, yeah, you want to be in America.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_01: If you want to actually be healthy and calm inflammation and live a healthy, long life through the best possible utilizing your natural body functions, this is the last place you want to look.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_01: Like, um, like our medical system is so young.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_01: We're pulling out people's teeth when they were mentally ill, like a hundred years ago.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: Like, we we're just barely figuring some shit out.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_01: So exactly, you know, and I'm a big traveler, and whenever I travel somewhere else, I pay attention to what they're doing, what are their time-honored traditions?
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_01: Why is drinking hot lemon water such a thing everywhere you go, generation after generation?
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: Like, what are those things that have been passed down from lineage to lineage, you know, from grandmother to granddaughter?
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_01: And like I analyze all of them everywhere I go, and what ingredients are sworn by all over the world.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_01: And that's part of the essence of what we use in this line, too.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_01: We use like ancient knowledge mixed with the best of the Western technology.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: I think that that we cannot negate all of those like centuries of wisdom that have been like recorded, you know, and for sure.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_01: Because it's been forgotten, it's been forgotten in America.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: We don't even no one even talks about diversity.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_00: Well, no one wants to hear about it.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_00: If I'm honest with you guys, no one wants to hear about it.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_00: That's why I'm like over here screaming and yelling at the top of my lungs, you know, cultural diversification.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: We need, you know, because here's the thing like in India, like I'm Indian.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: So like I know, like I grew up with my mom, you know, telling me all about all of the, you know, the ancient things that they used, right?
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_00: In in all ways, like in all herbal medicine.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_00: And like, you know, uh something like you know, the written, like the written documentation is it's not like religious, it's it's more of like what herb does what?
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_00: What you know I mean, what plant does what?
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: What can you combine with this?
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_00: And it's all cataloged, and this is centuries old.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: So if people were doing it back then and it worked, it's probably still working today, which is why I have such a huge problem because I really strongly believe that the Western culture is like instant results, but it's like you guys, you can get instant results if you just pay a little bit more attention to the, you know what I mean, like the the other philosophies that can help our medical, you know, communities grow.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and and I think the Western philosophy too, part of what's lacking, it's it's not just the demand for immediate results that skews the long-term results sometimes, but it's a lack of um a lack of cohesiveness in formulation in general.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_01: It's like uh it's like, okay, so you want something that creates change, but also what are you formulating it with?
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_01: What else needs to happen in order for that thing to work better?
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_01: Like that's why all of our items have like turmeric in them, even our acid serum, because it's like you want to calm the skin down so that it responds the way that you want it to.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_01: And it's just it's taking into the taking into account the entire body system and the ecosystem of the thing that you're trying to work with, and that gets lost in pretty much all Western stuff.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like, even look at our food, like it'll taste good, but it's loaded with like MSG or uh Salt, salt, like I mean, we're dying of hypertension in this country, and that's because everything has too much salt.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean, you know, I know I hear you.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: I could honestly rant with you like for hours about this because there's so many flawed ways of thinking, you know what I mean, in in this area of the world, as compared to like, you know, my grandmother, like on they lived to be like a hundred, you know, plus, and they lived in rural India with like the you know what I mean, all living off agricultural land.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I mean, that can't be a coincidence, right?
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like, it's you you you have to at some point acknowledge that a healthy diet and like just eating truly what we consider organic food and like that matters, and we have to pay attention to that.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't know.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I think this is this is such an important topic.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, I want to kind of circle back to the skincare stuff because I know that um people listening, there's a lot of questions I see on Reddit um and uh you know, Reddit, TikTok everywhere, and people have these like, you know, just I feel like basic questions now that I'm more you know well-versed in skincare.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_00: And it just makes me so shocked that there's no answers out there.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna ask you, like in a very simple way, for you to go through like a skincare routine for someone who's dealing with say, you know, moderate acne.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's like hormonal acne.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: Can you walk us through using clear stem products?
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: Because I want everyone listening to get this routine down.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_00: If they need it.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_01: Great question.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_01: So you would go get the clear kit, which includes everything you need pretty much.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_01: So it includes a daily physical scrub that is designed for gentle daily use because not all scrubs are created equal.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_01: Some are super harsh and some are just aggressive, and you would never use them.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_01: This one is literally meant for daily use.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_01: And why that's important for anyone who's acne prone, we need physical exfoliation because we make extra keratin protein, extra skin, basically.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_03: And that one's called our vitamin scrub.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so that's thinking, yeah, that's our vitamin scrub.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_01: You just use that for like 10 seconds at night.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_01: Not harsh, not crazy, you're not going nuts, you're just basically polishing away the surface layer of skin for like 10 seconds.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_01: Boom, done.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_01: Then you do the clearity serum, which is the one in the yellow bottle.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_01: And this is our alpha hydroxymandelic acid serum that also has turmeric and vitamin C in it.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_01: Because when you put vitamin C in with an acid, it goes down a little deeper into your skin.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_01: So you put that on, it dissolves your blackheads in like 10 minutes.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's also dissolving scar tissue, it's also stimulating collagen and infusing your skin with vitamin C.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_01: So it's doing like four things all at once.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_01: And the turmeric is calming your skin down while this is going in.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_01: Because some acids can be a little too aggressive or they're formulated to be drying or something like that.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_01: Ours is not.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_01: Ours is gentle as hell with vitamin C and it dissolves, it unclogs your pores and dissolves blackheads.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_01: So put that on your skin for like 10-15 minutes, just leave it alone.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_01: Then you come back and you put on that cell renew serum, the blue one that I was mentioning, that is like your perfect skin food.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_01: So think of your exfoliation, like your clarity and your vitamin scrub.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_01: That's like your exercise.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_01: And then the nutrition that you put on afterwards is what gets you the best results.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_01: So after clarity, you put on Cell Renew, massage three or four pumps of that into your skin, delivering the circulation and the skin healing herbs and all the anti-inflammatory benefits.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_01: And then you put on our moisturizer, Hydroglow, which has Bacuchial, you'll appreciate this.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_01: It has a retinol alternative that stimulates collagen but doesn't make you more sun sensitive.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_02: So that's what we put in our moisture.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's what we put in our moisturizer.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_01: So you layer that before bed and it's amazing.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_01: And you can use that routine in the morning as well.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but even if you change nothing else in your life and you start using just that system at night, you're gonna see massive change in less than a week.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, I love that.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_00: And you know what, everyone listening out there, I know we went through that really fast, but I'm going to make sure that we um kind of list all of these, um, list all the products in order that we're, you know, as you describe them.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_00: So our listeners can definitely go and, you know, um get the routine.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I I want to ask you about wrinkles, um, because I know that's the next thing, right?
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone wants to know about how to I you know, I hate the word anti-aging, but you know, we don't we don't want fine lines and wrinkles.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_00: So what about that?
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, have you um is clear stem geared towards that as well?
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_01: Or yeah, the entire line is and simultaneously and equally anti-aging and anti-acne.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_01: So even if you don't have acne and you do the routine I just listed out, you're gonna see massive change in your wrinkles, texture, and sun damage.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_00: Love that.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, this is amazing, and your line is amazing.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_00: I genuinely, genuinely urge everyone listening out there, go check out clear clearstumskincare.com.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_00: Like I mentioned, look at the results.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I think that's my favorite part of the website is scrolling through and seeing everyone's results.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_00: And it's it's really, really just obvious that you know your products work, and I love that.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_00: So um I urge everybody check them out.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_00: I will link some stuff.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure you go, you know, check out the exact products that were mentioned in the episode.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_00: And thank you guys so much.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_00: This was so amazing and informative.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for having us.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_01: We love that you're a biology person because, like, when other healthcare practitioners and other people in the medicine field come to us and rave about our line and respect what we did, like that just means the world to us.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_01: So thanks for having us on.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, it was my honor.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_00: And yes, biology majors for life, you know, it's like but yeah.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I will probably ask you guys to come back on because you just have so much knowledge.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_00: So I want, you know, maybe we can have them back on and go through some more, you know, like just fun, fun tip trip, uh tips and tricks and stuff like that.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, we'll do a well, people love a live Q ⁇ A.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_01: So you can just uh have everyone submit their questions.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_01: We'll do another one and we'll just answer questions all afternoon long.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_01: We love doing love doing that.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_00: Love it.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, well, everyone, uh, I'm gonna link everything and I'll be back next time.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you guys so much.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks, I'm gonna go to the hey guys, so I hope you love that episode.
• 32:06
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• 32:10
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• 32:13
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• 32:16
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• 32:19
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• 32:28
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• 32:35
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• 32:38
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• 32:43
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• 32:45
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• 32:48
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• 32:59
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• 33:05
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• 33:10
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.