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Next to him was an image of severely burned flesh.
Illustration by Delcan & Co. + Peter Crowther
It was there that Bader had treated a young patient who suffered second-degree burns from scalding water.
The photos were gory.
Under most circumstances, he informed the assembled beauty editors, those burns would require multiple surgeries to remedy.
Illustration by Delcan & Co. + Peter Crowther
Then he flipped through a series of photos documenting the course of treatment he pursued instead.
The images were increasingly miraculous.
After one year, skin that had been seared clean off had healed almost seamlessly.
Illustration by Delcan & Co. + Peter Crowther
The claim: no skin grafts, no scalpels.
Just the magnificent healing powers innate to the human body, plus a little chemical encouragement.
The group was awestruck.
And surrounded by heavy plastic jars ofmoisturizerthat twinkled in the late-winter sun.
The impression had already been second-degree-burned into our brains: This guy could conjure new skin.
Several years earlier, Rosier had begun a word-of-mouth campaign through the world’s celebrity nexus.
Now Griffith, her mother, Tippi Hedren, and daughterDakota Johnsonall use The Cream.
Griffith and ex-husband Don Johnson invested in the company.
So did Diane Kruger and Courteney Cox.
Sulcer texted her friend Cassandra Grey about the marvel she had witnessed.
Two years later, the company said that figure had bloomed to $70 million.
This year, it’s on track to exceed $225 million in sales, according to CEO Rosier.
Beckham came to work with Bader through her deep love of The Cream.
His first love was the French horn.
In Italy, he completed his compulsory German military service and began studying medicine at Chieti’s D’Annunzio University.
The results were imperfect.
“I only bring in signals,” he explains.
“People in the beginning thought maybe it is a miracle or whatever.
But it’s not really a miracle.
It’s innate to your nature.
Im coming from a monastery school.
I have the name Augustinus.
And there was the saint called Augustine.
He said, hundreds of years ago, miracles don’t exist.
Its only for those people who cannot explain nature.”
In 2008, Bader coauthored a report on mesenchymal stem cells, derived from neonatal foreskin.
It is this research, he says, that facilitated a series of healing phenomena.
The attending veterinarian expressed little hope, but Bader administered a stem cell injection of his own design.
The puppy recovered the next day.
Bader concedes that, yes, these are just anecdotes.
His background was in mergers and acquisitions.
Rosier and Bader stayed in touch for a few years until Friedland insisted that Rosier meet with Bader again.
“He said, ‘He’s the best brain in stem cell research,'” Rosier recalls.
He went to Leipzig to dine with the professor.
Bader showed Rosier the images from his burn treatment that would later accompany the brand’s pitch deck.
“I was blown away,” Rosier says.
“I was like, How come such a technology exists, but its not available to the world?
Because we need that for the Red Cross.'”
I was like, ‘Okay, burned skin… perfect skin.’
And I was like, ‘Wrinkled… perfect skin.’
So I asked him.
I said, ‘Can you do awrinkle creamthat works?’
And he said, ‘Yes.
It took Rosier two years to convince Bader to market a cosmetic product.
On his sixth trip to Leipzig, Rosier scheduled what he thought would be their last meeting.
He was ready to give up the chase.
The two established a business relationship in 2016.
The Paris Fashion Week preview would come the following year.
The brand said it decided instead to institute a philanthropic program with “added transparency and flexibility.”
Machens was an investor in Bader’s biotech business, ASC Skin Therapeutics.
I wish him much success.
He deserves it."
Bader is a physician and his research is well-documented.
Bader is certainly a stem cell researcher.
Advancements in regenerative medicine and cosmetic science have long been linked.
“Growth factors” became a hot topic and wait, what exactly are growth factors?
the Kobe Procedure, after the late basketball player received the treatment in his knees.
In 2019, Victoria Beckham (hello, again!)
incorporated a $1,400 jar of Dr. Sturm’s customizedMC1 creaminto her skin-care routine.
Evidence is terribly inconvenient.
What about the blood part?
Evidence is terribly inconvenient.
That moisturizer is still available today, featuring a “stem cell technology” blend and considerably softer claims.
Experts I speak with are not aware of any breakthroughs in topically applied regenerative formulas.
“It’s possible,” they say.
“Is it probable?
What does that renewal look like?
Skin that is “fresh, supple, plump, and smooth.”
At the molecular level, it is chemically elegant, but may lack novelty.
“All of the other ingredients look pretty standard.”
The results: 32.74 percent of fine lines and wrinkles abated and skin looked 52.94 percent younger.
Based on the limited information provided, though, experts are unable to identify the engine behind these results.
“Augustinus Bader skin care is certainly genius,” says another dermatologist with expertise in wound healing.
“But it’s a case study for Harvard Business School, not Harvard Medical School.”
If the reviews of The Cream are all true, it is the greatest moisturizer in history.
So I procure 50 milliliters to try for myself.
I love putting it on my face and my face loves when I put it on.
The vessel in which The Cream arrives has a layer of clear plastic revealing a nebula-blue inner chamber.
The product is heavy, but upright and slender.
A rose-gold pump deposits a micro-dollop of wet silk in my palm.
On the surface of my skin, it spreads like $280 butter.
I love putting it on my face and my face loves when I put it on.
I’ll be frank and say that my heart shatters.
The Cream cannot be scraped from the corridors of its tube, like Betty Crocker frosting.
The last pump is the last pump, not a molecule more.
The scar from a horrificwart removalabove my right eyebrow has not budged.
Apimpleon the right side of my nose has survived the onslaught and looks angry about it.
Not that these are things The Cream pledges to treat.
I stare at myself in the mirror for days, searching for traces of metamorphosis.
When I cant find any, I keep looking.
Then I stare at the empty vessel, which has stood like a totem on my desk for weeks.
I consider keeping it as an opulent paper-weight or a luxurious conversation piece.
“Want to know what Naomi Campbell, Don Johnson, and I have in common?”
I would say, thrusting it at houseguests.
The Cream winks in the sunlight one last time before I gingerly place it in the trash.
Now, read all aboutAllure’s2022 Best of Beauty awards:
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