Suzanne’s skincare search: My mother has a skin condition that makes her skin look dry and fragile. She read about something called HTY Gold and wondered if this all natural product can help as it claims. Any opinions or research on this product?
The Right Brain’s response:
The first thing we learned about HTY Gold is that the “HTY” stands for “Hide The Years.” The second thing we learned is that it’s secret ingredient is Red Palm Oil. Keep reading to see what else we learned…
Who Makes HTY Gold?
HTY Gold is brought to us by Pacific Specialty Oils, Inc. and was formulated by cofounder George Kopas, who is a chemist. Their website has an interesting quote from George regarding “regular” skin moisturizers. He say: “Why would anybody think that these creams would work against ageing skin? Look at the ingredients they are made with chemicals, water and preservatives. The water in these creams evaporate off of your skin and leave you with chemicals that can actually harm your skin.”
This quote seems bit intellectually dishonest to us for two reasons. First, it implies that regular lotions are bad for your skin just because they contain chemicals. As regular readers of the Beauty Brains know, EVERYTHING is a chemical. Saying that something is bad just because it’s a chemical is ridiculous; there are good chemicals and bad chemicals.
Second, saying that regular lotions contain water that just “evaporates off your skin” implies that regular lotions don’t work at all. This is also a ridiculous statement. We work in this industry, and we know there are many safe and efficacious skin lotion brands that contain water. Water is a good diluent for certain active ingredients and it helps hydrate the surface of skin.
If George has to resort to scare tactics like this to make HTY Gold look better than other (much cheaper) products, it’s a huge red flag in terms of the brand’s validity.
What’s so special about HTY Gold?
HTY Gold is all about Palm Oil. Two of its primary ingredients are regular Palm Oil and Red Palm Oil. (Red Palm Oil is an unprocessed version of Palm Oil, which loses its red color as it’s heated. Red Palm Oil is rich in betacarotenes, tocotrienols, co-enzyme Q10 (ubiquinone), squalene
and Vitamins A and E that make it more healthful if you’re ingesting it. However, those components don’t necessarily mean it’s better for your skin. In case you’d like to see it, here’s the full ingredient list:
Elaeis Guineensis (Palm Oil), Theobroma Cacao Seed Butter (Cocoa Butter), Red Elaeis Guineensis (Red Palm Super Olein), Limnanthes Alba (Meadowfoam Seed Oil), Oenothera Biennis (Evening Primrose Oil), Triticum Vulgaree (Wheat Germ Oil), Lecithin
If you want an oil based moisturizer, this could be a very good product. But it’s not better because it’s chemical free or because it lacks preservatives. (Plus, it’s very expensive!)
Is HTY Gold worth the cost?
The Day Gold product is $160 for 3.4 oz. If you shop around you might be able to find other skin creams with similar ingredients for much less money. Pacific Oils are not the only source of Red Palm Oil – you can buy a gallon of Red Palm Oil
The Beauty Brains bottom line
HTY Gold is charging a LOT of money for their product without giving us adequate reason to believe it’s worth it. They have a formula that does seem relatively unique, but they make some unsound scientific statements about their product that makes us doubt their credibility. If it weren’t so expensive, we’d definitely recommend giving it a try just to see if this unique blend of oils helps your mother’s skin. But the price is so absurd; we can’t in good conscience recommend it without more proof.
Are you aware of the controversy about Palm Oil? Some groups claim that mass harvesting ofpalm trees has a damaging effect on the environment because it increases global warming. Has anyone in the Beauty Brains community used Red Palm Oil