E'shee Clinical Esthetics is the product of founder Nataly Giter, her scientific cohort Dr. Chiu and their research on human fibroblast growth factors in helping rejuvenate the skin. We spoke with Nataly on how her own adolescent skin problems brought her to the industry, the intriguing science behind FGF and why it took between 8 and 10 years for the line to finally come to fruition.

Could you explain how the E’Shee line came to be? What sparked the idea for the skincare line?

I’ve been a skincare professional for a long time now, and I was looking for something multifunctional in skincare in order to get better results for my own clients.  I started to look for something and began teaching myself, researching ingredients and looking into all kinds of brands, looking at results and clinical trials. But I couldn’t find anything that would work as I wanted it work. So that’s how it started. I decided to create my own product line.

Could you explain E’shee’s philosophy? What is the skincare line’s main goal?

Our main goal is to deliver the best functional skincare that actually works. And E’shee is personal. This is how I treat my clients - everybody is unique, everybody deserves the best care. We want to give people the best and make them feel good about themselves and help them to get the best product for what they are looking for.

Did you start out in skincare or come into it later? What directed you to skincare, how did you get involved in this industry?

As a teenager, I had really really bad acne. I wasn’t able to go to school - it was really that bad.  I was not allowed to wear makeup. Then my mother took me to an aesthetician and she really helped me. I saw what she was doing and thought, ‘I wish I could do something like that when I grow up’. So I developed that interest. Already I was interested in chemistry and skincare lines and everything around it. Now that I’m working with my clients, they also give me ideas on what they are looking for and what they want to see.

When was it that you met Professor Chiu? What struck you about his work and company?

I think I got lucky, I got introduced to somebody in Dr. Chiu’s team who worked with Dr. Chiu on research and one of the projects he was working on at the time was Alzheimer’s disease, brain degeneration and things like that. When he started to work with topical application and the things able to repair broken capillaries, we thought it would be wonderful to do something with skincare. Very quickly we discovered that we were on the same page and could contribute to each other’s work.

Professor Dr. Chiu is the first global pioneer to clone the human FGF-1 gene. Doctor Chiu’s research was primary focused on treating damaged neural cells. Neural stem cells could be used to treat damaged neurons such as stroke and spinal cord injury and neural degeneration, including Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. In the process it was discovered that FGF1 has tremendous abilities, such as stimulating somatic (adult) stem cells and triggering the body’s natural powers to repair damaged tissue.

So by cooperating with Dr. Chiu, our lab created a brand new series using 99% pure FGF-1 peptide. This is the best quality in the world.

How did you first make the decision to involve FGF into your skincare products? And what makes FGF special in regards to anti-aging skincare?

Dr. Chiu’s research was focused on treating Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, different brain issues, which involved fibroblast growth factors, so accidentally we figured out that with broken capillaries what they were able to do.

Damage to our skin is not just to the top layer of our skin. It goes deeper. Fibroblast growth factors are already in our body and with age they decline.

FGF1 peptides are basic building blocks of any fibrous tissue in human body. Fibrous connective tissue is composed of collagen and elastin fibers. The natural progression of the aging process is due to cellular degeneration. Oxidative stress and free radical pathology has been well studied, in this respect, as a causative factor. FGF helps maintain the target organs that contain fibrous tissue, which includes the eyes, heart, brain, skin, and the musculoskeletal system.  It helps repair damaged tissue. For example, FGF can help restore normalcy in injured nerve tissue or damaged blood vessels in order to prevent further clotting or strokes. The fortification and re-growth of the epidermis and its underlying circulation will lead to healthier skin and fewer wrinkles.

FGFs are key players in the processes of cell division and differentiation. By triggering these processes FGF can stimulate the process of healing and repairing of the damaged tissue. Based on our research, our FGF-1 peptide can transfer different messages to FGFR-2 (which rejuvenates fibroblast cells to produce new collagen, hyaluronic acid and elastin), KGFR (which rejuvenates the epidermal cells) and FGF-7 (which rejuvenates hair follicle to produce new hair).

The testing result shows that with regular usage of products which contains the FGF-1, the skin cells grow 10-20 times faster than if using any other skin care products alone.

Once the decision was made, what was the process like to formulate these products? Was it a collaboration between your knowledge of ingredients from before and the doctor’s knowledge of his patent ingredient?

Yes, it was a collaboration. We were working with the doctor and working with people that have a lot of experience with mixing products because if you are spending that much money on skincare, you don’t just want to see results now, you want to see long-lasting results. It took about, from the idea onward, 8 to 10 years. Fibroblast is kind of an unstable ingredient so you have to find a way to stabilize it so it doesn’t fall apart and actually does something for your skin. So that took a while and then to find other products that are beneficial for skin and give you the most delivery, it takes research and time. With the clinical trials, we wanted to see make sure we were seeing long-lasting results.

What gave you the idea to formulate ingredients with very small molecular structures? How small are these molecules and how does this maximize penetration?

They are small enough to be able to penetrate the human epidermis layers so that to get to the dermis, they get to the area where they really work. It is the same size as human fibroblast.

What is the concentration of FGF in E’shee products?

It is an optimal amount. Fibroblast is not just about how much, it’s not about how much or how little, it has to be just enough. So as part of our research we used a specific amount of fibroblast and tried to see what the results were, where they were most optimal. That maximum point or maximum concentration, even if you put more it won’t have an effect. So that maximum optimal concentration is 10 ng/ml and that is what is in our products.

Aside from Dr. Chiu, were there other scientific authorities that you reached out to in order to begin developing the line?

It’s a team of people, but Dr. Chiu is the main person here. The others have mostly been chemists that have that kind of knowledge too.

What makes E’shee different from other brands?

First of all, we are using the fibroblast growth factors.  Secondly, we aren’t making false claims, we aren’t saying you are going to look 20 years younger immediately. We explain everything in the process and have scientific backing and deliver the best results. I ask my clients and everybody is happy with what we do.

If you had to pick one product to introduce someone to your line who is not already familiar with it, which one would you pick?

The Number 1 – serum cellular repair – you will really see results, most people can see that within a week.

What is your favorite E’shee Product?

Honestly I’m using all the combinations. I use all of them. But I do like the number one serum cellular repair a lot.

Are there any new lines or products coming out soon for E’shee?

The next one to come out will be out by the middle to end of the month, it is the cell repair night cream, along with the white truffle cream, which has white truffle extract.

Now that you’ve been in the business, what ingredients raise red flags for you in cosmetics right away? What do you refuse to incorporate into E’shee products?

Personally, I think anti-aging peptides are always the best. Some retinol, but I don’t really like the way it over dries. Hyaluronic acid is wonderful, and vitamins.

I research what is done on ingredients. In just the right amounts an ingredient can be beneficial, as long as it is in the right concentration. If something is really bad, I’m not going to use it. Some preservatives in the right concentrations keep the product fresh and they are useful.

The price points for E’shee products are on the higher end, how can this be justified to consumers?

Our line is science driven, it requires great scientists and even better ingredients. If you compare E’shee products with brands like Revive. they are not even using the quality of ingredients. Compared to the brands that do use quality, its really not that expensive. And these products are going to last 2 to 3 months for the average person so you are spending 3 dollars a day. That’s really worth it, in my opinion, especially for the results you’ll see.