FAQS

Things change, and we know that. Have you developed a new allergy? Received a new health diagnosis? Concerned about a new skin issue? Edit your SkinKnowing profile survey at any time by visiting the My Health Survey from your personal dashboard, the account settings section, or the right-hand drop down menu. At the end of the survey your personalized ingredient list will change automatically to reflect any changes you’ve made to your profile. Make sure to ‘approve your list’ to accept changes and see any new alerts while using SkinKnowing.

Each person you shop for likely has different considerations such as age, goals, needs and concerns. We get that!

With a Premium Membership, you have the ability to create multiple profiles under one account. It’s a great feature for those of us who shop for our loved ones.

Each profile will have full access to the SkinKnowing platform and benefits, as well as its own customized product recommendations and ingredient ‘avoid’ list. You can easily switch back and forth between profiles depending on who you are shopping for.

Additionally, each profile created under your Premium Membership has access to follow as many gurus as you like. That means you can choose to follow different gurus than the other profiles on your account and vice versa.

With a SkinKnowing membership, you will gain access to expert product and ingredient advice from one or more of our health and wellness experts. (We call them Skincare Gurus.)

Each Guru has their own ingredient and product philosophies. By adding Gurus to your profile with a SkinKnowing membership, you will receive recommendations for products they love, insights on their personal skincare regimen, and access to their online SkinKnowing masterclasses.

With a premium membership, you also get a custom skincare regimen tailored for you by SkinKnowing founder Dr. Levin, the ability to create up to 5 user profiles under one account (for all the people you shop for) and unlimited knowledge from our affiliated Gurus.

We offer 4 membership tiers described below:

• 1
  Starter Member $4.99/month
  Follow one Guru of your choice. Get exclusive info on the ingredients they recommend avoiding, the ingredients they love, and their favorite products. In addition, get exclusive access to all live masterclasses by your selected guru.
• 2
  Plus Member $9.99/month
  Follow two Gurus of your choice. Get exclusive info on the ingredients they recommend avoiding, the ingredients they love, their favorite products and their personalized regimen. In addition, get exclusive access to all live masterclasses given by these gurus.
• 3
  Deluxe Member $14.99/month
  Follow an unlimited number of Gurus of your choice. Get exclusive info on the ingredients they recommend avoiding, the ingredients they love, their favorite products, and their personalized regimens. In addition, get exclusive access to all live masterclasses given by these gurus.
• 4
  Premium Membership: $199/year
  Follow an unlimited number of Gurus of your choice and create user profiles for all the people you shop for. Get exclusive info on the ingredients they recommend avoiding, the ingredients they love, their favorite products, and their personalized regimens. In addition, get exclusive access to all live masterclasses given by our Gurus. Plus, get a personalized skin care regimen from Dr. Levin, the founder of SkinKnowing.

Most of the SkinKnowing memberships are monthly subscriptions that you can cancel at any time for the following month. Our premium membership is a yearly subscription, which you can cancel at any time for the following year.

Please email us at contactus@skinknowing.com to cancel your membership before the next billing cycle. You will still have access to a free version of your SkinKnowing profile.

Welcome to SkinKnowing! Founded by Dr. Jackie Levin, a Board-certified dermatologist, we are proud to be the only platform to date with the ability to provide personal clean beauty ingredient and product recommendations. After taking a health and profile survey which gets to know you down to your DNA, SkinKnowing reveals your personal ingredient avoid list. It’s based on your unique risk, goals and concerns. After we pinpoint what you need to avoid, we can help you find products and ingredients you can feel good about — from major retailers. Because when you know your ingredients, you can trust your choices!

Find products for through SkinKnowing’s smart product finder, your personalized ingredient library, or through our affiliated skin & health experts (we call them Gurus). Get started today!

SkinKnowing is the only ingredient library with evidence-based research coming from a board-certified Dermatologist. SkinKnowing founder, Dr. Levin, recognized the need for personalized ingredient avoid lists and beauty product recommendations. SkinKnowing is the only site to provide personalized clean beauty based on the science of YOU! We are also the only place you’ll find exclusive information and access to the industry’s best minds in health and wellness. Learn more about SkinKnowing here

SkinKnowing has several ways to help you on your skincare journey!.

• 1
  Find your best skincare products. Wondering if a product is right for you? While shopping in-store, surfing online, or using products you already own, check with SkinKnowing’s Smart Product Finder to make sure those products are right for you!
• 2
  Find products for your skin care goals. Looking for the right products to improve your skin? Browse SkinKnowing’s Smart Product Finder to discover products that will benefit your goals and skin concerns.
• 3
  Find products without allergens. Have some ingredient allergies? No problem. Make sure to tell us your allergies in your health survey so we can help you avoid products contain your specific allergens!
• 4
  Find products in alignment with your health and wellness goals. Concerned about ingredients that cause inflammation? Cancer? Environmental harm? Make sure to let us know on the health survey, and we can help you find products in alignment with your goals and concerns.
• 5
  Find products that contains your favorite ingredients, with none of the ingredients you hate. Find products with your favorite ingredients and see the latest research on thousands of ingredients by searching SkinKnowing’s exclusive Ingredient Library.
• 6
  Get beauty regimen advice. Wondering how to apply all your products in the best way? Looking for products to complete your regimen? With a SkinKnowing premium membership you can get personalized regimen advice and guidance with board certified dermatologist Dr. Levin, founder of SkinKnowing.
• 7
  Get Expert Recommendations. Looking for expert advice on what ingredients and products to use? With a SkinKnowing membership you see which products and ingredients our experts (a.k.a. SkinKnowing’s Gurus) recommend for you.
• 8
  Get the best price for your product. Every time you search for a product with SkinKnowing, you will be given a real-time price comparison for this product from many online retailers. Make sure you are getting the best price!

Learn more about our founder Dr. Jackie Levin here

Learn more about SkinKnowing’s Mission here

We have partnered with the best minds in skin, health, & wellness - we call them Gurus! Our Gurus range from dermatologists, aestheticians, medical doctors, and influencers who have a passion for skin care products and their ingredients. Check out our Browse Guru section to find YOUR Guru(s) by reading about their backgrounds and ingredient philosophies.

Want more? Become a SkinKnowing member to see exclusive content from your selected Guru(s) including their personal ingredient ‘avoid’ lists, favorite ingredients and products, and their current product regimens. You’ll also get access to their live masterclasses on beauty, skincare and the latest innovations!

Select Create My Profile from our home page to complete your SkinKnowing profile & health survey. In order to make personalized ingredients and product recommendations, we need to get to know you first!

SkinKnowing offers the ultimate get-to-know you! Through our proprietary DNA analysis we identify your genetic risk factors and make sure you avoid any ingredients that could potentiate your genetic risks. If you have already used 23andMe or Ancestry DNA, you can download your raw data file from either site and upload that file in the 4th step of our Health and Profile Survey. This step is optional and can be completed anytime. For instructions on how to upload your raw data file for 23andMe click here. For instructions on how to upload your raw data file for Ancestry DNA click here.

If you've never used Ancestry DNA or 23andMe but want genetic analysis through SkinKnowing, order your kit here for Ancestry DNA and here for 23andme.

Now that you’ve completed our health survey and you have created your personal ingredient avoid list, the next step is to use SkinKnowing to browse products that are right for you! You can do this in 3 ways:

• 1
  Search our Smart Product Finder.
  Set filters for the types of skincare products you’re interested in. Based on your assessment results, we’ll reveal products that meet your clean beauty needs. We’ll also show you which products to avoid.
• 2
  Browse your Ingredient Library
  SkinKnowing’s exclusive Ingredient Library offers evidence-based research on ingredients used in beauty and personal care products. Use this information to fine tune your ingredient “avoid” list and also find products you love with your favorite ingredients!
• 3
  Get recommendations from Skincare Gurus.
  When you join the SkinKnowing Membership you will gain access to our network of skincare expert affiliates. (We call them Gurus.) Learn which ingredients they choose to avoid and discover the products they use and love.

Learn which products and ingredients are right for your friends and loved ones!

Our SkinKnowing premium membership allows you to create up to 5 different profiles on your account (one for each person you shop for). Each profile will have full access to the SkinKnowing platform and benefits, as well as its own customized product recommendations and ingredient avoid lists. You can easily switch back and forth between profiles depending on who you are shopping for.

You can create additional profiles from the add/mange profiles link in the right-hand drop-down menu or the account settings page. Once a new profile is created, make sure to take the health and profile survey for each person you shop for to get customized product and ingredient recommendations. You can switch profiles with ease depending on who you are shopping for using your personalized dashboard (or the right-hand drop-down menu.)

Once you have created your personal avoid list using our profile and health survey you are ready to use SkinKnowing’s Smart Product Finder to find products that are right for you.

• 1
  Browse Products By Product Type.
  Tell us the types of beauty and skincare products you’re interested in and your budget by using the left-hand filters in our Smart Product Finder. We will reveal products that meet your clean beauty needs. We’ll also show you which products to avoid with our simple thumbs up and thumbs down alert system.
• 2
  Find the product you are looking for!
  Use the search bar in our Smart Product Finder to look for a specific product or brand. Whether you use the filters or the search bar to find the products that meet your needs, we will show you which products meet your definition of clean using our simple thumbs up and thumbs down alert system. Thumbs up means that the product is free from ingredients on your personal avoid list. Thumbs down means that this product contains ingredients on your avoid list and is NOT right for you. Once you find a product of interest, click on it to learn more.

When looking at products using SkinKnowing, we use a thumbs up or thumbs down (along with a color coding system) to alert you if a product is right for you.

• This product is recommended for you! It’s free from ingredients on your avoid list.
• This product is NOT recommended for you. It contains ingredients on your avoid list for either health and wellness reasons or allergies.
• This product has certain colors or variations that are NOT recommended for you and some that are ok. Use the variation drop down to see which ones are right for you.

In short, a thumbs up means “Good to Go!” A thumbs down means “Steer Clear” — it’s not for you.

Looking closely at the ingredient listing you can find out why a product isn’t right for you. Any ingredient on your personal ingredient avoid list will have the ingredient name highlighted in light red or orange with symbols to indicate why those ingredients should be avoided.

• This ingredient is on your favorites list.
• This ingredient is on your avoid list because of health and wellness concerns.
• This ingredient is on your avoid list for allergy concerns.
• This ingredient is incompatible with ingredients on your avoid list.

Looking for more detail? Click on an ingredient to reveal why a specific ingredient is not recommended for you or click to learn more.

On this page you can also see if this product is your Gurus favorite, which retailer is selling it at the best price, and the number of reviews and average user ratings of the product from all the retailers where it's sold.

Once you find a product you like, make sure to add it as your favorite so we can tell you when it goes on sale.

After you search for a product using SkinKnowing, we will use a thumbs up or thumbs down (along with our color coding system) to communicate if a product is right for you. These icons are located next to a product’s name.

• This product is recommended for you! It’s free from ingredients on your avoid list.
• This product is NOT recommended for you. It contains ingredients on your avoid list for either health and wellness reasons or allergies.
• This product has certain colors or variations that are NOT recommended for you and some that are ok. Use the variation drop down to see which ones are right for you.

In short, a thumbs up means “Good to Go!” A thumbs down means “Steer Clear” — it’s not for you.

When evaluating a product that is not recommended, we will use a thumbs up or thumbs down (along with our color coding code system) as well as an alert bar below the product image.

The color of the thumbs down and the alert bar will tell you if the product is right for you or not based on your health and wellness survey results.

Any ingredient on your personal ingredient avoid list will have the ingredient name highlighted in light red or orange with symbols to indicate why those ingredients should be avoided.

• This ingredient is on your avoid list because of health and wellness concerns.
• This ingredient is on your avoid list for allergy concerns.
• This ingredient is incompatible with ingredients on your avoid list.

Looking for more detail? Click on an ingredient to reveal why a specific ingredient is not recommended for you or click to learn more.

There are many ways you can start evaluating skin care products with SkinKnowing!

• 1
  Use SkinKnowing while shopping products online or in store!
• 2
  Use SkinKnowing to evaluate skin care products you already own!

By using the search function on the SkinKnowing Browse Products page, you can search for any product by name. Make sure you are logged in first!

After confirming the search for your product, SkinKnowing will present to you a thumbs up or down indicating whether the product is recommended for you. Thumbs up means good to go. Thumbs down means it’s not recommended.

These alerts are personalized, based on the information you provided us in the registration profile & health survey. These alerts serve as a guide to make sure the product you are looking at contains ingredients that match your skin care goals and don’t contain any ingredients you may be allergic to or those that are counterintuitive to your health and wellness goals.

SkinKnowing recommends products for you that meet your skincare goals. After filling out your health survey click on browse products to get started. This will bring you to our Smart Product Finder where you can use filters to tell us what type of products you are looking for.

First and foremost, we will show you products that are recommended for you (meaning no ingredients on your avoid list), followed by those with only one or two avoid ingredients, and lastly, those with many ingredients on your avoid list. You always have the flexibility to change the order your product recommendations are shown by adjusting the filter on the top right. You can choose to view products from A-to-Z, ranked by most popular, price or by your best matches. Whatever is best for you!

During your health survey, you will have the chance to let us know about any allergy issues as they relate to certain ingredients.

Once you have shared your allergy history and concerns, SkinKnowing will alert to any products that contain ingredients you are allergic to in addition to any other ingredients that are chemically similar to your allergens and are likely to cause your allergy.

SkinKnowing helps you identify the specific ingredients that are counterintuitive to your environmental, health and/or wellness goals. While completing our health survey, you will have the opportunity to tell us your health & wellness concerns or tell us the specific ingredients you would like to avoid. We will make sure all your concerns are reflected on your ingredient avoid list!

Have you ever bought a product in a store or online only to realize that you can get it cheaper elsewhere? Don’t let this happen again! SkinKnowing helps you find the best deals on all your favorite skincare and personal care products.

Every time you search or scan for a product using SkinKnowing’s Smart Product Finder, you will be given a real-time price comparison from many different online retailers. Have confidence that you’re getting the very best price for your skincare products.

SkinKnowing will also alert you when your favorite products go on sale! Make sure to mark any products you use as a favorite and we will keep you in the know!

This feature is in progress and will be available soon. Stay tuned!

SkinKnowing’s personalized ingredient library offers proprietary evidence-based research on ingredients in products today. You can see your personalized ingredient recommendations in the library after you finish your profile and health survey. Once that is complete, you can use the library in many different ways.

• 1

  Get to know ingredients on your avoid list!
  Use the evidence-based ingredient information to fine tune your avoid list to be even more personalized to you and your needs. Your avoid list is completely customizable! Although we have worked hard to make your avoid list recommendations backed by science and based on the science of you, the choice is always yours to add more ingredients or take some away. The ingredient library is a great place to learn about the ingredients on your avoid list and or any other ingredient. Pick out which ingredients are right or wrong for you!

• 2

  Find products with your favorite ingredients!
  When you designate your ingredient favorites, Skinknowing will help you find more products containing your favorite ingredients, and alert you when new products come on the market that contain your favorite ingredients. It’s a great way to stay in the know.

• 3

  Browse ingredients by trends and categories
  Learn about popular ingredients. Check out which controversial ingredients are making headlines. Concerned about allergies? See which ingredients cause the most skin allergies. SkinKnowing groups ingredients by trends, categories, effects and their families. There is so much to learn and explore.

• 4

  Research specific ingredients.
  Browse ingredients by A to Z or search for a specific ingredient using the search bar.

• 5

  Looking for ingredient alternatives?
  Did you find out an ingredient you use is counterintuitive to your health or doesn’t have evidence to support its benefit? One of the easiest ways to find ingredient alternatives is your personalized SkinKnowing Ingredient Library. Click on the skin benefit or formula benefit of interest to find the ingredients that are a better fit for your needs! It’s a great way to find new favorite ingredients and help you achieve your skin goals without being harmful to your health.

No matter how you use the library, Skinknowing will always let you know if an ingredient is right or wrong for you! The red ingredient color makes it easy to see which ingredients are on your avoid list, and the alert icons will tell you whether its an allergen or counterintuitive to your health. Ingredients in blue are favorites and will also show the blue

The ingredient detail page is your ultimate source for ingredient information. This page will tell you if an ingredient is right or wrong for you and present all the ingredient facts in three different ways.

Firstly, an at-a-glance ingredient summary table. This table summarizes ingredient properties so that you can understand the pros and cons of each ingredient at-a-glance.

Looking for more detail? Check out our ingredient information or evidence based write up sections. Here you will find all the scientific details and studies to date on the safety and efficacy of that ingredient.

Many ingredients will also have an ingredients highlight section written by Dr. Levin herself. This section is meant to summarize the ‘needs to know’ for each ingredient in way that’s easy to understand and from the perspective of a physician/dermatologist.

The ingredient detail page is your ultimate source for ingredient information.

1. Find out if an ingredient is right or wrong for you.
The red thumbs down icon will be next to any ingredient that is on your avoid list for health and wellness or allergy reasons. The blue thumbs up icon will be next to any ingredient that is not on your avoid list, meaning it has no characteristics or properties that are counterintuitive to your health, wellness or goals.

2. Learn more about any ingredient.
The SkinKnowing ingredient detail page is a great place to learn about an ingredient in depth. Use our ingredient summary table to get a snap shot of ingredient properties, pros and cons, ingredient effects and function in the formula. Read the ‘need to know’ of ingredients in the ingredient highlights area (written by Dr. Levin herself). Or nerd out and get all the scientific details in our evidence based write up created by Dr. Levin and her team who collect, analyze and share the latest and most comprehensive information on any ingredient in our library.

3. Find out why an ingredient is not recommended for you!
If an ingredient is not recommended for you, this page is a great place to find out why. SkinKnowing will highlight in red why the ingredient may negatively impact you in the potential negatives section of the ingredient summary area, and you can read about studies supporting this potential negative in the evidence based write up section.

4. Change an ingredient status on the fly. As we said, this is your personalized ingredient list and your choice. Use the three buttons on the right of the page to add or remove ingredients from your avoid list, allergy list or designate as an ingredient favorite.

5. Find products that contain your favorite ingredients.
Once you find your favorite ingredients, make sure to mark it as an ingredient favorite. SkinKnowing will alert you to any new products containing your favorite ingredient from commercial retailers!

6. Looking for ingredient alternatives? Did you find out an ingredient you use is counterintuitive to your health or doesn’t have evidence to support its benefit? One of the easiest ways to find ingredient alternatives is the ingredient effects/function page. Click on an any skin benefit or formula benefit to see all the ingredients that offer this same benefit or function! It’s a great way to find new favorites ingredients to help you achieve your skin goals without being harmful to your health.

When you become a SkinKnowing Member, you gain access to our network of skincare expert affiliates - we call them Gurus! Once you choose your Guru(s), you will gain exclusive content from your Guru.

• Find out the ingredients your Guru(s) avoids. See your Gurus personal ingredient avoid list and find more ingredients to avoid!
• See your Gurus favorite ingredients. Are they right for you? Find favorite ingredient liked by your favorite skin/health expert.
• See your Guru’s product recommendations. Find new favorite products from your favorite Guru.
• See your Gurus personal skin care regimen and beauty routine. . Another great way to find new product favorites!
• Get access to your Gurus live SkinKnowing masterclasses! Taught twice a year at minimum by each of our Skincare Gurus. These classes are live, educational sessions on the latest products, ingredients, skin care advice and skin procedures with a special live Q&A.

Find your Guru today!

Looking for even more personalized recommendations? With our premium membership you can get personalized regimen recommendations from Dr. Levin herself. Sign up for a SkinKnowing membership here.

When you become a SkinKnowing Member, you will gain exclusive content from your Guru. This includes ingredient and product recommendations, access to view their personal skincare regimen, and access to their live SkinKnowing masterclasses! Sign up for a skinknowing membership here.

Congrats! You are about to get a regimen of your very own with personalized product and ingredient recommendations by our very own Dr. Levin!

Once you become a premium member, you will get an email with a link to a very important questionnaire. Dr. Levin uses this questionnaire to understand which products you have tried that failed, what products you like, and what factors are important to you when choosing a skincare routine.

Dr. Levin takes this information into account when putting together your regimen, which can take up to 4 weeks to receive. Once she has analyzed and figured out the best products for you, we will send you an email with your personalized regimen that includes live links to the products we recommend. It’s that easy!

SkinKnowing understands that many of us are responsible for picking and buying products for other people besides ourselves. Since we all have different needs the easiest way to do this is to create a different profile for the people you shop for. You can easily do this after signing up for our premium membership. Under the drop down menu on any SkinKnowing page you will see a link to Add/Manage Profile or Account Settings. After clicking you will be able to take our health & profile survey and provide us everything we need to know about their health and wellness. You can also follow the same gurus or different gurus for each profile.

Our version of the wish list is a Favorites List! Add any products you are using and/or have interest into your Favorites List, and SkinKnowing will alert you of any price drops from major retailers!

Dr. Levin searched medical evidence-based research to find genes that could be risk factors for certain relevant medical conditions that are linked to known side effects of ingredients. And she created SkinKnowing proprietary genetic analysis algorithm to search for over 100 different genes relative to your health and skin in the from your Ancestry DNA and 23andme data.

In plain English, Dr. Levin is using your genes to identify your risk factors for medical conditions. Then, Skinknowing is making sure that you avoid any ingredients that could contribute or worsen this risk!

For example, if you are at risk for neurological disease like Alzhiemers, Dr. Levin’s proprietary genetic risk analysis through Skinknowing will make sure you avoid any ingredients that are known neurotoxins.

Or if you are prone to wrinkling, Dr. Levin will make sure you are avoiding ingredients that accelerate collagen breakdown.

The SkinKnowing’s mission is to provide personalized recommendations based on your individual risk, needs, goals and concerns. To us that means not making generalized ingredient recommendations that are supposed to apply to everyone. Instead, we recognize diversity in your needs and concerns and customize our recommendations to you!

In order to give you personal recommendations, we had to start by getting to know the ingredients in products in a new and different way, in essence, developing a new type of ingredient research and evaluation process.

Our ingredient research and evaluation process is different from the other clean beauty sites because we make individual recommendations based on your personal risk and needs. See the SkinKnowing difference and check out our ingredient library!

Our thorough ingredient research methods can take weeks to months to complete. We start by combing through the scientific literature and analyzing peer-reviewed published information on each ingredient from sources like Google Scholar and PubMed to name a few.

The ingredient information we analyze spans across dozens of environmental, chemical, and health evaluation categories that help us better understand each ingredient’s unique positives and negatives. Examples of the information we analyze includes:

• 1
  Ingredient Chemical structure
  
• 2
  Ingredients use in beauty and personal care products, food, medicine, pharmaceuticals and other industries
  
• 3
  Bioavailability and Skin Penetration Abilities
  
• 4
  Mechanisms of Action
  
• 5
  Functions in Product Formulation
  
• 6
  Influence on Health and Disease ( considering 11 different Organ systems)
  
• 7
  Toxicity and Neurotoxicity
  
• 8
  Reproductive and Development Safety (including pregnancy, nursing, child and teen development, etc.)
  
• 9
  Carcinogenic Potential and Mutagenic properties
  
• 10
  Hormone Influencing Properties
  
• 11
  Irritation potential for skin, eyes, lips, lungs (aerosol), mouth, etc.
  
• 12
  Allergy and Potential Allergic Chemical Crossreactors
  
• 13
  Ingredient Regulations from bodies like the FDA from the US and other countries
  
• 14
  Impurities
  
• 15
  Aliases
  
• 16
  Chemical Constituents
  
• 17
  Environment Effects (sustainability, bioaccumulation, harm to the sea or wildlife, etc.)
  

Once all this information is gathered, our research team puts together a thorough scientific write-up and summary of our findings with references as if it will be published in a scientific journal. These write-ups are reviewed by Dr. Levin herself and a panel of experts made up of Pharmacists, Toxicologists, Physicians, and PhD Experts. There are often many rounds of revisions to get it just right. Once an ingredient has completed our thorough evaluation process, then and only then is it added to the SkinKnowing Ingredient Library.