Mad Hippie Hiding Retinol and Vitamin C Percentages from Customers

I reached out to Mad Hippie because I wanted to know what percentages of retinol and vitamin C they use in their products (virtually every other company lists these percentages on their products). Customers need to know what percentages of these activities are being used. We need to know if the amount is enough to be effective. We also need to know the amount isn’t too much to cause irritation or other issues. This is why there are so many options/percentages of activities out there. Different people need different percentages of specific activities. Unfortunately, Mad Hippie would rather hide their percentages while claiming a “proprietary blend” than help educate and empower their customers to make the best decision for their skin. Very disappointed with Mad Hippie, as I had assumed they were a customer-focused company with a desire to educate customers about skincare. Guess it’s just smoke and mirrors and…“gestalt”? | will be purchasing my actives elsewhere.

Did they really just hit us with “gestalt of the formulation”

Such an PhD dissertation ass word in a customer service email is really cool to see tbh. Love that for Amy

This feels very “you’re focusing on the wrong thing you ignorant pleb, trust us (we’re much more clever than you)”

Yeah I have to admit that I had to look that one up :joy:

Personally, if this were me, I would cease using their products.

(TBF I would never have purchased a product if it did not tell me what % retinol it contained).

I feel like the risks inherent to their policy are: 1) there is actually zero retinol in it and they’re selling garbage packaged and labeled to appear effective

Or, 2) their production isn’t controlled well and they can’t actually SAY what % retinol is in each product; could be 0.1%, could be 2%

It’s 3) it’s a really low amount and they know it’s a low amount that would lead an informed consumer to get elsewhere

Yeah, this is messy af. It’s important to not fixate on percentages when picking a product because high percentage does not mean high quality product. Like the ordinary gets insanely high percentages intentionally so they can slap it on the label, but their formulas aren’t great and often their percentages are much higher than the clinically effective dose, but it’s kinda suspicious that they don’t want to share the data.

I think especially with Retinol percentages are important because you want to find the formulation that’s effective at the desired skin cell turnover without being damaging or enflaming. That might be different for everyone and from what I’ve read the smart way to begin is to start with the smallest percentage of retinol, and progress slowly upward to find that percentage that does the thing you want to your skin.

I agree with you about The Ordinary, and I wonder if their percentage is higher because the products are often intended to be mixed with other products. I’ve mixed almost every one of their products with their moisturizer because it was too harsh alone.

Occasionally I get hit with marketing speak and then at the end, they’ll save it with, “But given the concerns you shared, we do understand it’s a delicate situation for you and I’d do a test patch if anything” or “you did an amazing job fixing your skin for your situation, and while we can’t tell you bc (corporate bullshit), we can’t honestly tell you for to change your routine for what is working.”

The latter two at least get my respect. The only way they lose it is when they’re not answering because of me double-checking the ingredients list bc I’m allergic to coconut.

That’s what I was thinking too. We put three drops of vitamin C in every bottle, please spend an absurd amount of money on it.

Not to mention it often takes more than 60 days to tell if a retinoid is working

Thanks for doing this for me, I won’t be buying from them again. I enjoy and appreciate percentages. I think it’s important.

This type of consumer information is the standard in the industry nowadays. Even if they don’t want to emphasize the numbers (which I can understand) they should give out the information to potential customers who want to know it.

Same, I never buy actives that don’t have the percentage labeled. Ever!

Is it even legal? To not report percentage of an active ingredient?

Skincare is not regulated by the FDA.

So they won’t disclose their ingredients because it’s a proprietary blend?

This is a comedic contradiction with their entire MapHippie branding and back story being about hippie culture, prioritizing performance over profit, being open and community-minded, being ethical and using minimal ingredients, etc.

Exactly. So silly to pretend to be transparent while hiding behind “proprietary blends”