This is a first-person routine piece published by Violet Grey in October 2020, in which Melanie Grant explains how she uses Augustinus Bader products from face to body. She starts with the science. Professor Bader's Trigger Factor Complex, TFC8, came out of 30 years of work in plastic and reconstructive surgery, mostly with burn victims. She points out that it does not deliver stem cells to the skin, as many people assume. It carries amino acids, peptides, ceramides, vitamins and other molecules that help the skin repair itself.
In the morning she wears The Rich Cream under SPF. At night she uses The Cleansing Gel, leaving it on for a few minutes before removing it, then The Essence two or three times a week, pressed on with cotton rounds rather than wiped. Retinol and more Rich Cream follow. She keeps two or three bottles at home so she never runs out. Her favourite trick is mixing a few drops of The Face Oil into The Cream, warming it in her hands and pressing it in, and she recommends the oil for sun damage and laxity.
For her body, she dry brushes in the morning, scrubs with coffee grounds in the shower, then applies The Body Cream, adding The Body Oil on hands, cuticles, feet and elbows during a cold Sydney spell. She doesn't think you can overdo TFC8, writing that “your skin will take what it needs and the rest is like skinsurance.” The point, she says, is to pick the formats that suit you and be consistent.
