Letter from our Chairman

Worldwide, women are plagued with the unfair demands of maintaining their attractiveness while also managing families, homes, and income. Then, when they’re trying to make an intelligent purchase, the marketing noise, hype, and insincerity is overwhelming—not to mention that women-specific products and services typically cost more and do less. And—when it’s all done and everybody’s happy—there’s little time left for themselves.

Honor intelligence and beauty

As the founder and Chairman of Rolf Lohse Global, I’m only focusing on products that celebrate and honor both the intelligence and natural beauty of women. We’re looking at beauty in a more mature, honorable, and lasting way. Although I admire and celebrate appearance and style, I strongly believe that lasting 'beauty is as beauty does.'

We understand that the whims of the beauty industry are driven more by market pressures than by reality or result. We know that ageing is a natural process and that every soul gets more beautiful as it ages. Science also tells us that nature celebrates ‘beauty’ more in terms of health and function than it does in style and appearance—when nature works well, and goes as planned, it’s outrageously beautiful. There are so many different ways to be beautiful on this planet. We also know that even though everyone tries their best, most of us are limited with time and money.

A tough and misleading market

When we first thought about a skin care product line the market seemed over saturated and inauthentic. Everyone warned us off—except for women who said they were still desperate for affordable products that really worked and could be practically applied in the everyday world. Even today the industry critics talk of the irony of the vast majority of money poured into packaging and marketing—and very little going into ingredients and research. Companies realize that you can make more money selling a mediocre product with ‘pretty packaging’ than you can selling something that really works—quality ingredients take away from profit, universal application, and shelf life.

Industry skipping out on science

Remember the article 'Is the Skin-care Industry Skipping Out On Science?,' (Science News, Aug. 2007), where Stig E. Friberg, Ph.D, a chemist specializing in cosmetic ingredients at the University of Virginia stated that the multi-billion-dollar skin-care-product industry is more focused on beating their competition through better marketing than on applying better and sounder science. 'It’s a missed opportunity,' Friberg says. We agree.

Then we read the July 2008 CNN and 20/20 story of a cosmetic watchdog group analyzing 900 commercial sunscreens (Environmental Working Group). They found that 85% of available products don't measure up; they either fail to block the full range of UV rays or they contain ingredients linked to health hazards. Only 1 of the 144 products put on consumer shelves from market leaders such as Coppertone, Banana Boat and Neutrogena were tested as effective, or even safe. Profiting from this deception, the story goes on to add that the beauty industry itself has aggressively blocked FDA regulation for 30 years.

Iqoníc: Intelligence in Skin Care

With this sad situation in mind (in my opinion, another assault on women) we asked our phyto-chemist team of scientists to develop an intelligent product line for modern, hard working, and result-seeking women.

Being from Hamburg, Germany, I knew Europe's scientific reputation as the center of skin care research. My family has been associated with this science and art for generations. Almost obsessed, we insisted that all Iqoníc products nurture and support the intelligent bio-mechanics of natural skin health—not just cover the skin with a mask.

At Rolf Lohse we see the human body as a beautiful cellular orchestra of complex, constantly working miracles. Our skin is our largest and generally the most assaulted organ. We wanted our products to communicate with and support this dynamic and amazing cellular system. Few of us understand or appreciate the miracle of this incredible gift.

Give us the best ideas you have, we asked our scientists. Give us your best science—the most rigorous, measurable results possible. You’re the best in the world and frustrated with the markets greed. Don’t worry about ingredient cost. Don’t worry about shelf-life stabilizers that ruin active ingredients—we’ll sell small batches with frequent turnover. Don’t worry about making one thing work for everybody—we’ll analyze each skin type and then match it. Don’t add fillers or worthless junk. Don’t worry about putting in marketing buzz words or fancy fragrance.

Give us something that really works—products that make our skin more healthy, more happy, better protected. Keep it practical and manageable for the overworked professionals. Give us products that spare no ingredient expense, tell no lies, and deliver every time. We want products worthy of the intelligent women who use them.

Knowledge is Power

With our company’s core of 'Intelligent Beauty' ideals, we’re offering the best products and information anyone can design. We want this site to encourage and support you in your life regardless of your interest in our product. We want your life to be a little better, a little more beautiful. We want women to have enough information to make an intelligent decision. We honor a woman who says ‘no’ when she doesn’t need something, a woman who earns respect because of where she’s been and who she has become.

Please let us know what you think.

Rolf, Chairman