When crafting your body care routine, listening to experts like dermatologists and gynecologists can take the guesswork out of choosing the right products that fit your needs. That being said, not all of us have the luxury of having a derm or gyno on speed dial, so we have to rely on the next best thing: derm and gyno tested products.
A lot of products have seals or statements on their packaging indicating testing has taken place—every Fur product, for example, has “dermatologically & gynecologically tested” printed on the back alongside our full ingredient lists. You might have also seen “dermatologist approved” or “expert approved” while scrolling a brand’s Instagram or site—but there’s a huge difference between being “tested” and being “approved.”
Being dermatologically and gynecologically tested means a brand has poured thousands of dollars into rigorous testing for both the validity of the products’ claims—whether it can actually benefit the skin or hair the way it says it will—and whether the product can be safely applied on the skin, and specifically the pubic area, without reaction or irritation. A dermatologist and gynecologist conducts each study on participants over 21 days, making note of the dermatological and gynecological “tolerance,” meaning levels of irritation, and “acceptability,” meaning how successful the product was at fulfilling its claims.
Being “dermatologist approved,” on the other hand, doesn’t indicate much other than that a dermatologist has either been paid for their endorsement of the product, or has a relationship with the brand they’re approving. This means no official testing has been run on the products’ efficacy or safety, so if brands are relying on the word “approved” and shying away from any reference to their testing standards, take that approval with a grain of salt.
That’s not to say we don’t want approval from experts who aren’t leading our testing: to us, it’s confirmation that the hard work we put into formulating and testing is paying off. Dermatologists and skincare experts have touted their approval for Fur as an effective addition to any body care routine in interviews with Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, and Allure to name a few. Not to mention the approval we get every day from our favorite body hair experts: estheticians. While not medical doctors, our network of estheticians offer a unique body-hair focused expertise that you typically won’t find from gynecologists or dermatologists. The fact that they feel comfortable not only retailing Fur in their salons, but also incorporating Fur products into their treatments, is proof to us that our products really do work on all hair types and with every grooming routine.
We get it, we might seem crazy arguing over the difference in two words that seem nearly identical; but it’s important to us to be honest above all, and let you make your own decisions on what’s best for your body. At the end of the day, it’s your job to create a body care routine that works for you—but it’s our job to give you the best tools possible to make those choices.