There is a quite intuitive idea in cosmetics: if an ingredient works, the more we add, the better. Higher concentration. More active ingredients. More powerful formulas. Treatments that are even presented as intensive or extreme. It seems logical... But the skin doesn't always work that way.
After many years seeing patients in the office, there is something Dr. Ricardo Ruiz repeats frequently: in dermatology, more is not always better. Better is what your skin actually needs. Because when we understand cosmetics as a tool to care for skin health, the question stops being how much we can add to a formula and starts being how much that skin actually needs.
Understanding cosmetics from the perspective of dermatology means putting skin health ahead of the product.
A formula does not exist in isolation. It exists on skin.
You can know a great deal about chemistry, active ingredients, and formulation. This is essential knowledge for developing good cosmetics. But the dermatologist observes the formula from another place. They observe the skin.
Skin that may be healthy or have an altered barrier function. That may tolerate a retinoid perfectly or be irritated by it. That may have acne, rosacea, spots, or simply need hydration and protection.
And, above all, they observe the person behind it. Because no two people are the same either. There are those who enjoy spending time on their routine and those who need to finish it in three minutes. There are those who tolerate certain active ingredients perfectly and those who abandon a treatment as soon as they start to notice irritation.
That is why, when we think about efficacy, we don't just think about how much active ingredient we can put into a formula. The question is not how much we can put in, but how much the skin actually needs and how much it can use well.
Does higher concentration mean higher efficacy? Cosmetics from the perspective of skin health
In medicine, the goal is the right dose, not the maximum dose. With cosmetics, we should apply some of that same common sense. An active ingredient needs to be present in an effective concentration. Below that, we might not achieve the effect we are looking for. But, beyond that, increasing the concentration does not necessarily imply a proportional increase in benefit.
In some cases, it can increase something much less desirable: irritation. And irritated skin is not healthy skin. For us, healthy cosmetics must seek efficacy without compromising the skin's barrier function or tolerance.
The best routine is also the one you can stick to
There is another factor that is rarely mentioned when we talk about efficacy: real life. We can design an extraordinarily sophisticated routine on paper, but if it requires too many products, too many decisions, or generates irritation that forces you to constantly stop, perhaps it is not such a good routine.
Consistency matters. A simple routine that a person uses every day for years can do much more for their skin than an extraordinary routine that they abandon after a few weeks.
That is why at Método R we do not seek to push every formula to the limit. We seek balance. The balance between efficacy, pleasure, and tolerance. Between science and simplicity. Between everything we could technically add and what is actually worth using.
First the person. Then the formula.
The closer you get to dermatology, the more surprising the enormous breadth and complexity of this specialty becomes. Skin may seem simple from the outside, but behind it lies immunology, oncology, genetics, surgery, inflammatory diseases, and many other areas of knowledge. It is difficult to work closely with good dermatologists and not feel enormous admiration and, above all, great humility in the face of everything they know and everything that still remains to be known about the skin.
Cosmetic formulation is also a fascinating discipline and we need excellent formulators. But Método R was born precisely from the union of those two worlds and from a very specific question. Not "how far can we take this formula?", but "what does this skin actually need?"
That small difference explains many of our decisions. It explains why we prefer fewer products, why we seek sensible concentrations, why we think of formulas as part of a routine and not as isolated products, and why we wanted to study the efficacy of a complete routine and publish its results.
It also explains why we don't feel the need to incorporate every new active ingredient that appears. We are very interested in innovation, but only when it improves something.
We haven't reinvented the wheel, nor do we intend to. We have preferred to work with active ingredients whose efficacy we already knew and to seek better ways to deliver them to the skin. That is why we use controlled-release systems that allow us to develop formulas that are effective and, at the same time, very well tolerated.
Because a good formula begins in the laboratory. But a good routine begins by observing the skin and understanding the person behind it.
Behind every skin is a person
Perhaps this is the most important lesson a dermatology clinic leaves you with. With time, you stop seeing only spots, wrinkles, pores, acne, or redness. You see people.
People who want to look better, of course, but also feel comfortable in their own skin. People who are getting older, who have better times and worse times, who don't always have time, who some nights forget to put on their cream, and who shouldn't feel like they are doing something wrong by not using seven products.
Taking care of your skin shouldn't become another impossible task to complete. It should be something much simpler: knowing your skin well, taking care of its health, choosing well, using what is necessary, and being consistent.
Because in cosmetics, as so often happens in medicine, the most intense solution is not always the best.
Sometimes, true sophistication consists of knowing how far it is worth going.
What do we mean by healthy cosmetics?
At Método R, we define healthy cosmetics as those that seek to improve the appearance of the skin while simultaneously respecting its health. Effective, well-tolerated formulas, with evidence-backed active ingredients, sensible concentrations, and simple routines that can be maintained over time. Because for us, beautiful skin begins with healthy skin.
