 Helen Franks pays a visit to Helen
Sher, specialist in alternative skin treatments and make-up
Helen Sher is a one-off in the world
of beauty. She has created her own exclusive range
of preparations for sensitive and older skins, working with chemists whom she knows
personally. ‘We discuss the ingredients like a chef,’ she says.
She runs her small family business
from a suite of rooms in London’s Bond Street. Her
husband of 51 years and two daughters are part of the firm.
She is 67 and looks - well see her picture just above here.
Helen believes that the only real moisturiser is water and she bases her
products on this. ‘Think of prunes’, she says. ‘They
shrivel because they dry out.’
This, she admits is something of a
simplification. The ageing skin suffers from
hormone changes, muscle-tone loss, collage depletion, environment too. Nevertheless, she has a loyal band of customers
who wouldn’t go anywhere else. And
latest trends in the cleanse-and-tone world suggest that others are copying her ideas.
She gets her clients through word of
mouth: 30% are men who come with specific problems like acne and rosacea. Women customers may have similar conditions or sensitive
skin. And many are women in the 50-plus age group who, she says, can’t face the big
stores, the anonymity of countless cosmetic counters and the enormous, competing choice. ‘They come to us and get one to one
attention.’
Alternatively, they can answer her
questionnaire and learn her techniques on a video, and receive her recommendations for
skin care and make-up based on her assessment of their personal needs. ‘We mail order all over the world.’
Her ingredients, she says, are not unique, but
it’s the combination and balance that count. ‘They
are designed to be interactive.’
It’s very obvious that Helen
really believes in her products and gets enormous pleasure from seeing results, working as
she says, on a borderline between dermatology and cosmetology, with a bit of psychology
thrown in. She served her apprenticeship at Revlon
and Estee Lauder, and for years experimented with the effects of rinsing the skin many
times in warm water combined with very mild products - a face wash, crystals that change
the chemistry of the water, mild cleanser and tonic.
She teaches people suffering from
skin blemishes how to use make-up, showing special techniques with very light camouflage
creams and lotions. She recommends creams or
lotions with a sun protection factor of 20. And
she’s very very keen that we drink plenty of water.
My personal consultation
My questionnaire revealed that I
have a fine, not-too-sensitive skin, but it is thin - something that happens with age. Here’s the advice she gave me (some of it may not
suit people with other skin types):
-
Don’t use hot water on the
face when skin is thin. The cleanser I had been
using stipulated hot then cold rinses
-
Don’t use creams on naturally
greasy areas - in my case, the nose
-
Don’t put eye creams under the
eyes, only at the sides
-
Use cotton buds to cleanse make-up
from under eyes
-
Don’t put mascara on the lower
lids - it always seems to smudge on me
-
To make sure I drink plenty of
water, start every meal with a glassfull and drink another glass before midmorning or
midafternoon tea or coffee
Helen Sher’s water-moisturising routine (again,
these instructions were specifically for me, and may differ slightly for other people):
-
Fill basin with water at 98degF
(she gave me a thermometer to make sure)
-
Add a small capful of her
Normalising Crystals
-
Apply Foaming Face Wash to face and
neck
-
Rinse it off by cupping hands in
the warm water, repeating this twenty times
A cleanser, a toner, a soothing skin
serum were also part of the package. Then she then
went through a simple make-up session, using some of her own products and others that she
specially selected. I complained that I never used
face powder, but she dusted on a fine, translucent version and a bronzer for
highlights.
 And yes, the result was rather good - according to that
sternest of critics, my husband.
I do try to keep up the Sher
moisturising regime, but must admit that I dropped it on holiday then resumed afterwards. And yes again, my skin looked clearer after all that
rinsing, and surprisingly didn’t feel dry. So
I am trying to keep to it, though I get the sequence wrong from time to time. That’s ageing for you!
If you would like to know more about
the Sher system, see her website:
www.sher.co.uk/skincare or email:
skincare@sher.co.uk
or telephone 020 7499 4022
On request, you will be sent a Skin
Profile questionnaire
-
A personal consultation with Helen Sher costs £75 and lasts 1-2 hours
-
A one-to-one consultation with a trained expert costs £50
-
The teaching video demonstrating the Sher system costs £20
-
Most products cost in the range of £12-£20 (ie 150 ml Foaming Face Wash is
£18)
Clear leaflets provide full back-up
information
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A vast industry is out there to help with all and every beauty concern. In
this column every month laterlife.com will report on ideas and products, old and
new. The practical results of everything from creamy cleansers to mud baths will be
brought to you. All with the focus on maturity of course.
