GUEST REVIEW: Burt’s Bees Repair Serum (Yes Ma’am)
by Jenni Simmons

Even though I am 32 years old, I still like playing with the contents of my Mom’s make-up bag.  On a recent trip to help my Mom after her foot surgery, I stood guard while she washed her face and applied moisturizer, balancing carefully on her good foot.  Then she rummaged around her make-up bag and pulled out Burt’s Bees Repair Serum. 

She raved about this product and said I should give it a try.  I tried it right then and there, and used it often during my stay.  I liked it so much that when I arrived home, I purchased a vial for myself.  The scent is a warm blend of lavender and rose oils and the serum feels elegant on my skin.  Per the instructions, I use my ring finger to apply drops of the oil around my eyes and lips, but I don’t stop there.  I also smooth it on my forehead, cheeks, and scars since rosehip seed oil has been successfully used to treat scar tissue.  My scars are a result of ignoring my Mom when she told me not to pop zits, so I’m glad I listened to her beauty recommendation this time around.  Now that I’ve used Repair Serum for a month, the laugh lines around my eyes seem softer and my scars have partially disappeared.  The serum also makes a great facial moisturizer; I apply it all over my face each night and in the mornings my complexion feels soft and looks more like peaches and cream every day.Now, since I was somewhat lazy with my last Burt’s Bees product review, I looked up the Repair Serum on Skin Deep.  The low hazard rating of 2 (out of 10) is pretty good, though after reading the entire report, a few ingredients trouble me such as tocopheryl acetate (vitamin E) and retinyl palmitate (vitamin A).  I love that Burt’s Bees is a Compact for Safe Cosmetics signer and that they don’t test on animals.  But the other part of Skin Deep’s report that concerned me was the 90% data gap - “a measure of how much is unknown about an ingredient.”Due to the questions that large data gap raises, I e-mailed Burt’s Bees inquiring about their ingredient quality.  This is what their e-mail correspondent had to say:

Please be assured that we believe our products are safe and effective, and we do conduct product testing to this end. We have a Quality Control Department that sets standards for all incoming ingredients and outgoing product.  We send all of our ingredients to be tested for contamination and only use those of pure premium quality. Further, our raw materials are purified to a cosmetic grade (cleaner then food grade less then pharmaceutical) and inspected lot by lot to meet specific standards. We choose sources from domestic, ecological, and fair trade organizations when available. We appreciate your concerns about this matter. 

Maybe that type of answer is part of Skin Deep’s data gap on the Repair Serum.  The answer also made me wonder if I should have previously praised their natural standard so highly or not.  While the response sounds good on the surface, they didn’t really tell me anything specific.  Like, what are those “specific standards”?  That would be a good starter.  And I don’t understand some natural companies’ secretive natures.  What do they have to hide?  What would it hurt to divulge a bit?  I’m not asking for the address of their sources or recipes for their products; just a little more information so that I could brag on the products and give slobbering good reviews.My conclusion is that Burt’s Bees Repair Serum performs brilliantly.  I’ll keep using it unless I find an equal or better product that is more straightforward about their ingredient quality and sports a better Skin Deep rating (a lower data gap, that is).  A daughter ought to listen to her Mom, after all.