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Editorial Policy & Guidelines

Our work includes writing about evergreen topics related to beauty, skincare, and haircare, coverage of the latest news and trends, product reviews, and updates to existing content to ensure it reflects and relates to the latest scientific research. All posts on Women’s Concepts are created considering the following publishing principles:

We shut our eyes to marketing claims

Whenever we cover a topic, whether it’s informational content or product reviews, we ignore all marketing claims. We don’t let us get influenced by advertisers’ claims regardless of the references and sources they come from. Unfortunately, companies use claims to sell their products, such as:

  • Benefits: Most brands have a lengthy list of benefits for their products for advertising-purpose. For instance, a label can state that the product eliminates wrinkles, fade dark spots, or reduce acne. We don’t let this stop us from being diligent with the list of ingredients. We won’t make claims about the benefits of a product based on their advertising but their formula and whether or not they include ingredients scientifically proven to provide those benefits. 
  • The brand’s popularity: People are tempted to be fooled by the popularity of a brand, assuming that if a brand has a huge fan base, it must be good. We work with the premise that no brand and no product can be suitable for everyone.
  • Natural, organic, or clean: Since the FDA doesn’t regulate cosmetics, it’s your and our duty to check the labels and ensure that the products aren’t falsely advertised as natural, non-toxic, or organic. For instance, the term “natural” isn’t regulated at all. Thus brands are allowed to use the “natural” label on their products, even though they contain only a few natural ingredients. What we do in this case is to study all the ingredients of a product and confirm the percentage of naturally-sourced ingredients. 
  • Active ingredients/highlighted ingredients:  It is common for brands to highlight elements found by the end of the ingredients list, meaning the product contains a small percentage of a specific ingredient yet is spotlighted as an active one. These claims make the product more appealing, but in reality, they are just a delusion. We are carefully checking the concentration of each highlighted ingredient, after which we apply the six ingredients rule that states the first ingredients make up about 80% of a product. 
  • Dermatologist-tested or clinically-tested: Products often have a statement on the label that claims: “Dermatologically-tested”. It’s important to note that such a claim is not regulated, nor do any standards exist on the test procedures that should be followed to prove the claim. Unfortunately, these “clinically-tested” or “dermatologist-tested” claims don’t follow a consistent standard and can lead to false advertising.

Reliable information

Women’s Concepts is a source of consistently high-quality information that you can trust. This is possible due to our close professional relationship with dermatologists, cosmeticians, and makeup artists, who we interview for expert approval. Whenever you read about mixing ingredients, skincare routines, and product recommendations, you can trust that they’re safe and accredited by skillful professionals. With research upon ingredients, devices, and techniques advancing consistently, change is inevitable. With this in mind, we always make sure our posts go through multiple reviews to stay up to date with the latest scientific discoveries.

Safety concerns

We’re aware that safety is the most critical concern for everyone. And since cosmetics use various ingredients, from alcohols, fragrances to preservatives, it’s our duty to assure that none of the products we recommend to our readers put their health or skin condition in danger. Cosmetics contain active ingredients that don’t just make the skin look different, but they actually create changes in the skin.

Readers come first

Every article on Women’s Concepts is written with only one intention: to help our readers by offering transparent answers to all questions surrounding their concerns. Our content is accurate, complete, and up-to-date according to the latest studies and discoveries in the world of beauty and skincare. We never hide the drawbacks of a product, ingredient, or treatment just for the sake of promoting them.

We value diversity and inclusion

Our responsibility is to provide honest opinions to our audience and treat everyone with respect, regardless of their culture, race, ethnicity, religion, sex, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, physical or mental ability, or any other characteristics. Diversity is core to our values and dedication.

Source of information & writers

Our team includes writers that have been carefully chosen based on their professional experience, writing, and researching skills. We are cautious with the content shared on Women’s Concepts. Hence we are taking all the precautions measures to ensure our writers are all well trained and educated about beauty and skincare. 

Our main mission is to provide accurate and transparent information that uncovers the naked truth. The articles published on Women’s Concepts not only rely on our team’s personal experience and judgment but are also profoundly researched, with every bit of data coming from trusted sources. All statements and claims have clear and legit references, such as PubMedThe National Center for Biotechnology InformationResearchGate, and Karger. Whenever possible, we cite research done on humans. However, if a particular topic is not backed by research on humans, we use research on cultured cells or artificial skin models as a reference if relevant to the topic. When we do that, we make sure to mention it clearly. Although results from cultured cells or artificial skin research do not entirely apply to the human system, the findings are useful to have a better understanding of certain topics. 

We also interview experts like dermatologists, chemical chemists, cosmetologists, and makeup artists to get their insights on the information shared in our articles. 

Expert review board

The Women’s Concepts Expert Review Board comprises board-certified dermatologists specializing in both cosmetic and medical dermatology, cosmetic chemists, makeup artists, and other field experts. They are not exclusively working for Women’s Concepts but help us review articles from time to time. While all of our experts have medical certificates from prestigious universities to certify their experience and knowledge, some of them are members of academic societies such as the American Academy of Dermatology, like Dr. Lilly-Rose Paraskevas (FAAD), or The Philippine Dermatological Society, like Dr. Aznaida T. Pandapatan (DPDS). We are constantly trying to bring new members to our experts’ team to increase our diversity by covering as many medical specializations as possible. 

When you see “Expert-Approved” at the top of an article (just above the first paragraph), you’ll know the content information has been reviewed and discussed with one of our expert review board members, whether it’s about how to prevent transepidermal water lossanti-inflammatory skincare ingredients, or how you should moisturize oily skin. Their role is to make sure the information is accurate, complete, and relates to current science and data studies. If they notice something is missing, incorrect, or misleading, they’ll sound the alarm to our editorial team. In this case, we’ll verify the content and update the information according to their indications after we double-check all the facts. Meet all our experts here.

Product reviews process

Another of our purposes is to ensure our readers make the best decisions when shopping for new beauty, skincare, or haircare products. Our process of product recommendations is comprehensive and primarily takes into account the goals and safety of our audience.

Although we may receive an affiliate commission from the products we share, all products recommended on Women’s Concepts have been hand-picked by our editors and meet the following conditions to confirm their quality and effectiveness for readers’ needs:

  1. Customer review profile: When we don’t get to test a product, we carefully check the customer reviews to get more data about the product in question. This helps us have more insights about the skin types for which the product performs best, how effective it is, what skin concerns can treat, and other quality aspects. We’re also focusing on the negative reviews, as those will always bring the truth out. If a large number of customers are complaining about the same thing, then it means something. Practically, we identify each issue the product may have through checking the customers’ reviews.
  2. Six ingredients rule: By law, brands are required to disclose the ingredients in a formula in descending order, from the highest to the lowest concentration. As a rule of thumb, the first six ingredients make up about 80% of a product. We usually check the first ten ingredients to get an idea of how effective the product really is. Similarly, if a highlighted element is found at the bottom of the ingredients list, it won’t weigh that much for us when we review it. 
  3. Reader’s skin profile: Skincare and makeup are not one-size-fits-all. We understand that no formula suits everyone and that the user’s skin profile matters the most when deciding how safe and effective a product is.
  4. Reader’s concern and goals: The product must not only be tailored to the user’s skin profile but also to her or his concerns and goals. We know people need effective products, whether it’s about wrinkles, dark spots, or acne. Thus, when we recommend a product, we double-check for active ingredients scientifically proven to improve the skin concern in question.
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