IS THIS A CLINICAL TRIAL?
No. Clinical trials involve independent medical supervision, instrumental measurement of skin properties, and statistical analysis. Ours was a structured observationaluser trial. We've never called it a clinical trial and we don't position it as one.
WHY ONLY 11 PEOPLE?
This was a pre-launch, self-funded, in-house trial. We chose to run a smaller, closely observed trial with a diverse group of real-world participants across multiple body-change contexts, rather than outsource a larger consumer perception study to a third-party agency. The trade-off is a smaller sample size in exchange for full transparency about methodology, recruitment, and limitations — which most consumer perception studies don't publish.
HOW DOES THIS COMPARE TO INDUSTRY STANDARDS?
Most consumer skincare products are launched without any published user trial at all. Of those that do run trials, the majority are consumer perception studies outsourced to third-party agencies, typically with 30 or more participants, but usually without the methodology or limitations published publicly. We've chosen a different path: a smaller in-house trial with the methodology, data, limitations, and participant feedback all published openly. Readers can decide which approach they find more credible.
WERE PARTICIPANTS FRIENDS OR RELATIVES?
Participants were drawn from two sources: (1) members of the online GLP-1 community already engaged with the founder's content, and (2) personal contacts of the founder. Some participants were known to Marc personally. We've been transparent about this because recruitment source affects how findings should be interpreted.
WERE PARTICIPANTS PAID OR INCENTIVISED?
Participants received the full Skin in Evolution™ framework to use at no cost during the trial. No cash payment was made. Participants were not required to provide positive feedback as a condition of receiving the products, and were free to report neutral or negative findings. Two participants did, on the skin comfort metric.
WERE THERE ANY PARTICIPANTS THAT DROPPED OUT?
11 participants completed the trial and submitted the post-trial questionnaire. All 11 responses are included in the results on this page. No responses were excluded.
WHY AREN'T THERE BEFORE-AND-AFTER PHOTOS?
Because we didn't run the trial with standardised before-and-after imaging protocols. Credible photographic evidence requires consistent lighting, distance, and angle across time points — which is why it costs more and takes longer. Our next trial will include this.
WHY HAVEN'T YOU RUN A FULL CLINICAL TRIAL?
A full independent clinical trial with dermatologist supervision, instrumental measurement, and statistical significance typically costs between £25,000 and £80,000 per product, according to Business of Fashion's 2024 industry reporting. As a recently-launched small business brand, we've chosen to invest in our formulations, our launch, and our customers first. Formal clinical research is on our product development roadmap and we'll publish it when we do it.
WHAT ARE YOU DOING NEXT?
We are continuing to collect post-purchase customer feedback through our ongoing review programme. Our next planned user trial will include (a) a larger participant cohort, (b) standardised before-and-after imaging, and (c) recruitment independent of the founder's personal network. Longer term, we are exploring formal clinical research and academic partnerships with regional universities.
CAN I SEE THE RAW QUESTIONNAIRE?
The full post-trial questionnaire contained 17 structured items plus free-text feedback. Individual anonymised participant responses are retained on file and may be made available on reasonable request for press, academic, or regulatory enquiries via hello@elastikskin.com.
