For Thanksgiving, I give you the words that guide me through life.

My granddaughter (8 years old and a third grader) got a special assignment at school. She had to interview her grandparents. One question for me was:” what would you tell yourself when you were my age?”

I came up with some words, not my own.

“Caminante no hay camino, se hace camino al andar.” This line is from Antonio Machado’s poem. It means that there is no established path; you have to make your own.

When I was young, I assumed there was a path to follow, and I tried (too hard) to discern it. I would have been happier knowing that each of us must find his/her own way in life. It took me a long time, but I finally learned my lesson.

At Skin Actives, we have made our own path. For almost 20 years, we have gone our way without trying to follow other companies.  The objective has not changed: to make products that would help people, be affordable and be the very best in the market.

If I ever doubted that everything I learned through the years in academia would be wasted by working in a skincare company, I shouldn’t have. I use everything, starting with what I saw my mother doing in her kitchen (the serendipity of her changing the old recipe to make a different and better Spanish omelet) to protein engineering and Plant Pathology and why mineral deficiency may end in bacterial, viral, or fungal infection.

At Skin Actives, we started by selling ingredients and essential oils. We “graduated” to making our own formulations following what I learned doing biochemistry research: be nice to proteins, know your polysaccharides, avoid unnecessary ingredients, and respect the human skin.

So here we are, a mature skincare company that has chosen a special path and uses the power of science to make the best product possible for your skin.

I am thankful that, although it took me a long time, I managed to find my own path, both in life and at work. And I am thankful for you, our customers/friends, who appreciate what we do, telling us that we chose the right path.

Hannah