I spent 45 minutes at Sephora staring at DERMAdoctor’s KP Duty. Yes, I endured 45 minutes of Sephora at the Garden State Plaza Mall, with their gum snapping sales force sashaying past me over and over again, because I was on the fence about buying a product.
My daughter has keratosis pilaris on the skin on the backs of her upper arms. KP is not a horrible skin condition. It resembles goose bumps, or “chicken skin,” and is barely noticeable to the eye. KP is an overproduction of the protein keratin, which causes little plugs in the hair follicles, and is usually genetic. I was happy to leave the KP alone, but as the weather got colder, she began complaining that her arms were itchy (dry air exacerbates the condition).
I wasn’t sure I wanted to use KP Duty on her skin, mainly because it contains glycolic acid. Glycolic acid is a wonderful exfoliant, and I use it professionally in a number of peels. But it is very strong acid–the GA molecule is so small that it is uber penetrable. And while this makes it one of the most effective Alpha Hydroxy Acids, it also makes it very irritating. And my kid has pretty sensitive skin. While I was certain that the percentage of GA in the product was low (less than 10% in mass market products), I still had concerns about her skin reacting. But it was all I could find that I thought may remotely help the KP, so I decided to hold my breath and try.
Turns out, my 45 minute stress out at Sephora was completely unnecessary. Not only was KP Duty not at all irritating to her skin, it wasn’t remotely effective on her KP. After two weeks of usage, I saw zero results.
I am now trying it out as a moisturizer for my rough, nasty heels. To date, they are still rough and nasty.
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Thank you for doing the testing. My daughter has the same issues with her arms, and the same complaints come winter. We have, to date, found nothing that works.
Hi Brenda
Yeah, don’t waste your money on this one (I hope you hadn’t already tried it out). It was so disappointing, esp since I had so much concern about it working TOO well. And it’s not cheap. My husband has it too, and he tried a Eucerin product that kind of worked, but it left a gross film on his skin and he couldn’t stand the way it felt.
I am reviewing a product next week (and doing a product giveaway, my first yay!) that you should DEFINITELY keep on eye out for!
Hi Karen,
I LOVE your site and am so happy to have found it on third tribe!! Here’s something I’ve picked up along the way that might help your daughter with her upper arms: For years I struggled with the exact same thing, exfoliated and moisturized, but still wasn’t happy.
Recently I (mostly) removed gluten from my diet and the bumps are all but gone. And my stomach’s flatter and I’m less puffy without even trying.
So many times people don’t realize they might be sensitive to gluten because they’re not horribly allergic, like with Celiac disease. You might want to check it out for a week or two to see how she feels! I was happily astonished!!
Thanks for the super cool blog!!
Lori
Hey Lori
Thanks for swinging buy and sharing some info on gluten. I have been meaning to look into gluten reactions more, but I just haven’t had time! I think you may be on to something…
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