Our StorY
She built the one she couldn't find.
Dr. Nancy Franklin is the inventor of MDERM, a patent-pending moisturizer. She’s a Harvard Medical School graduate and board-certified dermatologist who has spent 35 years in practice, washing her hands between every patient. By the end of most weeks, her hands were as dry as many of the patients in her waiting room.
The solution should have been simple: find a moisturizer she could confidently recommend. But too many formulas on the shelf relied on petroleum-derived ingredients, silicones, synthetic polymers, and other ingredients she preferred to leave out. So, she created the moisturizer she couldn’t find - thoughtfully formulated with innovative ingredients, skin-supportive lipids, plant oils, and botanical extracts to deeply moisturize, soothe, and support hardworking, dry skin.
— Dr. Nancy Franklin
Founder & Inventor · MDERM
Dr. Nancy Franklin
MD, FAAD
01
IT Started with a plant
As she studied various plants, she learned about the unique antioxidant, moisturizing, and soothing compounds in the plant moringa, and its benefits for the skin. She partnered with a chemist who created a proprietary method to preserve the amazing compounds found in moringa.
This plant is so impressive that we named our brand after it! (The M in MDERM = moringa)
Moringa
We've got one ingredient, now what?
Dr. Franklin kept researching. What started with one ingredient turned into a larger idea for a hand moisturizer with skin-supportive lipids, plant oils, and botanical extracts. It was designed with the everyday demands of hardworking hands in mind. On top of that, she made sure the formula didn’t contain any of what she called Hell No! Ingredients.
02
03
Now we're getting somewhere
Dr. Franklin kept pushing forward, always asking, “How can I make this better?” She included squalane, a non-greasy alternative to petrolatum (a petroleum-derived oil that’s in countless moisturizers). She found that many moisturizers use synthetic or animal-derived ceramides, so she incorporated new plant-based ceramides instead.
Out
Synthetic & animal ceramides
→
In
Plant ceramide complex
Plant-ceramides
Then came the disturbing part
There's plastic in your moisturizer.
Dr. Franklin learned that silicones and synthetic polymer ingredients, often called “liquid plastics,” are widely used in leading skincare brands! These chemicals are primarily added to improve how products feel. However, many biodegrade slowly or not at all, and once rinsed away, they can enter the environment. Hundreds of these non-biodegradable ingredients are used in skincare products, and millions of tons are produced each year. Significant questions remain about their long term effects on our health and the environment. Could there be a better alternative?
9/10
Leading brands use liquid plastics
500+
Types used in personal care
DO NOT
Biodegrade
CHECK THE LABEL
B-silk™
04
Silky smooth without the plastic
An Amazing solution
A biotech partnership inspired her to add B-silk™, a biodegradable silk protein that provides an alternative to silicone ingredients (aka “liquid plastics”), commonly used in moisturizers. It forms a thin, breathable, imperceptible layer over the skin that helps lock in moisture. It leaves your hands with a smooth, silk-like feel, because it’s silk!
Out
Dimethicone & silicones
→
In
B-silk™
LIQUID-PLASTIC FREE
AND OUR STORY'S JUST BEGINNING
The best ingredients in the store, built for the hands that need them most.
Mechanics
Nurses
Cooks
Stylists
Gardeners
FARMERS
Construction Workers
TAKE ME TO THE CREAM!
