Behind the Scenes at Garden of Wisdom ~ A Short Series

BEHIND THE SCENES AT GARDEN OF WISDOM

Chapter 1

What Goes On Before Your Product Ships Out?
Quite a bit happens before we ever fill your bottle.

Someone recently asked us to share more about what happens behind the scenes at Garden of Wisdom.

Oh boy. Where do we start?

There is the idea. The ingredient research. The formula written out and reconsidered. The mixing, observing, checking, and sometimes looking at something and saying, “Well, that is certainly not what we had in mind.”

A finished bottle doesn’t tell you much about all of that. So we wanted to open the conversation and walk you through our process, one chapter at a time.

→ First, let’s give credit where it belongs

We purchase specialty ingredients, including peptides and other actives, from manufacturers and suppliers. The scientists who develop those ingredients deserve credit.

We don’t create those peptide molecules here at GoW, and we never want to give you that impression.

Our work involves deciding which ingredients belong in a particular formula, what we want that formula to do, and how to bring everything together into a finished product that makes sense for its intended use.

That part takes plenty of thought, too.

→ Before the ingredients comes the question

What are we trying to create?

Something lightweight for skin that dislikes a heavy finish? Something comforting for skin that feels dry? A simpler formula for people who find that more ingredients don’t necessarily mean happier skin?

That starting question helps guide the choices that follow.

An interesting ingredient can catch our attention, but it still needs a reason to be in the bottle. We consider its purpose, the information the supplier provides, its recommended use, and how it fits with the rest of the formula.

Then come the practical questions. How does it dissolve? What conditions does it need? What does it contribute to the texture? Does it make sense alongside the other ingredients we’re considering?

The ingredient list begins long before the label does.

The ingredient list begins long before the label does.

→ The supporting ingredients deserve some attention

Peptides and other specialty actives often get the spotlight. Meanwhile, the supporting ingredients have quite a few jobs of their own.

Depending on the formula, they may help attract water, soften the skin, influence how the product spreads, or help keep ingredients dispersed. Preservation needs attention, too.

A formula also has to feel reasonable to use. Something can sound lovely on paper and still leave us thinking, “Who wants that much stickiness on their face?”

Yes, the feel matters. We’re the ones putting these things on our skin, too.

→ Then the written formula meets the mixing vessel

This is where we begin finding out how our choices behave together.

We pay attention to appearance, texture, how ingredients incorporate, and what happens as the formula settles. Depending on what we are making, an adjustment may mean going back to the written formula and reconsidering an ingredient or its amount.

Sometimes an idea comes together beautifully. Sometimes it needs more work.

And sometimes we have to accept that liking an idea is not enough reason to keep it.

Annoying? Occasionally. Part of the work? Absolutely.

→ Checking is part of the process

Making a batch and seeing that it looks nice is only part of the picture.

We also carry out checks, including our on-site microbial testing. We’ll give that subject its own chapter so we can explain what we actually do, what we look for, and the limits of what those checks can tell us.

We want this series to make our process easier to understand. That includes being clear about what we know, what we check, and where we rely on the knowledge and work of others.

→ Come along for the process

Over the next chapters, we’ll take a closer look at where ideas begin, how we choose ingredients, what happens during formulation, and the checking that follows.

There will be serious information. Probably a few tangents. And almost certainly a moment when we have more questions than we started with.

That happens rather frequently around here.

Welcome behind the scenes at Garden of Wisdom.