The Beauty and Wonder of Skin

The founders of Sapelo Skin Care Stephanie Duttenhaver and Cindy Edwards have been paying attention to the tides. The rivers and creeks that swell with high tides twice each day in Savannah.They heed the lessons of generations of southern women to be gentle and careful with their skin; a heritage often overlooked in today’s hyper-popular trends of repeatedly inflaming the skin with quick fix dermabrasion procedures and chemical peels. Following cues from tides and tradition, they’ve crafted a contemporary, twice-daily ritual that soothes and replenishes—bringing surges of nourishment and hydration for healthy cell development. Savannah-based Sapelo uses familiar ingredients like chamomile, gardenia stem cells, magnolia oil extract,honey from Claxton (where Cindy was raised) calcium from oyster shells and rosemary to create their paraben- and sulfate-free products. They also use salmon eggs in their Spring Tide Serum. Three PhD scientists created this ingredient for wound healing and Sapelo is the first skin care company to use it in their skin care line in the United States. “Sapelo represents the future of skin care. We have educated ourselves on skin physiology. We are passionate about healthy skincare, and we believe our brand is the vanguard in a revolution that will change the way the world thinks about skincare products,” Stephanie says. Inspired by their Southern surroundings, Cindy and Stephanie are out to change the skincare industry. At Sapelo Skin Care they know the beauty and wonder of the human body’s ability to heal and repair from injury. Their scientific formulations exemplify their philosophy of replicating the body’s natural rejuvenating process. In distinct contrast, the prevailing trends in skin care utilize injury to initiate rejuvenation.

At Sapelo, they challenge that dogma. Retinols, hydroxals, blue light, lasers, abrasions, peels and micro-needling are all promoted as anti-aging solutions, yet they begin by causing injury to the skin. They believe the habitual use of these strategies speeds up the moment where our skin cells enter their senile phase and exhaust their capacity to repair. Cindy and Stephanie started by asking a simple question, “ Can we reproduce a healthy immune response without first injuring the skin?” They set out to research and produce a skin care system that replicated the bioactive cascade of peptides (called cytokines in immune terminology) initiated by the body’s immune system in response to skin injury. Their regimen faithfully mimics this process by gently infusing healing peptides and molecules without inflammation. Precisely formulated in small batches, the 3-Step System delivers a hydrating, nutrient-rich surge twice-daily to your complexion.