I feel a bit nervous to write this blog but I felt it needed to be put out there in hopes that some questions I have get answered.
First of all, I like La Mer. I use the Gel & Soft Creme myself and their concealer is wonderful. I have seen The Concentrate heal clients’ eczema and rosacea, therefore I believe in the product itself. Anything that costs $165/oz (The Soft Creme), $285/2oz (Gel de La Mer) and $425/1.7oz (The Concentrate) should probably create miracles, and it does according to all of the reviews. All 43 reviews from each store.
Here’s the reason for my blog post. If you’re familiar with La Mer you’ve heard the story of it’s origins. If not, here’s how it goes..
There was a NASA Astrophysicist named Dr. Max Huber. He and his team suffered severe burns during a lab explosion. He dedicated the rest of his career to finding a cure for scars. He loved the ocean and noticed men working with sea kelp had normal sun damaged skin but their arms were pristine from handling the sea kelp. “It took 12 years and 6,000 experiments” of studying sea kelp (he played music, sounds of the ocean and pulsed light through it) but he finally made a potion that worked and called it “The Miracle Broth”. He added a special kind of Mineral Oil (La Mer says the difference between their mineral oil and the kind you can get for a few dollars is “the difference between a fine aged wine and grape juice”- personal La Mer training experience) and other ingredients and made it into a cream and sold it in front of stores. “He would even eat it with a spoon to show people how natural it was”. The tale goes on to say that when he died, 90% of his scars were cured. To this day every jar of Creme de La Mer has some of the original batch of miracle broth in it. Hence the price.
Yeah Yeah Yeah… What an incredibly interesting story. They should make a movie! Except I had a recent revelation that makes me question the entire thing. Keep in mind, I’m not saying the creme isn’t wonderful. It is. I’m playing devil’s advocate for the validity of it’s origins. I tried doing research on this Max Huber guy. There is no information about him, any accomplishments at NASA or records of his existence beyond Estee Lauder websites (If you didn’t know, La Mer is an Estee Lauder brand), and various blogs that tell the same story I just did. It is said that his daughter sold the recipe to Estee Lauder who uses the exact recipe from Dr. Huber and it’s even created in Max Huber Research Laboratories. What you can’t find is his daughters name anywhere, or his obituary. When doing research I found their business listing on bizapedia.com. The company contact is Maureen Case, CEO of Estee Lauder. I like the advertisement on the side, it’s a nice touch.
Their office looks amazing!
Edit: The 7 Corporate Center Dr. Is also the building to the right (Estée Lauder headquarters)
I’ve been searching for weeks for more information about the Huber family, the labs or even a single photo of Max Huber (maybe a before and after?!) but there is absolutely nothing except for 1 black and white photo of a man (with no scars). There is no family photos. No photos of him posing with a jar (surely there would be photos of that after working 12 years and 6,000 experiments.) There is no obituary. There are other Max Huber’s that were scientists from Switzerland and Germany but they have nothing to do with Creme de La Mer. It could literally be anyone. After all of these revelations and exhaustive research it is my personal opinion that the story is completely made up. It’s a nice skincare line that does give wonderful results and coming from a marketing background I can understand why Estee Lauder would create this lovely imagery to justify an insane price but I’m not buying it anymore and I don’t want anyone else to either until they can back up their claims. La Mer seems to be the biggest scam in the Beauty Industry.
Please do your own research and share this blog to raise awareness because it’s my hope that some information about this family, maybe another physicists name from this “lab explosion” at NASA would emerge.. I just think it is potentially the biggest lie in the cosmetics industry and had to share my thoughts. If he’s a physicist where was he educated? Does he have any remaining family? It’s my hope that this article will have people better experienced in research ask these questions and hopefully find some answers.
I will always ask questions on behalf of my clients and I realize this article will piss some people off. It’s truly not my intention. La Mer is a nice product that gives good results that I have personally experienced for myself and my clients. I just need some answers before I shell out my hard earned dollars to support a fairy tale.
I also want it to be known that I have worked alongside La Mer employees and they are trained on this background and have never questioned it. I don’t believe they are intentionally lying to anyone. I have been invited to La Mer trainings as well and I was drinking the punch until recently. When this product was launched in the 1990’s the internet wasn’t really a thing yet so I don’t think Lauder ever expected to be questioned. I think it’s a good time to bring up these questions now and demand proof. Please share this blog via social media. I’m not an expert at research but I hope this intrigues someone who is who can get some hard answers.
EDIT 8/24: Things I’m still searching for:
– newspaper article about lab explosion
– any photo of a jar of La Mer before Estee Lauder “purchased it”
– any photo of Max Huber with this cream
– any remaining family members
– NASA employee records
– Obituary
– College Degree
– Articles written about La Mer prior to Lauder acquisition
XX MDMA
BEAUTY STYLED 