Dr Gobac cosmeceuticals

At the end of last year, I discovered a brand called Dr Gobac. Luckily for me, one of my journo contacts does the company’s PR and quickly got in touch to chat about the brand and let me try out some of the company’s products.

The company’s founder, Dr Robert Gobac, is originally from Croatia but currently lives and creates the products for this range in good old sunny SA. He’s a qualified medical practitioner with a speciality in histophysiology, which is basically a big, fancy term for the study of tissue structure and function. In a nutshell, the man knows how the skin works.

I always get excited when I see a brand formulated by someone with a scientific background. You can almost guarantee it will be something different and not just a rehash of another brand. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve heard of contract manufacturers in South Africa being approached with a benchmark product and being asked to “make this; only cheaper”.

The first thing you should know about this brand is that it is positioned as a “cosmeceutical”. Translation: marketing speak for a product with a high concentration of active ingredients. The entire range is formulated with the latest in active ingredient technology that Dr Gobac believes help the skin stimulate its own repair mechanism. His philosophy is that “it is possible to stimulate self-repair mechanisms of the skin just as in any other organ in the human body”. So the range isn’t really about addresses specific skin issues but rather getting the skin to a place where it’s able to function optimally.

The first product I tried was the wash. It’s a gel formulation that is actually so gentle on the skin, you almost wonder if it’s doing anything at all. If you check out the ingredients, you soon realise why. It contains oat amino acids that act as a conditioning cleanser and have been known to treat inflammation. It also has sodium cocoyl derived from coconut oil that gives it its foaming properties. Sodium cocoyl is known as one of the gentlest surfactants you can find. A surfactant (surface active agent) is an ingredient that, like the name says, acts on the surface. You find them in most cleaning products (from skin care to dishwashing) because of their ability to bind water and dirt. Before the “greenies” get all hot and bothered, this is a plant-derived extract and it really is super gentle. Although the range is not positioned as natural or organic, and includes some high-tech anti-ageing ingredients, it doesn’t mean this brand isn’t green. It’s just more results driven.

The next product I tried was the Starter Cream. I love the idea of the product as a “preparation cream”, getting your skin used to some of the ingredients used throughout the range. If you have sensitive skin or have just started using cosmeceuticals, this is a great product to introduce you to the range. It’s gentle yet moisturising and really works well as a day or night cream. I know that when you’re looking for a product like this, the fragrance isn’t the most important part but I have to say that this product’s fragrance is my favourite. It reminded me of a more clinical, dermatological product and really gave me the sense that this was something that would really work. I know it’s just a marketing gimmick but hey, who wants to wear something that doesn’t smell great?

The other product I tried, and loved, was the Spot TX anti-bacterial clearing treatment to “help regulate sebum production while reducing blemishes and calming inflammation”. I actually took this product with me while I was gallivanting across three continents in December. I always break out when I do long-haul flights and this really helped treat and minimise my breakouts. Its key ingredient is dragon’s blood, a resin found in the Amazonian Croton Lechleri tree, known for its anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidising properties. In fact, clinical studies have shown this ingredient to be really effective in treating Staphylococcus Aureus, a bacteria responsible for skin infections. It also accelerates healing helping to prevent scarring, has astringent properties and has been proven to stimulate collagen production.

The products are available from selected spas and salons, Placecol outlets and Edgars stores. The wash is R219; the Starter Cream is R419 and the spot treatment is R319.