THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 9, 1997 TAG: 9702070106
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E6 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: The Imperfect Navigator
SOURCE: Alexandria Berger
LENGTH: 67 lines
DID YOU ever wonder about those products shown on late-night TV infomercials? Take the spray to camouflage bald spots. It comes off on your hands, your clothes, your wife. My husband sprayed a thinning spot the size of a lemon. The black spewing effect was similar to blowing out the inside of a fireplace.
What about proudcts promising to cosmetically cover severe facial imperfections, like burn scars, port wine birth marks (a cluster of enlarged skin blood vessels that make the skin look like the color of red wine), pigmented nevi (large black spots), cleft lips, or vitiligo (a condition most noticeable in African Americans in which the skin loses all its pigmentation in spots).
Several months ago, I flipped on the television and caught another infomercial. There were no models, no movie stars, just real people, like Cindy, her face and body so badly burned they required extensive skin grafts.
And an elderly woman with vitiligo. She patted a special foundation on to the white blotches on her face until her coffee-toned skin, laced with a touch of cream, blended, making the imperfections disappear.
I called the toll-free number to order and test the product invented by Linda Seidel and made by her company, Linda Seidel Transforming Cosmetics. This is one infomercial with a product that really works.
I decided to meet this amazing woman who sounds committed to changing the face of corrective cosmetics.
In Seidel's Maryland warehouse office, poster size before-and-after photographs of clients adorn the walls.
``People are labeled according to how they look,'' Seidel explained. ``If you're facially challenged in any way, you're automatically ugly by society's standards. By the time people come to see me, they've gone through the five stages of grief.''
Significant facial imperfections can have a profound impact on a child, teen-ager or adult. They can affect normal social development, education and job opportunities, as well create psychological problems. Families can become dysfunctional trying to protect and hide a loved one from a stranger's stares. Think of the Phantom of the Opera.
``Corrective cosmetics can create an illusion,'' said Seidel. ``I had to create a product that would cover and not look like a mask.
``I knew I had to be able to match every skin tone in the world. One night I dreamt skin was like coffee with different amounts of cream in it. I woke up and knew that was the answer - whether Caucasian, Afro-American, Hispanic or Oriental. It took a year to find chemists.''
Seidel's company has recently developed a cream to cover the effects of laser surgery.
``Watching people heal from the outside in, means they no longer see their disability,'' she said. ``I offer options. One of my clients, a little 9-year-old girl, had a large port wine birthmark. She was so introverted. Once she could cover the mark, she blossomed. Now, she has friends. She no longer wants her camouflage on all of the time, because she feels confident. Giving someone a chance to have self-esteem is my biggest reward.''
The cosmetics feel natural and are appropriate for either sex. Seidel does not recommend her products for use on deep-pitted scars. All products are hypoallergenic.
She asks people with severe facial skin imperfections or scarring requesting information to send along a photograph. She also sees private consultants by appointment at no charge.
For more information: Linda Seidel Transforming Cosmetics, Nine West Aylesbury Road, Suite S, Timonium, Md. 21093. Toll free: (800) 752-0066 Fax: (410) 560-0053. This is one infomercial that's on the level.
KEYWORDS: MAKE-UP CORRECTIVE COSMETICS