Three years since they launched, Nurse Nancy and Baber share their experience, breaking down their entrepreneurial journey from finding the right idea to finding the right partner to finding the right time to go for it. (Hint: now!)
How did you two meet?
Nurse Nancy: Courtney was my patient. She had come in for some major skin issues she had been experiencing for years. When she walked in, there was something unique about her. Not just because she was strikingly beautiful and genuine (and kind), but I had a feeling our lives would come to be intertwined.
Courtney Baber: We became fast friends. During my second appointment, we discovered our shared dream of starting a skincare brand designed for maturing skin that combined everything we loved about the countless brands we’d tried over our combined 50 years in the beauty industry into one amazing line. One that would be focused on making people feel a little more beautiful — and even a little happier — while simultaneously recognizing the beauty, wisdom, and inevitability of the aging process. I was 51 and Nancy was 54 when we launched.
What inspired you to start The Route?
NN: I had been using various skincare lines on my patients – and myself – for decades, but I kept jumping around, searching for products that would do more and do it better. After years and years in business, I had yet to land on one that I loved enough to use exclusively. I wanted to simplify the process for my patients without cutting corners on ingredient quality or efficacy. I wanted to give women access to medical-grade products that worked but didn’t cost a fortune. But most importantly, I was finally ready to go all in. It wasn’t too late. It was just the right time.
CB: When we discovered we both had paper routes as pre-teens, we thought, “This is it.” We already had a name and the work ethic. Now we just needed a business plan. We tested every high-quality product line out there and researched which treatments in Nurse Nancy’s office we could tweak to be available — and more affordable — to more people. We knew the products had to be medical grade (no cutting corners on efficacy or ingredients), clean (as low impact to the environment as possible), and luxurious (we wanted it to make you feel good on your counter, your face, the entire experience had to feel elevated). The Party Peel, inspired by a popular in-office peel that Nancy’s clients love, is a prime example of our arduous process and it’s now our best seller. You should have seen my sensitive skin during that year. It was not happy. But I was committed. But if I had to be the guinea pig, so be it. If it weren’t for my lifelong skin struggles, I would have probably never met Nancy when I did, and the brand would have never come to be. Life is full of silver linings.
What advice do you have for other entrepreneurs who think they are “too old”?
NN: I have seen so many friends put off pursuing a career dream because they think the timing isn’t right or they are too busy or they don’t know where to start. I know firsthand that this hamster wheel can be a hard one to climb out of. But, trust me, one day you’ll wake up and be 50 or 60 or even 70 and wish you’d have just gone after it. My advice? Ten years in the future, what would you tell your current self to do? Would she think you were too old or too busy or too fill in the blank? Probably not. If you really want it, stop making excuses. Tap into your superpower and go get it done. Your future self will thank you. Trust me.
CB: No matter how old you are, you have to really, really want it. If you don’t, it will never happen.
What is the mission of the brand?
CB: In short, it’s to help people have happy, healthy, beautiful skin no matter their age. But if you peel back a layer, it’s about so much more than that. The name, The Route, is both a testament to where we are in life right now and a celebration of the journeys we took to get here. It’s also a reminder that our unique paths in life are the most beautiful things–bumps, roadblocks, detours and all. We want people to know we see them, we’re here with them, and we believe in them.
NN: I love the saying, “Kind is the most beautiful thing to be.” If we can do even the smallest thing to inspire women to be a little kinder to themselves and, by default, to others, I consider it a win. It’s the little things that sometimes make the most impactful difference. We created The Route for ourselves but wanted to share it with everyone. Treat others how you want to be treated. Quality, integrity, and innovation is first and foremost, but we also infuse happiness and luxury into everything we do. From the highest quality ingredients and formulas to the most beautiful bottle components and packaging. We wanted everything to be thorough, thoughtful, and unquestionably beautiful.
What advice do you have for middle-aged aspiring entrepreneurs?
CB: You have to really want it, and you need to be ready to work your tail off. There’s no other way to do it. There’s no replacement for working hard and you’ll never know how hard it really is until you own your own business. It’s all-consuming when it’s yours.
While a comprehensive skincare routine is undoubtedly key when it comes to the pursuit of attaining perfect skin, it should go without saying that there is truly no topical skincare product that works just like Botox, or that even comes close to rivaling the results of injectables like filler and neurotoxins (aka Botox). With that being said, if you are going to commit to spending a few extra minutes in front of the mirror each morning and night (not to mention a pretty penny on product) knowing the best active ingredients and formulations that will give you the most bang for your buck is essential, whether you’re ready to resort to needles or not. To get the bottom of finding out which skincare products come the closest to mimicking the magical effects of dermal injections, I figured, who better to ask than an experienced professional who performs in-office injections on the daily.
I sat down with Nancy Pellegrino (aka Nurse Nancy), RN, MN, NP, owner and operator of NP Aesthetics Inc, and co-founder of THE ROUTE, a medical-grade skincare line that she recently launched with her patient, friend and beauty industry vet, Courtney Baber to get the low down on some of her favorite injectable alternatives, and to help us debunk some common myths about neurotoxins and fillers. As I mentioned (and as I presumed that she would too), Nurse Nancy admitted that indeed, there’s nothing that’s really going to work just like injectables, but there are a few things that will deliver similar results with time and consistency.
“There’s [really] is nothing that completely mimics Botox. It smooths out the outer layer of skin on top of the muscle to prevent wrinkles.” Neurotoxins like Botox and Dysport work to smooth existing lines and prevent future ones from forming by temporarily paralyzing the muscle, while cosmetic fillers like Restylane and Juvéderm use Hyaluronic Acid to smooth and plump the skin to fill in lines. “[Botox] smooths out the outer layer of skin on top of the muscle to prevent fine lines from forming into deep wrinkles, and if you already have a deep wrinkle — I call them “coin slots,” — when you paralyze the muscle with a neurotoxin, you allow the skin to grow in again.”
So, while there’s nothing that can “freeze” your muscles topically, there are plenty of alternatives that help to prevent the signs of aging without succumbing to an in-office procedure. Naturally, as any derm or skincare professional will tell you, SPF and sun protection is paramount in any skincare routine. “90 percent of our aging comes from sun damage. Without it, you might as well just forget it.” Now, onto the good stuff (because you already know how important SPF is, right?) According to Nurse Nancy, there a few main active ingredients that will give you visible results, and is the closest to topical injections you’ll get: peptides, retinoids and acids.
“Biomimetic Peptides (one type of peptides) can mimic the way Botox works because they’re able to go through the skin and to relax the muscle a little bit,” she says. This type of peptides has been dubbed as “Botox-Like” because it is similar to the peptides that naturally occur in the body. Peptides are responsible for signaling our skin to produce more collagen — which we lose as we age. Hence, applying peptide-infused products works like “topical Botox” by signaling nerve cues to hinder the formation of lines that form due to expression and facial movements.
Now onto acids. “Acid products like our Party Peel work to soften lines, improve texture and combat a sallow complexion by exfoliating our skin over time.” Essentially, these chemical exfoliants work to slough away rough, dead skin to reveal a brighter, more even layer of skin underneath. While exfoliating is one sure-fire way to improve your skin and prevent the signs of premature aging, it can also be harsh — especially if you have sensitive or reactive skin. While medical-grade and in-office superficial peels will give you a quicker result (with some downtime) using AHA peels at home will give you similar results—you’ll just have to wait a bit longer for the benefits to become visible. “Our Party Peel is is safe for sensitive skin because we formulated it with an oxygen delivery system. Typically, exfoliants work best when the skin is completely product-free and stripped of moisture, but the “scrubbing bubbles” that form when you apply allows the product to penetrate better, all without having to strip the skin.”
While exfoliants and peptides are key if you’re looking to reap the benefits of injections, protecting the skin’s barrier (i.e. not over-stripping it with excess product) is also key. “There are many ways that we age. You can’t have beautiful skin unless you have healthy skin. We lose our hyaluronic acid and collagen that keep our keracintypes intact as we get older, so it’s key to maintain a healthy barrier with active ingredients and moisture,” she says. Finally, when you apply your product apparently, does matter. “Our skin has its own circadian rhythm. Our skin tends to close down during the day and then it opens up at night and replaces all of our water loss.” This is precisely why it’s often advised to apply your active ingredients like acids and retinoids before bed (noted.) If you’re looking for a non-invasive way to combat lines and firmness, these products are the next best thing.
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