Guinea Pig

Well, I've signed up to do another study at International Research. They contacted me this afternoon and asked if I'd be interested in a leg study that basically involves two weeks of putting a newly developed moisturizer on my lower legs every day, keeping a log of it, and going in on Mondays and Fridays so they can use their little machines to log any improvement in my skin. Seven visits (including the 15-minute paperwork visit) and it pays $250. That would pretty much pay for my airfare for the cruise (if I actually GO on the cruise...still haven't heard if it's a definite yet).

I haven't done a study at IR for awhile. For a bit I was a regular, I did face studies and leg studies several times, for amounts ranging from $50 for a one-day trial to I think $150 has been my max before this.

The only thing that really sucks about these studies is that even when they're over, they can't tell you the company who created the product you were testing. So in the one instance where there was an absolutely awesome moisturizer that I would have LOVED to go out and purchase when it reached the market, there was no way for me to know. I can see the reasoning, of course, but there's no way I'm going to go out there and try every new moisturizer from every company until I stumble across that one, so for me it just sucked.

The other thing that can get to be a pain is keeping the chart. You have to write down what time--to the minute--you apply the product. I actually put up a nail in my bathroom to hang a clipboard so I would remember to do this. A bunch of people cheat and write times in when they get to the office, while they're waiting for their appointment.

The objective portion of the questionnaires are difficult, too. I've never been really great at the subtleties between numbers 1-5 in describing differences. Heck, I can't always remember at night how my skin felt this morning, much less did it feel better or worse and on a scale of 1-5 how improved is the elasticity of my lower leg?

Fortunately they have a bunch of different machines and gadgets that will measure these things for you. My favorite is the one that tells you how much moisture is in your skin. When you first do the study, you have to wash your lower leg twice a day with something like Ivory (which they provide), for a week. You aren't allowed to apply any kind of product AT ALL to your skin for that week. They want those babies DRY. Then they measure with their machines to tell you just how like the Sahara your skin has become. Over the course of the study, during your visits, they will track the progress. Then you stop using the product, and they have you come back one more time a couple of days later, to see how fast your skin has regressed without the new miracle moisturizer you're testing.

Overall it's kind of fun, and hey, it's some extra money. Not bad for being a guinea pig. mk