More about RAW ESSENTIALS

Carol Alt’s exciting new line of skincare products, RAW ESSENTIALS, is eliciting a large number of comments and the feedback, which is “essential” to a new business, has been phenomenal. Carol is both grateful and somewhat astounded by the results that are being reported directly to her, by women of all skin types.

“I knew the results I was getting throughout the years, but at first, I thought it would seem kind of strange to have me, my mom, my sisters, and my friends reporting these fantastic results, because – let’s face it – that would tend to look like some kind of set-up. But the reality is that I was shocked by some of the results that my friends were reporting. We have testimonials on HSN, raving about the results of Raw Essentials. For example, my friend Kitty’s remarks about always having been a ‘before’, never an ‘after’, and that her skin was basically controlling her life, really moved me. She had been somewhat shy and didn’t really want people to look at her too closely, because she didn’t like the way her skin looked after having spent a great deal of time outdoors. She credits Raw Essentials with completely changing her skin and her outlook – she walked into the studio to shoot her testimonial with a whole new attitude and demeanor!

“My mother came in without makeup on her face. I can’t remember ever seeing my own mother without foundation on her skin, so for her to go on camera with nothing on her face was a total shock! Add to that the fact that she had had a 4” scar across her nose and one on her lip, both of which had all but disappeared, and it just shows how fantastic the results of using Raw Essentials can be.”

Carol explained how these testimonials came about. She and her business partner, Steven Krane, were only given a total of 5 sample packets to give away prior to launching the skincare line, so Carol gave one to her mother, one to her sister and one to her friend, Kitty. Steve gave the remaining two to women that he knew.

“Steve and I discussed the fact that it probably wouldn’t be a very good idea to only have 5 people try the products, not to mention giving them only a couple of weeks to try them out before we launched the website. Well, needless to say, it did work and the written testimonials we’ve since received are right in line with the on-camera ones.

“I’m really surprised that we got so many letters so quickly (following the launch in December) from women who wanted us to know how thrilled they were with the results they were seeing right there in their own mirrors. Talk about gratifying! One 66-year-old, for example, told us that she had never gone without foundation in her adult life, but with Raw Essentials, she was finally able to just put a little color on her face! We now have five stars on HSN, which is very rare, all based upon these letters that have been pouring in.

“My sister, Christine, has had terrible problems with her skin for years. She comes and raids my cabinets now,” Carol laughs, “just so she never runs out. She can wash her face and not worry about having an adverse reaction from some non-raw product.”

With results and word-of-mouth support such as this, it’s little wonder that Raw Essentials sold out after the soft launch in December and then again after the official premiere in January. “This wasn’t even the anti-aging line”, Carol says. “It was just the normal/sensitive skincare products that were selling out. The anti-aging products hadn’t even arrived yet!

“You know, with most other skincare lines, the big push goes to the anti-aging formulas. My own skin is maturing, of course, but I wanted to promote the normal and sensitive products first, not only because that’s what I’ve been using myself for several years, but because that is the line used by the largest number of people. I really can’t wait to see how the anti-aging products are received, once they become available!”

Carol wants to share a little about the process she went through when it came to choosing the actual packaging for the various products. “We had some complaints in the beginning about a couple of the containers – that the dispensers on the night cream and day cream weren’t working as well as they should. I want people to know that we do listen to criticisms as well as compliments and, whenever possible, we intend to correct any problems that are brought to our attention. In this case, we have already changed the bottles, because those complaints were absolutely valid. As a matter of fact, we were in such a hurry to launch the line, after so much work on the products themselves, that we accepted whatever dispensers were available at the time. We already had pre-orders, prior to the official launch and just couldn’t wait for our chosen bottles to arrive.

“We were able to immediately correct the bottle that was spraying the product too forcefully. That means that when someone re-orders that product, they’ll automatically be getting the “new and improved” dispenser.

“We also had some – not many – negative comments on the scent of the night cream. Well, those were only samples of the night cream that we gave people who ordered another skincare product. It was never intended to be the final scent. Of course, it’s understandable that nobody knew that – we never mentioned it and probably should have. Now the night cream smells exactly the same as the day cream. Those samples were a gift that we added at the last minute, using the original light ginger scent, which we already knew we were never going to use.

“I must say, it kind of amazes me how some people are so ready to throw out the baby with the bathwater. I wouldn’t care how a product smelled, if it had the results on my skin that ours does. Yes, I understand that some people are highly sensitive to certain scents, but come on! We use healthy, low temperature processed essential oils, not synthetic fragrances, and they are a light scent that dissipates leaving behind only…fabulous results!”

Carol acknowledges that starting a new company such as Raw Essentials has been a fascinating experience. Despite the difficulties of finding a laboratory that would create exactly what she wanted; the design challenges; and the entrepreneurial life in general, she is absolutely thrilled with the results. She thinks you will be, too.

THE PROMISE I MADE

You know, sometimes doing what is right is the most difficult thing in the world. When I went raw (about 13 years ago now), I made a promise to God that if he saved me and saved my life, that I would take whatever little celebrity I had and I would try to do good in this world. I just asked Him to show me the way to do that good, to show me where I could be helpful.

Since, as we all know, God works in mysterious ways, it was a full 9 years or so before he took me up on my offer. The way it began was so innocent and so natural that at first I did not realize what was happening.

I moved my office to New York City from Los Angeles, but I was quite upset, because I wondered where I would get my RAW milk, cream and cheeses, as L.A. is far ahead of NYC in the ability to obtain raw dairy.

Then I received a phone call from the NY Post Newspaper, asking if I would let them shoot a photo of me at a RAW food restaurant. I was shocked: First, that they knew I was a RAW FOODIST, as I had not yet gone public with this info and second, that there are RAW food restaurants in NYC.

When the paper called, I thought, “Not for nothing, but this I have to see.” So I agreed to do a photo I would not normally have done, just to get to see and eat at a RAW food restaurant.

I am very glad I did that photo shoot, because besides finding a whole network of RAW friends in NYC, that photo started me on the path to becoming a very outspoken advocate of raw food.
Prior to that event, I had not intended to write books on RAW food; I was writing another book inspired by my friend Bill O’Reilly- and only one chapter in it was about RAW food. Instead of selling that book, however, everyone I pitched my idea to wanted me to write about the chapter I was most passionate about: RAW FOOD! I immediately sold a book (or two) on RAW.

The letters from the Ottawa Citizen were depressing in more than one way. As each letter seemed to say that I was crazy and that I was the only one in the world who was doing RAW and that I was out of touch with the real human condition. These particular letters pointed out how in shape I was, how lucky I was, how rich, able to have chefs, that I had no kids and my lifestyle was such that no one else could do what I was saying they should do! They picked on everything, including the fact that I had a great boyfriend, that I was genetically blessed and that I did not know how to live life like a “normal” person, etc., etc., etc.

They were going after ME. They were not listening to the message. Therefore, I started to think that perhaps I was the WRONG role model for this lifestyle.

People are used to seeing “fat” people say they lost weight and apparently “ill” people say they found a cure for something. But I was silent about my cancer and I fought it not on the front page of People Magazine, but in my home, working diligently with the most brilliant minds in medicine. Yet, when I changed ALL that afflicted me and I came out to tell the world, I was told that my message was not worth listening to because I was SUPER MODEL Carol Alt, who was soooooo genetically blessed that I could not possibly have problems and I was soooooo blessed with my job and my boyfriend and my family, etc., that it could not BE that I did not really have a fairytale life!

In other words: “How could a famous supermodel possibly have human afflictions?” EVEN PEOPLE MAG WOULD NOT PUT MY STORY ON THE COVER AND I DID SPEAK TO THEM ABOUT THIS MIRACLE!

Of course, worse than being a super model, I was not a doctor, so how could I possibly find a cure for cancer? Therefore, anything I did was looked at with a wary eye, which I do, on a certain level, understand. Perhaps if I had started out fat, for example, and not just sick, tired, bloated, and aging rapidly with digestive problems, headaches, weight gain and skin rashes, and ultimately cancer — perhaps if I had gone to the press with my diseases and put my sick face on the cover of People Magazine, instead of coming forward with a possible cure – people could more easily believe my message. Perhaps if I were a secretary, or a teacher, or a factory worker, they would hold me up as “The Everywoman” who could make a difference.

It has been so depressing for me to hear comments like the ones from the Ottawa Citizen, because people attack the messenger and do not listen to the message. (And trust me, I do not mind that people attack me as crazy, as I have been called everything from a “Tsunami of stupid” to doing a “disservice to women”! The only thing I really mind is that they do not hear the message!) It has been SO demoralizing that I wanted to stop doing this work. And believe me – it is WORK.

Fortunately, I understand that it is in God’s hands and that it is progressing as God intended it to. I understand I was afflicted with cancer and was able to change my prognosis because that would make me a stronger, more credible advocate for this way of eating. (I mean, I understand free will – I got cancer because I CHOSE to eat badly and to stress my body, and starved myself on every diet there was!) I believe God has been able to use my mistakes to put me on a path to help other people.

I also understand that God’s intent with this way of life is because it changes a person SPIRITUALLY and that is probably one of His goals. I mean just LOOK at this world! So I cannot and do not question God. I cannot question the things I think He is asking me to do in order to get the word out. I can only thank Him for bringing me this knowledge and saving my life with it (and giving my life back to me, which is a whole other thing!), and then trudge on ahead, with all the slings and arrows that come with this journey.

I must say at this point, that the following incredible e-mail (which is one of many positive ones) was a real boost to me personally. It made me cry with sadness for all of the Lisa’s (see “Ottawa Citizen”) in the world; at the same time it made me cry with happiness for all of the Susan’s (below) in the world. Sometimes it is hard not to lose hope that people will see how polluted this world is, and how sick people really are, and how our food has changed so much in the last years – and how EDUCATION is REALLY, REALLY needed.

Letters like the following help me to not lose hope that people will want to look for something to give them an edge in this world.
I found it in RAW…as did many OTHER people. Read the following email to see this truth.

- Carol