Celebrating 8 Years of Research, Skincare, and Empowerment
*Cue the ‘Happy Birthday’ song* It is with great excitement that we announce FACTORFIVE Skincare is turning 8 this March! This milestone marks a journey of research, innovation, and commitment to helping all feel confident and beautiful when it comes to the appearance of their skin. In this blog we sit down with FACTORFIVE CEO John Aylworth, to ask him about all things FACTORFIVE, his journey so far, and his plans for the future.
An Interview With The CEO, John Aylworth
What has your journey been like so far?
When I founded this company in 2015, I envisioned a biotech research entity that could advance the cause of biologic medicine while promoting it and introducing it to the people by way of an innovative skincare brand, FACTORFIVE.
I knew I would love the stem cell research component, but I have been surprised and delighted by how much I have come to love my team, our customers, reps, and users. I have made some of the best friends of my life. I have come to admire the hard working estheticians, nurses, and physicians who run a small business but also refine their craft and research their products. Over the past eight years I’ve had a chance to eat, laugh, race a tricycle race, and train jiu jitsu with different customers. They are all amazing. The user testimonials inspire and humble me. My team here makes me laugh and challenges me daily. The people have been the biggest surprise to me.
Can you talk about one of your favorite ‘firsts’?
Before we launched FACTORFIVE, we only speculated that the stem cell media we were generating in the lab would be effective as a topical ingredient. We hoped it would work, all the research indicated it would, but we just hadn’t had that personal conversion experience yet. But we were spending money.. a lot of money... The stress of spending that much and not knowing if it would work was pretty overwhelming to me. Basically, I was a hot mess. So, I took off with my family to try to decompress at a surf spot in Mexico. I was really enjoying the day and my time out on the water and I took in just a bit too much sun. Meaning - I was sunburned badly.
That evening, when the sunburn was really setting in, I knew I was in for 2-3 days of massive discomfort and peeling. In a moment of inspiration mixed with desperation, I asked my wife to apply the new stem cell media product we had synthesized in the lab to my back. She rolled her eyes, but she did. It was the first time our own science had been put to the test in a real world scenario.
The next morning, I woke up and sat up in bed. I attempted a twist with my torso to assess how badly my sunburn would feel. There was no pain. I went to the bathroom and looked at my back in the mirror and it was a ruddy red-brown. The sunburn was already giving way to a tan! That day, I went about a normal day with no pain or ill effects from the sunburn which was only 24 hours old. I kept waiting for the moment when it would fail and I would return to misery and it never came. By the time the sun was going down again, all my fear about the company was gone! I knew we had something special!
Why stem cell research?
I started my career working in trauma surgery. The patients who came in the door would start out with badly broken bones and soft tissue trauma. By the time they left, they would be pieced back together with an expansive array of pins, rods, plates, and screws, but they wouldn’t be healed. I thought about that often and realized that the best thing we could do for them in surgery was return them to a place where they could heal themselves.
You heal you. Medicine and doctors don’t heal you. You actually heal yourself. All medicine and doctors can do is put your body in the best place possible to conduct those activities required to heal itself. What does that mean? It means that inside each of us, there is a system and process for taking damaged tissue and restoring it to health. What is that system?
Perhaps it is a bit of an oversimplification but – human stem cells.
What has been your biggest accomplishment?
Well, my initial reaction to this question is to say, “convincing my lovely wife to marry me.” But, I am guessing you are referring to work.
I am most proud of all the things we do behind the scenes that our customers don’t really know about. We believe in the science of stem cell research for the benefit of mankind. To that end, we started a sister company to FACTORFIVE called “SpecBio”. Spec has never stopped researching and conducting experiments to further the use of human stem cell-based products as wound therapy for the elderly. Our customers who buy FACTORFIVE probably don’t know this, but every purchase they make in part is funding research into how to treat bed sores, diabetic lesions, and the many chronic wounds that are impacting the lives of so many of our senior citizens. I am proud of my team and their commitment to helping bring about a future where the aged can live with less pain and more dignity.
What are your plans for FACTORFIVE in the future?
This year we will launch a product which I think may become our number one selling product. It has tested so well and the results are so incredible that I keep running out of in-house prototypes because everyone runs off with them. True to my own form, this mystery product I speak of is the worst kept secret because I never stop talking about it. But, in deference to our reps and marketing team, I will refrain from saying anything more here. Except that it’s coming by Mother’s Day… and it’s awesome.
Apart from that, we will continue pushing our own boundaries. We’re going to do some things with shipping we have never done before. Stay tuned for that. We will be more visible than ever before. And, to my chagrin and dismay, I have agreed to finally do more speaking and interviews this year…So, I apologize in advance for that. It’s going to be a fun year of learning and growth.
