I’ve followed Nikki over at Lipstick Latitude for a long time, now. Her recent post about gurus playing doctor really hit the nail on the head. I was inspired to expand upon the topic.
Credentials
I don’t follow Tati/GlamLifeGuru. Her content never appealed to me, but that is neither here nor there. The reality is that most beauty content creators are not qualified to dispense medical advice. I’ve talked about my use and discontinuation/reduction in use of Biotin before, but I make it abundantly clear that I am not a medical professional. I cannot educate you in health-related choices! So – all changes of the supplementary nature should be reviewed with a qualified medical professional even if your BFF or mom endorses the hell out of ’em.
The short of it is that Tati is branding and peddling vitamins under the guise of being a beauty brand. Tati is not a chemist, doctor, or nutritionist. Her husband, with whom one of her organizations is registered, is not either.
Contraindications
Several ingredients are contraindicated with common conditions and medicine regimens. And most people, unless they were knowledge- or at least Google-hungry wouldn’t know because they wouldn’t talk to their doctor, either. I, or she, or whomever, can tell you what I/she/they had luck with (or not), but it’s all anecdotal and, frankly, you don’t have the full picture and context of my/her/their health anyway.
A Wee Bit Shady
Her site, which I’m following Nikki’s suit and not linking, claims that the $40/mo product is, “Clinically Proven,” but offers no evidence that clinical trials took place. I searched for it and came up empty handed.
The charts on the site do not count as proof. Any jackass can make up and publish some charts. I had an old boss that did all.the.time; and he didn’t stand to reap any extra financial gain.
The Bottom Line
Just sayin’, Tati – cough up the evidence that trials were executed and people will probably calm down a bit. Like me, people are understandably skeptical.
That said – what on earth would make you think that someone who has made a living making videos on how to apply makeup is qualified to tell you what substances to put into your body?
Tati fell for the quacky unregulated supplement industry, then used it to fool gullible beauty junkies into paying $40 for eating topical ingredients and peeing them back out. She made all the right vaguely unverifiable “clinically proven” claims that any dietary supplement can already make without the risk of ever getting questioned or sued, so whatever success comes her way is no different than that of whatever nonsense you find on your local pharmacy’s supplement shelves. Anyone who pays for expensive pee without learning about the requirements of what “clinically proven” actually means…can enjoy their placebo while the supplement industry continues to roll in dough. ;-)
https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/supplements-a-scorecard
It is every bit as quacky as the sketchy supplements in pharmacies and health food stores. What rubs me, and many others for that matter, the wrong way about this scenario is that people trust her; she is betraying that trust by hawking snake oil that could cause harm in some people. Brand reps aren’t standing at the ends of the vitamin and supplement aisle at my local CVS telling me that their wonderpill is going to (basically) make me, or anyone else, pretty.
I won’t fault Tati for aiming to make money, but I will fault her for taking this route to do so.
The average consumer is gullible but part of my hope for my content is helping arm people against ridiculous claims. If I prevent one person from drinking the metaphorical marketing kool-aid, I consider that success. :)
You know…I trust that she believes that she knows a great deal about beauty — be it makeup, skincare, salon procedures, and now supplements. She’s not formally trained in any of it, yet she’s put in so much time and effort and collaborations and has built such a following that there is no way she realized that an educated public hopes for more significance to a clinical trial than n of 1. Her supplements are expensive because she tried to make them better, not because she wanted to dupe anyone. She doesn’t know how little difference any supplements make, nor do most people who feel betrayed by her. She’s been just as duped as everyone else.