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SCMP Reporter

HONG KONG women are fighting wrinkles using a special Swiss skin-care product that includes cells taken from the embryo of black Swiss sheep.

  Glycel imports the range of products, including wrinkle creams, toners and cleansers, from Switzerland.

  The creams and facial gels were made using Glycoshingolipids (GSL) that could only be extracted after killing black Swiss sheep and chopping out their embryos, Jenny Hon, Glycel's advertising manager, said.

 It costs 50 per cent more than most other facial treatment products and it involved killing pregnant ewes, but women were snapping up the Glycel range, Ms Hon said.

   A 30-gram pot of Glycel day-care cream costs more than $600.

  ''It is because of the unusual ingredients, which are all natural, that our products cost more,'' Ms Hon said.

  ''The sheep have to be killed before fluid and cells from the embryo can be extracted. The embryo has to be taken out after a ewe is five months pregnant.

  ''The embryos of the black sheep, which can only be found in Switzerland, have similar cell structures to human cells.

  ''These cells have been found to contain GSL, a hormone-free ingredient inside our cells which starts depleting with age, leading to wrinkles.''   But Glycel did not have information on how much GSL was needed and how many sheep had to be killed to make one jar of cream.

  ''We do not have any information about the formulae and do not have any figures on this,'' Ms Hon said.

  And there was no evidence that these products slowed the ageing process.

  ''We do not have any data to prove our products work, but the company's growth over the last year was 30 per cent which speaks for itself,'' Ms Hon said.

  ''We have not conducted market research but Hong Kong women continued to buy our products which are taking a larger slice of the local market each year.''   The products have been so successful in the territory that, in November, Glycel opened stores in Times Square and Ocean Terminal.

   It also has offices in Vancouver, Canada, and Taiwan.

  The Swiss brand name was a big drawcard for customers, Ms Hon said.

   Glycel bought the name in 1988.

  ''Swiss facial treatment products are some of the best in the world and are prestigious in Asia,'' Ms Hon said.

  Other Swiss skin-care products sold locally are La Piarie and Swissline.

  Ms Hon said she believed Swiss skin-care products were better than Japanese treatments that were infiltrating the market.

  Dr Christiaan Barnard, a pioneer in cardio-pulmonary by-pass surgery, discovered GSL and a team of Swiss cellular biologists manufactured ways of enabling the substance to get into the skin.

  The company has released a new range of summer care products which bleach and moisturise skin.

  Prices range from $330 for a 200-millilitre jar of whitening cleanser to $650 for a 69-gram tub of whitening beauty mask.

  ''The major function of our summer range is to whiten skin pigments, which many Asian women find desirable,'' Ms Hon said.

  ''During summer, ultra-violet rays can have a bad effect on the skin and increase pigmentation leading to freckles and skin dehydration.

  ''The range acts like a bleach but is not harmful to the skin.''   Although Glycel does not claim its products stop ageing, Ms Hon said an intensive care treatment could combat wrinkles.

  ''This treatment only has to be used once in a while and is very good at rejuvenating the skin.

  ''Our products just make the ageing process slower and act differently in different people, depending on their skin type and their lifestyle.'' 



Cell-based skin cream slows ageing