Many a time, we "trial & error" a product for a period of time to test if the product is suitable for us.
Cannot avoid it but it is the reality of it because even when the product is really just using natural plant-based ingredients, you just will not know how your body will react to it even if there is no known side effects of it.
Many times, out of desperation for solutions to solve our own beauty & health issues, we ignore the safety of product and plunge directly to try a product without much thought (sometimes it's just based on the product's constant marketing on social media & social sharing).
There are so many products offered from network marketing or Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) companies through so many channels (from social media to referrals) that a desperate consumer may embark on it only to realise the high prices to pay, either to sustain membership level just so as to get discounts off the products or to expand its' scope and run like their own business to yield more benefits from the products. Because of these underlying motives, a consumer may not know the high price paid for a product from these companies. Do take note that the product has to be "overpriced" in order to "reward" (or pay) the incentives of the different "levels" of people in these companies. Thus, it is up to you if it is worth over paying to try such product from these companies.
So how do we gauge if a product is trustworthy & effective given the fact that there are tonnes of products flooding the market and we do not have all the time & money to spend on trying each one of it?
Here are some tips :
Check if the product has valid certificates of safety & quality - alot of products did not show or have any relevant international safety or quality certificates, let alone local ones. Usually local certificates for safety is only to ensure no harmful chemicals are present in the product sample. Product safety is critical!
Check if the product has been established in the market for some time - will you try new a product which has no clinical trials conducted or no customers have tried before? Depending on whether there is any trust build up with the company that produces the product (which can be a well-established and known producer that you trusted since you tried the company's other existing products, you may be willing to try the new product), you may wish to wait till there are adequate customers' reviews on the products first before trying it
Check if there is any patent for the product's ingredients - ingredients are key to the product's differentiating benefits in the midst of massive product offerings. A product that uses premium quality ingredients differentiate itself from the masses. Certificates of patents can also be found on the product's packaging or inside the product for customer to verify if needed
Check if the product has won any awards - local awards may be quite subjective but international awards have a stringest process that not every product can achieve it. Thus, if the product has won international award, you know that the product has achieved its credibility
Check if there is any product assurance or insurance coverage for both consumers and products. If there is, it shows a deep commitment of the company to ensure that product is safe for their customers to take and that the company take great care to ensure that products are effective for their customers too
Check the source of development - alot of products never reveal the team behind the product. If the company is able to show you the team of professional doctors and nutritionists behind each product, it means that the company is transparent with the customer on the team that has developed the product because not every product is developed with care and deep thoughts to combine best ingredients so as to optimize the product for the customer's benefits
Monitor effectiveness of product - effectiveness of product varies from one person to another as every person's body may react differently to the same product. Usually it takes about 3 - 6 months to be able to assess the effectiveness of the product adequately. There are people who experienced the effectiveness of the product as swiftly as within 1-2 days (an example of such cases are those who have eczema or allergies on skin which can serve as clear evidence of improvement from product after 1 day of it)
With these tips in mind, it'll help you sift out the safer products from the multitude of product offerings in the market to make better decisions on which product to try, safely and effectively.
Do be careful of fake products too!
Above all, do give adequate time to select and test the effectiveness of a product!